The Eternals - Soaring to New Heights or in Crisis?

The story of The Eternals has hit a point where I feel the need to contextualize and explore it by itself. Buckle-up, strap-in and strap-on, because I want to go through it thoroughly. We're going to begin with a chronology to set the stage.

2015

• Marvel Entertainment (Jeph Loeb) hires John Ridley to produce an ABC show based on The Eternals (cf); the identity of what IP Ridley was working on was kept secret until 2019, long after it was retaken by Kevin Feige for Marvel Studios

2018

• April - The scoop that made the now cancelled Jeremy Conrad--Kevin Feige had taken back the IP for the MCU; this news came out a month after WB hired Ava Duvernay to direct New Gods (RIP), the IP Jack Kirby retooled when he returned to Marvel from DC--it's difficult not to see a connection between WB's push for that project and Feige's sudden interest (both hiring female directors of colour for the project doesn't seem coincidental)
• May - Writers Matthew and Ryan Firpo are hired to write the script
• June - Feige says he wants the film to play with the Ancient Aliens trope where the Eternals are the inspiration for a lot of mythology (how this meshes with actual Asgardians and Greek Gods is a mystery, unless the Eternals progenerated them as well); given how poorly Captain Marvel and Falcon and the Winter Soldier were integrated into MCU history, I'm skeptical that this will be done well
• September - Director Chloe Zhao is hired, coming off The Rider (an award winning film--the kind of thing only cinephiles watch anymore--the small scale, personal drama Modernists beat to death 70 years ago); it's claimed Marvel was in a rush to hire her in case someone else scooped her up
• October - That Hashtag Show (anonymously, but presumably Murphy) posts a story synopsis that, while clearly outdated (and presumably from Production Weekly), is still leaned on in popular coverage
• November - THS (Murphy) posts a cast list that must come from Production Weekly, but this is also dated and only partially resembles the cast in the film

2019

• March - Angelina Jolie is cast (erroneously believed to be Sersi at the time)
• May - Richard Madden is cast (correctly identified as Ikaris)
• July - The release date is set for November 6, 2020; filming commences with Zhao given complete control (saying the style she was using was inspired by Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant, a film where DiCaprio shivered until he won an Academy Award)
• August - Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, and Barry Keoghan join the cast--this block announcement isn't typical for stars, so presumably was done to mute criticism of race-swapping Sersi (Harington is a much more direct adaptation for Black Knight, a character with no comic association with the Eternals and not included in the initial casting call, making him a late addition--presumably intended to add spice to an otherwise underwhelming group)

2020

• February - Filming wraps
• April - The release date is shifted to February 12, 2021; reports (ultimately from Daniel) circulate about how rushed the production was--unfinished costumes and an unfinished script (the reason for the film's rush, its speculated, is because of Guardians 3's shift in the slate); Daniel says the focus of the film is on Sersi and Dane Whitman (rather than Sersi and Ikaris), which is officially confirmed over a year later
• August - The title is shortened from The Eternals to Eternals (something I habitually forget)
• September - The release date shifts to November, 2021; Zhao's film Nomadland comes out (it doesn't make money, but as award bait that doesn't matter)

2021

• January - Zhao says she was also a writer for the film
• February - Additional photography (reshoots) occur--these are anomalously late given that the release date had changed just four months earlier (ergo, it's unlikely they were the original planned reshoots); a Tweet from Erick Weber (editor of Awards Ace) starts pushing the hype train for the film--it's the next Citizen Kane; K. C. Walsh (GWW editor) reports that Gemma Chan was such a problem on-set that Marvel has scaled back plans for her--Walsh subsequently deletes his Tweet without explanation and the fandom has tried very hard to forget it
• March - Busy with the awards schedule, Zhao (who typically edits her own films) leans on Dylan Tichenor and Craig Wood to make the first cut--this means the praise for the film up until then is at least in part due to those editors; the New York Times reports that the film could be in trouble in China due to a backlash over comments Zhao made in an interview years ago
• April - The leak: an anonymous Redditor reports on a screening (which must be the Tichenor-Wood cut)--the fandom eagerly ignores this information; Zhao wins an Oscar for Nomadland (which is the same type of film as The Rider)
• May - The first official trailer shots are included in a brief promo montage (the images match the leak, from what little we can tell); the focus is on Jolie's Thena (she gets the 'hero' shots), rather than the films leads

The Risk

Ever since this project leaked, there have been concerns about it (as I've gone over before, cf). While often casually compared to Guardians of the Galaxy, the Eternals IP is far more obscure and lacks the obvious roots in popular entertainment (Guardians is reminiscent of a lot of popular space fare). Beyond that obscurity and background, the film is saddled with a cast that hasn't made a ripple in the fandom. What about the director? Putting aside Zhao's inexperience with this kind of film, or that the films she's known for are divorced from popular entertainment, casual fans don't usually care about directors. So how about that cast?

Angelina Jolie is the only big name in the film, albeit in a secondary role. The famous actress is 45 and has a long, award winning career, including experience in genre films (Tomb Raider). Her only true blockbuster was 2014's Maleficent (758 million), whose sequel tailed off significantly. Everyone knows who she is, but that's never specifically boosted the box office of her films. Clearly Marvel knows she's the most exciting cast member, as she was given the most best coverage in the teaser--this can't last, since the leads will have to be prominently featured.

Richard Madden, the 34-year old Scottish actor, is best known for Game of Thrones; he has a modest film history with no notable failures. Like Jolie above, he's a positive add, but he won't bring fans into the theater.

The 28-year old Irish actor is making the transition from award winning films into the realm of blockbusters. Less recognizable than the two above, like them, no one is showing up to The Eternals because Barry Keoghan is in the film. Given the quality and age of the actor, Marvel might be playing the long game with him and envisioning a larger future.

