After the first Avengers film was released in 2012 to the absolute delight of Marvel fans across the world, it felt like the studio was on a roll with its vision for the MCU. The following films all scored relatively high with audiences, and it seemed like Marvel was knocking them out of the park, that is, until 2021’s Eternals. There is a silver lining for the film though, as apparently, despite online derision, it has fought its way back from obscurity.
With modern streaming now allowing us to watch films in the comfort of our homes mere months after watching them in theaters (who remembers the six-month wait to go collect it in Blockbuster?) fans have been able to rewatch almost all of 2022’s Marvel offerings in the comfort of their home via Disney Plus. In this case, you would think that the most-streamed film last year would be one of the big blockbusters that were released, such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or Thor: Love and Thunder, but that wasn’t the case.
Despite receiving one of the worst critical scores on Rotten Tomatoes for an MCU movie, Eternals is actually one of the most streamed movies on the streaming platform in 2022, and it wasn’t even by a little. It outstripped every other Marvel movie, which were unable to even crack the top ten. Eternals was watched for a total of 4.236 billion minutes according to the Neilsen chart which was reported by Variety. This landed them at number 13 in their top 15 most-streamed movies of 2022.
The film was highly anticipated by Marvel fans before its release, given its stellar cast which included Angelina Jolie and Game of Thrones‘s Richard Madden, and also the fact that it was being directed by the Academy Award-winning Chloé Zhao. However, many left theatres feeling a little let down by the overall premise, the uninspiring villain, and its lack of cohesiveness with other MCU franchises. Despite this, it would seem to be one of those films that people just keep going back to.
Marvel’s next big release comes in the form of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which has everyone excited as we are reintroduced/introduced to Kang the Conqueror who appears to be trapped in the Quantum realm. Director Peyton Reed has planned for this to be the heroes’ biggest solo outing yet, telling EW, “For this third one, I said, ‘I don’t want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.'” Perhaps when it hits streaming it will take over the current Marvel champ, but for now, Eternals can bask in its victory.
You can watch Eternals now on Disney Plus.
