Disney's 'Eternals' Outpaces 'Clifford The Big Red Dog' At Weekend Box Office

The Walt Disney Co.’s DIS “Eternals” clinched the top berth in the U.S. weekend box office for a second consecutive week despite a steep decline in ticket sales from its opening engagement and a surprisingly strong performance by the family-friendly “Clifford the Big Red Dog” from ViacomCBS’ VIAC Paramount Pictures.

What Happened: “Eternals” absorbed $27.5 million from 4,090 cinemas – a 75% drop from its opening weekend ticket sales of $71 million. “Clifford,” which has a head-start on the weekend box office with a Nov. 10 premiere, brought in $22 million in its first five days in theaters.

But whereas “Eternals” was a long-anticipated presentation, “Clifford” is a belated addition to the November theatrical release slate – Paramount withdrew “Clifford” and its fall slate of movies in August out of concerns of the impact of the coronavirus Delta variant on theater attendance, only to change its mind when it became apparent box office grosses were not being impacted. Also, “Eternals” is a theatrical-exclusive engagement whereas “Clifford” is also available for free viewing on the Paramount+ streaming service.

“Eternals” is also competing against earlier releases that are still attracting audiences after several weeks in theaters: “Dune” from AT&T’s T Warner Bros. was the third top grossing film this weekend with $5.6 million in ticket sales, followed by United Artists Releasing’s “No Time to Die” with $4.6 million and Sony Pictures’ SONY “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” with $3.7 million.

This weekend also saw “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” become the second pandemic-era film to pass the $200 million mark at the U.S. box office, following in the footsteps of Disney’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”

Elsewhere at the box office, Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” opened to $1.6 million in ticket sales from 580 theaters. The black-and-white drama, released by Comcast Corporation’s CMCSA Focus Features, has been touted by critics as one of the top competitors in the upcoming awards season.

Two other films being positioned for award consideration also did well at the weekend box office from limited release: Wes Anderson’s all-star comedy “The French Dispatch” from Disney’s Searchlight Pictures brought in $1.7 million in ticket sales from 1,225 theaters and the Princess Diana biopic “Spencer” from Neon brought in $1.59 million from 1,256 screens.

What Happens Next: For the coming weekend, the two big nationwide releases are Sony Pictures’ “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which opens a new chapter in the long-running comedy/science-fiction franchise, and Warner Bros.’ biopic “King Richard” starring Will Smith as Richard Williams, father of tennis superstars Serena and Venus Williams. “King Richard” will also be made available on the HBO Max streaming service.

Also opening in the coming weekend is Paramount’s “Pups Alone,” which offers a canine riff on the “Home Alone” series; A24’s black-and-white drama “C’Mon C’mon” starring Joaquin Phoenix as an emotionally stunted radio journalist on a cross-country trip with his precocious nephew; and Vertical Entertainment’s comedy/science-fiction “Alpha Rift” starring Lance Henriksen and Aaron Dalla Villa.

Another weekend premiere is Samuel Goldwyn Films' “She Paradise,” a coming-of-age film about a teen girl in Trinidad who becomes part of a soca dancing squad; the film will also be made available as a video-on-demand title. Two new films bypassing theaters completely for a small-screen debut are Quiver Distribution’s disaster flick “13 Minutes” starring Thora Birch and Trace Adkins, which will be a video-on-demand title, and Gravitas Ventures’ “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain,” a drama based on the true story of a 2011 police shooting of a Black veteran with bipolar disorder, which will air on HBO Max.

What Else Is Happening: Saudi Arabia is joining the international film festival circuit with the Dec. 6-15 premiere of the Red Sea International Film Festival, to be held in Jeddah.

According to a Deadline report, the festival will offer 138 films from 67 countries. The most recognizable films to U.S. audiences are Joe Wright’s musical romance “Cyrano,” an MGM release scheduled for theatrical release on Dec. 31, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” a psychological drama from Netflix NFLX slated to open Dec. 17.

Saudi Arabia has a relatively small film industry and might be best known by global audience for the “Massameer” series of animated shorts and 2020 animated feature that have been presented on Netflix, and also for the critically-acclaimed 2019 drama “The Perfect Candidate” which played at the Venice Film Festival and had an art house release in the U.S. via Music Box Films.

Mohammed Al-Turki, the festival’s chairman of the committee, predicted the event will “also serve as a launchpad for young Saudi and Arab talent, support the development of our flourishing industry, introduce international festival guests to our vibrant creative scene and bring together the global film industry to network, share knowledge and forge partnerships.”

Photo: A scene from "Eternals," courtesy of Disney.