The two leads are 38-year old Gemma Chan and 34-year old Kit Harington. Neither has ever shouldered a blockbuster before. Chan is known primarily for Crazy Rich Asians (based on the best selling Kevin Kwan novel), which was a modest box office success. Harington, like Madden above, is best known for his role in Game of Thrones, but his experience in film has generally been disastrous. Clearly, neither actor generates box office on their own. It goes without saying that Marvel has had luck with actors who have struggled elsewhere--Chris Hemsworth is the poster boy for that--but both Chan and Harington are much more subdued actors--and older than Hemsworth when he became Thor. Comparisons to Chris Pratt don't really work given his strong comedic background (such an important part of his success). These are, from what I've seen, primarily dramatic actors. The concern with both is that they will pale in comparison against their costars--that Jolie will outshine Chan and Madden/Keoghan will do the same for Harington--the last thing Marvel wants is for fans to wish for there was more of the secondary characters rather than the leads.

The rest of the cast, from veteran Salma Hayek to youthful Lia McHugh, seem to be tertiary members of the group (not just due to their relative prominence, but also by what's in the leak), which makes sense given the limited screen time available. Like everyone else on this list, none of them will have fans rushing out to the theater. Marvel may be aware of this problem, as thus far the (limited) marketing has pushed the director rather than the cast.

To sum up, we have an IP that no one knows (and was never successful as a comic, even if it's lauded for its scope), a cast that can't be relied on to draw an audience, and a rushed production. We also have to talk about the size of the cast--there are eleven characters to introduce here. This is an absurd amount. I think Guardians pushed it to the limit to provide origins for five, and one of those is a tree--is this ambition or insanity? There simply isn't time for proper origins here and the leak implies very limited roles for most. I think most MCU fans will wave away worries about the cast and an obscure IP because of past Marvel success, but what about the production?

When false news about production problems surface, there's typically a quick and strong response to it--either directly from those within the production, or from the media covering it. That has not occurred with this film--instead, the approach has been to ignore any problems raised. This approach concerns me as it lends credence to those reports. So what do we know? The production issues:

The Eternals pre-production was rushed in order to meet the movie’s filming schedule, meaning costumes were not finished, sets were not completely constructed, and even parts of the script were incomplete at the start of filming. Specifically, Kit Harington's Black Knight costume was unfinished when scenes with him in the suit were being shot, so it's likely that post-production work will be needed to digitally complete the suit

Daniel is a huge Marvel fanboy who doesn't want to speak negatively of anything, so he's only going to talk about this if he feels its verified (and the coverage surrounding it never questions the facts). In the leak Harington never suits up as Black Knight, leaving us with three options: 1) The leak is false, 2) The scene or scenes are few and were removed for the screener, or 3) Marvel decided against having that reveal (presumably because of how many characters in the film and require introductions). That aside, while films have survived a rushed schedule, this is often a sign of trouble. The above story circulated for about a week in April of 2020, but since then no one talks about it. Daniel can't have learned of this from his usual source (Production Weekly), so it must be from crew chatter and/or local reports. This story was followed later by much spicier news:

I heard Gemma Chan [Sersi] was a pain to work with on Eternals, so much so, Feige reduced her role in future plans and changed the ending to give Madden [Ikaris] a larger role, also heard other characters are introduced

Walsh doesn't say where this information comes from, but he has firm connections to both Murphy and Daniel and the former does have access to at least one Marvel associated agent (eg he was given the entire breakdown of Endgame almost a year before it came out). The idea of introduced characters fits the leak (one of the post-credit scenes), but above and beyond that, he has a good track record and is a card-carrying Marvel fanboy--the last thing Walsh would want to do is say something negative about Chan. While he has deleted the Tweet, he hasn't made a mea culpa to say he was wrong. There's no sign of these changes from the leak, but it's unlikely much could be changed with her as a lead. What's not in dispute are the potential issues Zhao has in China (as per The New York Times):

Experts say that while Ms. Zhao’s background would likely have been a major selling point for “The Eternals” in China, it could now become an Achilles’ heel

We don't know if China will suppress the release of The Eternals or not, but if they do that has massive implications for the film's box office. Perhaps Zhao and Disney can mollify the Chinese government and this will simply be a footnote to the film's history, but until then it raises serious questions over how well the film can perform.

There's Still Time

While interest in The Eternals hasn't spiked, it isn't in the black hole of indifference of Shang-Chi (at least in terms of social media engagement). The teaser for it is ephemeral, but the highlighting of Jolie seems to have helped. We won't be able to assess how well the film is being received until we see a true trailer and there's no rush for that given that two movies will release ahead of it.

I haven't talked at all about whether this will be a good film or not (as opposed to a successful one). We simply don't have enough information to even guess. The people gushing about it have an incentive to do so, which means we can't take their effusion seriously. For fans of Zhao's prior work, cinema history is filled with non-genre filmmakers faceplanting when attempting this kind of thing, so we can't draw conclusions from that either. As for the cast, while I think the casting of Gilgamesh is outrageous for cultural reasons, even if it's underwhelming on the surface it could still work--there's talent here that a good script could make shine. Unfortunately, I'm concerned about the current standards of MCU storytelling after the slipshod experiences of WandaVision and Falcon (the former has already lead to spin from the MCU). Will this be a return to form? If it's not, this is one of the rare projects Marvel can put in the rearview mirror without impacting anything--it's not the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, etc--something fans are already passionate about and would truly be upset if they were done poorly. Ultimately I think expectations need to be measured. There is potential for the Eternals, but I think we need to hold off uncorking the champagne until we've seen a little more.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)