A spoiler-free discussion.
The Eternals
Up until about a week ago, to openly claim that Marvel displayed any inkling of having faith in this film’s success would be a lie. In fact, we will go as far as saying that the marketing for The Eternals movie, much like the portrayal of the characters in the film, has remained largely low-key, almost as if the movie itself had vanished in a real-world event akin to The Blip.
Moreover, the degree of uncertainty surrounding this film’s prospects, possibly due to the raging pandemic in our backyard, caused the studio to initially opt for a Disney+ release as opposed to a theatrical one. Thankfully, upon seeing the success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as a cinema exclusive, Marvel has since double-backed and announced that The Eternals would indeed have a theatrical release once again.
It is certainly a good thing that the studio chose to have the film released in cinemas, as there exists no foreseeable manner in which this film could ever be fully appreciated if it was solely distributed on Disney+. This is because The Eternals themselves are not a very well-known team compared to the likes of the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, or The X-Men. If we had to guess where they stand in terms of popularity, it would undoubtedly be in the Guardians of the Galaxy category prior to the success of their origin film.
Therefore, if we were to follow the logic of The Eternals being of a similar status to the Guardians, then this relatively obscure team will certainly benefit significantly from its theatrical release. After all, the best place to enjoy a superhero film is by catching it on the big screen, as it would allow viewers to attain the full experience that the movie intends to showcase without them having the urge to hit the pause button and go off to do something else, which would indisputably jeopardize the momentum needed by The Eternals to register in audiences’ minds the way the Guardians of the Galaxy did in 2014.
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