"Eternals" box office in North America was $71 million in its first weekend, lower than other Marvel Universe movies

Marvel's "Eternals" had a strong box office in North America in its first weekend, reaching 71 million US dollars, but failed to surpass "Black Widow" and "Shang-Chi".

The Eternals opened just below the high end of expectations, with the film opening in the $75 million to $80 million range, according to Variety. The film's opening weekend grosses were also lower than other popular Marvel Cinematic Universe films, such as Black Widow's $80.3 million and Shang-Chi's $75.3 million. It also fell short of Venom: Carnage's $90 million.

Internationally, The Eternals earned an additional $90.7 million, bringing the film's global total to $167.1 million.

One reason why The Eternals hasn't caught up to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may have to do with its critical reception: Currently, the film has a 48% Rotten Tomatoes rating, making it the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to receive a Rotten Tomatoes rating of "Rotten."

"You have to look at things objectively," said Jeff Bock, an analyst at the North American Exhibition Alliance. "For other studios, this would have been very, very successful. But for Disney, the troubling news is the criticism of "Eternals" and how this will affect future word-of-mouth. You can see a sharp drop in the second or third weekend."