Eternals Trivia | 100 facts about the new MCU film

“Eternals” is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is directed by Academy Award Winner, Chloe Zhao.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the new MCU flick.

1. Eternals is a 2021 American superhero film
2. It is based on the Marvel Comics race of the same name
3. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
4. It is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
5. The film was directed by Chloé Zhao
6. Zhao wrote the screenplay with Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Kaz Firpo
7. It stars an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie
8. In the film, the Eternals, an immortal alien race, emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their evil counterparts, the Deviants
9. In April 2018, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that a film based on the Eternals had begun development, with Ryan and Kaz Firpo hired to write the script in May
10. Zhao was set to direct the film by late September
11. She was given significant creative freedom with the film
12. This resulted in filming on location more than previous MCU films
13. Zhao re-wrote the screenplay
14. Burleigh was later reported to have also contributed to
15. Principal photography took place from July 2019 to February 2020, at Pinewood Studios as well as on location in London and Oxford, England, and in the Canary Islands
16. Eternals premiered in Los Angeles on October 18, 2021
17. The film was released theatrically in the United States on November 5
18. It is part of Phase Four of the MCU
19. The film received mixed reviews from critics
20. Critics praised the visuals and themes
21. They criticized its exposition, pacing, runtime, and lack of character development
22. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in April 2018 that the studio was actively developing a film based on the Marvel Comics series Eternals, created by Jack Kirby, to release as part of their Phase Four slate of films
23. Marvel Studios had met with multiple screenwriters, and was believed to be focusing on the character Sersi in the film
24. Marvel set Ryan and Kaz Firpo to write the script a month later
25. With their outline including a love story between the characters Sersi and Ikaris
26. In June, Feige said Marvel was interested in exploring the “ancient aliens kind of sci-fi trope” by having the Eternals be the inspiration for myths and legends throughout the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
27. During late August, Marvel’s director search for Eternals narrowed to a shortlist that included Chloé Zhao, Nicole Kassell, Travis Knight, and the pair of Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
28. Zhao had also been in the running to direct Marvel’s Black Widow
29. Zhao approached Marvel Studios about making the film as she had been a fan of the MCU
30. She wanted to work with the studio to bring her own take and world-building to the franchise
31. Zhao impressed them with a presentation that Feige described as fascinating, with “reams of visuals”
32. Zhao worked with producer Nate Moore to develop her pitch
33. The presentation left Marvel concerned that she might take on a different big-studio project instead of Eternals, forcing them to move quickly to secure her, and Zhao was hired as director in September
34. Zhao hoped to push the scope of the film further than Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame (2019), but also wanted it to have intimacy
35. Zhao described the film as a melting pot of influences, from Kirby’s original work, previous MCU projects, Zhao’s fandom of the MCU, and her love of science fiction and fantasy films and manga
36. Speaking specifically to her love of manga, she hoped those influences would create a “marriage of East and West”
37. Zhao cited the TV series Ancient Aliens, the Final Fantasy video game series, the concepts from Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and the films of Terrence Malick as her inspirations for the film
38. Marvel considered Eternals to be a perfect transition into its next phase of films along with projects such as Captain Marvel (2019)
39. Allowing the studio to cast a diverse group of actors to portray the various Eternals
40. Moore’s initial planning documents for the project including the swapping of genders, sexualities, and ethnicities of some characters from the comic books, with Zhao further advocating for this approach
41. In February 2019, Feige reiterated that Marvel was interested in the Eternals due to Kirby’s epic, century-spanning story, with the film version spanning 7,000 years and exploring humanity’s place in the cosmos
42. Zhao noted that the Eternals “have lived among us for so long, [they have] the same struggles like identity, purpose, faith, personal freedom versus greater good — all the duality and flaws that make us human”
43. When trying to develop a story that spanned so many years, Marvel realized that the characters would likely be a family unit, with friendship that would “turn into frenemies, and then turn into enemies, and then come back to friendship”
44. Zhao also looked to the Earth as an eleventh character in the film, chronicling its journey alongside the Eternal characters
45. Marvel also wanted to create more ensemble films that were not crossover films, like Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
