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Eternals Director Chloé Zhao Knows Why the Movie Failed
For more than a decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was the undisputed king of the box office, a seemingly invincible machine that turned obscure characters into household names and consistently delivered billion-dollar hits. That streak of invincibility came to an end with 2021’s Eternals, a film that became the very first in the MCU’s long history to receive a “Rotten” score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. In retrospect, the divisive reception to the cosmic epic was not an outlier but a precursor to the wider issues of the Multiverse Saga. In the years that followed, Marvel Studios has contended with a series of critical and commercial disappointments, struggling to recapture the universal acclaim and financial dominance of the Infinity Saga. According to Eternals director Chloé Zhao, she knows one of the reasons for her film’s failure, and it might also help explain the franchise’s recent troubles.
“Eternals prepared me for Hamnet because it’s world-building,” Zhao told Vanity Fair while promoting her new film. “Before that, I had only done films that existed in the real world. I also learned what to do and not to do — what’s realistic and what isn’t.” She elaborated, “Eternals had, like, an unlimited amount of money and resources. And here [in Hamnet] we have one street corner that we can afford, to [stand in for] Stratford…. Eternals didn’t have a lot of limitations, and that is actually quite dangerous. Because we only have that street corner, suddenly everything has meaning.”
Artists facing limitations are often forced to invent clever and more focused solutions to tell their stories, a dynamic frequently seen in the horror genre, which has a rich history of producing memorable films on shoestring budgets. However, for Marvel Studios, the issue of budget is twofold. Creatively, the lack of restraint can lead to unfocused storytelling, but it also leads to immense financial pressure. Inflated production costs mean that even a box office haul that would be a major success for any other studio can be a financial disappointment for the MCU.
The critically acclaimed Thunderbolts*, for instance, underperformed at the box office, grossing $382 million worldwide against a reported $180 million budget before marketing costs. Even The Fantastic Four: First Steps, while performing better, is still fighting to reach the break-even point with a global take of nearly $492 million. These returns suggest a need for Marvel to embrace lower budgets and more inventive, constraint-driven filmmaking.
Marvel Studios Is Betting on the Avengers to Regain the Audience
Despite the struggles of individual films, Marvel Studios is looking to its most reliable brand to bring audiences back to theaters in full force. The studio is gearing up for a massive two-part event with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, scheduled for release in December 2026 and December 2027, respectively. Doomsday is set to feature an enormous ensemble cast, uniting the Avengers with teams like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men against the iconic villain Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.).
The studio’s most valuable character, Spider-Man, is also being positioned for a major team-up event. The next solo outing for the web-slinger, titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day, will see Peter Parker (Tom Holland) join forces with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). Their unlikely partnership will reportedly be formed to take on a more savage and brutish version of the Hulk (Mark Rufallo). This street-level story, packed with heavy hitters, indicates the studio is pulling out all the stops to create must-see events.
Finally, Avengers: Secret Wars is expected to serve as a soft reboot of the entire cinematic universe. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has stated that Secret Wars is about “beginnings” and will “reset” the MCU, allowing the studio to streamline its continuity and set a new course for the future. The film is also expected to formally integrate the X-Men and potentially recast iconic roles like Captain America and Iron Man, clearing the board for a new era of storytelling.
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