Theater-chain owners might just start exhaling after hearing this news. Following the strong showings of the Marvel Studios films Black Widow and Shang-Chi, tickets for the studio’s next film, Eternals, are already selling better than those for its predecessors.
In fact, Deadline reports that Eternals earned $2.6 million in its first 24 hours of pre-sales — that’s 86% better than Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and 30% greater than pre-sales for Black Widow.
Shang-Chi went on to earn more than $402 million worldwide, while Black Widow reportedly earned over $397 million. However, unlike Shang-Chi, the latter film, which came out July 7, was controversially released simultaneously in theaters and via Disney+ Premiere Access. That prompted a lawsuit from star and executive producer Scarlett Johansson, who had claimed the strategy cut into theatrical profits — and thus her bottom line. The suit was eventually settled.
Eternals, which stars Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden, and which was directed by Nomadland Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, opens November 5.
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