46. While introducing relatively unknown characters to audiences as they did with that film’s title characters and the Avengers
47. Angelina Jolie joined the cast in March 2019, reportedly as Sersi
48. Kumail Nanjiani and Don Lee cast in undisclosed roles the next month
49. At that time, the film was expected to feature Marvel Studios’ first gay superhero
50. In May, Richard Madden entered negotiations for the role of Ikaris
51. Salma Hayek had entered early negotiations for an undisclosed role the following month
52. In July, Variety reported that the cast included Jolie, Madden, and Millie Bobby Brown
53. But Brown denied that she had been cast
54. At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Feige officially announced The Eternals with a release date of November 6, 2020
55. He officially announced the casting of Jolie as Thena, Nanjiani as Kingo, Lee as Gilgamesh, Madden as Ikaris, and Hayek as Ajak, along with Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, and Lia McHugh as Sprite
56. Feige added that one of these actors was portraying an LGBTQ character
57. By the film’s official announcement in July 2019, principal photography had begun at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England
58. Ben Davis served as director of photography, after doing so on several previous MCU films
59. Zhao said Marvel Studios allowed her creative freedom to shoot the film on location, “exactly the way [she] wanted to shoot” it
60. She was able to use a similar style to her previous films, including 360° shots and working with the same camera and rigs as was used for her film Nomadland (2020), which Zhao was set to complete back-to-back with The Eternals
61. Zhao felt that she “got lucky in that Marvel wants to take risks and do something different”
62. Zhao cited The Revenant (2015) as a primary influence when composing the film’s action sequences
63. Gemma Chan and Barry Keoghan were in talks to join the cast in August 2019
64. By early November, filming took place in the Canary Islands
65. The filming cast and crew, including Jolie and Madden, had to be evacuated from a shooting location on the island of Fuerteventura when an explosive device was found there
66. The device was thought to be a remnant armament from a Nazi base
67. Later that month, Zain Al Rafeea joined the cast
68. In early January 2020, filming took place outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in Oxford, England, as well as Hampstead Heath and in Camden in London, under the working title Sack Lunch
69. Chan said the filming process felt very different from what she experienced on Captain Marvel, explaining that Eternals shot more on location and utilized natural light while Captain Marvel had more studio work and bluescreen
70. Filming wrapped on February 4, 2020
71. In March 2020, Scanline VFX, one of the companies working on the film’s visual effects, confirmed that they would be working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic
72. In early April, Disney shifted much of their Phase Four slate of films due to the pandemic, moving The Eternals’ release date to February 12, 2021
73. In August, the film’s title was officially shortened from The Eternals to Eternals
74. The next month, the release date was pushed back to November 5, 2021
75. Reshoots had taken place by mid-November 2020
76. Ramin Djawadi composed the score for the film, after previously doing so for Marvel’s Iron Man (2008)
77. Two songs from the film’s soundtrack, “Across the Oceans of Time” and “Eternals Theme”, were released as singles on October 22, 2021
78. While the full album was released on November 3
79. Advanced ticket sales for Eternals were estimated to be $2.6 million in its first 24 hours, surpassing those for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($1.4 million) and Black Widow ($2 million) during the same time frame
80. While AMC Theatres had the largest first day sales of 2021 for the film
81. In November, Fandango reported that pre-sales for Eternals were second-largest of 2021, behind Black Widow
82. In October, Boxoffice Pro initially projected that the film would earn $82–102 million within its opening weekend
83. And around $210–280 million in total domestic box office
84. At the end of the month, BoxofficePro modified their projections to $67–92 million for the film’s opening weekend
85. And around $165–215 million in total domestic box office, due to mixed early critical reception
86. According to Deadline Hollywood, Eternals is currently expected to earn $75 million within its domestic opening weekend
87. And around $150 million globally
88. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 48%
89. With an average rating of 5.6/10
90. Based on 287 reviews
91. The website’s critical consensus reads, “An ambitious superhero epic that soars as often as it strains, Eternals takes the MCU in intriguing—and occasionally confounding—new directions”
92. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100
93. Based on 57 critics
94. Indicating “mixed or average reviews”
95. It is the lowest-rated MCU film on both websites
96. “Eternals” is the first installment to be classified as “rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes
97. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B” on an A+ to F scale
98. This is tthe lowest grade for an MCU film
99. While PostTrak reported 75% of audience members gave it a positive score
100. With 57% saying they would definitely recommend it