As we have come to expect with MCU movies, a new release means a new leader at the box office. “Eternals” is no exception, grossing $71 million domestically in its opening weekend. While that is lower than the debuts of this year’s previous two MCU releases “Black Widow” — which grossed $80,366, 312 in its debut, and “Shang-Chi” — which grossed $75,388,688 in its debut — the MCU stays winning in terms of its box office. The $161.7 million worldwide debut makes up for shaky reviews; “Eternals” dropped to 48% on the “Tomatometer,” while its audience score sits at 81%; but that is another story for another day.
The rest of the box office looks paltry when going against “Eternals.” “Dune” was the second-highest-grossing movie this weekend, grossing $7,620,000 in its third weekend and dropping another 50.6% from last week. It has now cleared the $80 million mark ($83,946,162) domestically, and has crossed $330 million worldwide ($330,446,162).
This weekend’s next big release was “Spencer,” a film that will be vying for awards come next spring. Despite featuring a career-defining performance for Kristen Stewart as the late Princess Diana, the film only grossed $2,148,000 in 996 theaters. That is an average of just $2,156 per theater. Granted, “Spencer” director Pablo Larrain’s previous political biographical film, “Jackie” starring Natalie Portman, opened to just $278,715 in five theaters. It wasn’t until the film’s third weekend that it was playing in a comparable number of theaters to “Spencer.” It played in 84 theaters for a total of $573,645, so “Spencer” looks like a major success in comparison, even if the awards talk should have pushed its total even further.
“No Time to Die” made another $6,180,899 in its fifth weekend open, and it continues closing in on “Detective Chinatown 3” for the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. It is roughly $18.8 million away from achieving this, and with its VOD release coming on November 9, it would require staying in theaters for numerous more weekends and continuing to have legs. Even if it burns out before then, it’s still a great accomplishment to be in the top four of the year and only behind “F9” in terms of the worldwide gross of films released in the US.

“Eternals” will have a couple of weeks to enjoy at the top of the box office. Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” is the only wide release next week, and it isn’t until November 19 that another franchise blockbuster is releasing, and that is “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”