‘Eternals’ Is Marvel’s First Rotten Film on Rotten Tomatoes
Well, it was bound to happen eventually. For more than a decade, Marvel Studios has gone a perfect 25 for 25 on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Every single previous entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe received a positive “Fresh” score on the site from film critics. None dipped below a 60 percent score, into the territory that qualifies as “Rotten” on the site.
Not Eternals. Although the initial wave of reviews from critics who attended the film’s world premiere were generally positive, the subsequent reviews have been trending more and more negative ever since. Last week, Eternals became the lowest rated MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes, but at that point it was still (barely) Fresh with a rating of 63. Into the weekend, it kept creeping lower and lower. Over the weekend, and then again on Monday, it dropped to 59 percent and the little tomato icon next to its score has flipped to the dreaded splat.
The critical consensus for Eternals on the site reads “An ambitious superhero epic that soars slightly more often than it strains, Eternals takes the MCU in intriguing -- and occasionally confounding -- new directions.”
As of this writing, the film is now teetering between fresh and rotten. After a few more reviews were added, it was 60 percent out of 131 reviews. Then a few more were added, and it dropped again, to 59 percent out of 133 reviews. Currently, it’s at 57 percent out of 147 reviews. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Here is how every MCU movie ranks at present:
- Black Panther - 96
- Avengers: Endgame - 94
- Iron Man - 94
- Thor: Ragnarok - 93
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - 92
- Spider-Man: Homecoming - 92
- Guardians of the Galaxy - 92
- The Avengers - 91
- Spider-Man: Far From Home - 90
- Captain America: Civil War - 90
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 90
- Doctor Strange - 89
- Ant-Man and the Wasp - 87
- Avengers: Infinity War - 85
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - 85
- Ant-Man - 83
- Captain America: The First Avenger - 80
- Black Widow - 79
- Captain Marvel - 79
- Iron Man 3 - 79
- Thor - 77
- Avengers: Age of Ultron - 76
- Iron Man 2 - 72
- The Incredible Hulk - 67
- Thor: The Dark World - 66
- Eternals - 59
There is still time for Eternals to rally and get a bunch of positive reviews and wind up as a fresh film. But for that to happen, it would have to buck how these kinds of movies generally tend to get reviewed, and how the reviews for Eternals specifically have filtered in so far. It’s possible, but looking less and less likely by the day. At this point, even if Eternals does manage to get a “Fresh” final score, it’s almost guaranteed that it will still be the lowest rated Marvel Cinematic Universe movie on Rotten Tomatoes ever.
Eternals opens in theaters this Friday, with early showings on Thursday night. You can read ScreenCrush’s (negative) review of the film here.