Eternals (film)
It stars an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie.In the film, the Eternals, immortal alien beings, emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their ancient counterparts, the Deviants.In April 2018, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that a film based on the Eternals was in development and would explore the group as ancient aliens living throughout human history.Casting began in early 2019 and Burleigh joined to work on the script ahead of principal photography, which took place from July 2019 to February 2020 at Pinewood Studios and on location in England and the Canary Islands.Eternals premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on October 18, 2021, and was released in the United States on November 5 as part of Phase Four of the MCU.In 5000 BC, ten superpowered beings known as Eternals—Ajak, Sersi, Ikaris, Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, Gilgamesh, and Thena—are sent to Earth by Arishem, a Celestial, on the starship Domo.After Sersi's partner Ikaris left her without explanation centuries earlier, she is now in a relationship with human Dane Whitman who works at the Natural History Museum.[31] Marvel set Ryan and Kaz Firpo to write the script a month later,[32] with their outline including a love story between the characters Sersi and Ikaris.She wanted to work with the studio to bring her own take and world-building to the franchise,[35] and impressed them with a presentation that Feige described as fascinating, with "reams of visuals".[37] 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.[33] 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.[10] In February 2019, Feige reiterated that Marvel was interested in the Eternals due to Kirby's epic, century-spanning story,[41] with the film version spanning 7,000 years and exploring humanity's place in the cosmos.[37] 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".Approximately four months ahead of filming, the script was not finalized, so Moore introduced Patrick Burleigh, who had been part of Marvel's writers program, to Zhao in the hopes he could assist with the writing.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.[61] Chan and Keoghan were confirmed to be cast in the film at the D23 Expo in August, in the roles of Sersi and Druig, respectively, along with Kit Harington as Dane Whitman.[73] 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.[2][42] Moore believed the studio had "bit off as much as we could chew" with the film, creating one that "felt urgent and present and had [a fast] pace, but also took time to reflect back over the centuries".Club felt the spot teased some fresh angles for the MCU in a similar way to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and he enjoyed the images of Kingo's Bollywood dance, Sprite performing karaoke, and the end scene of the Eternals eating together and joking about the Avengers.[98] The final trailer was released in August 2021, with Ethan Shanfeld and Manori Ravindran of Variety feeling it was "more serious in tone" than the teaser with the Eternals "grappling with the prospect of emerging after centuries living apart in order to help humans".[102] Beginning on November 20, 2021, select costumes from the film were part of the Futures exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's Arts and Industries Building, which ran through July 2022.[109] In May 2021, a Chinese state media report excluded Eternals, as well as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, from its list of upcoming MCU films releasing, which Variety noted "added to rumors" that the films would not be released in China, especially since Zhao had become "an unexpected persona non grata" in the country after she was scrutinized by Chinese netizens over her remarks in a 2013 interview with Filmmaker magazine in which she described China as "a place where there are lies everywhere".Theaters in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt were set to show an edited version of the film which is missing all the love scenes.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.[123] Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Evening Standard described the film as "lavish" and "ambitious", and praised the fight sequences as "astounding, beautifully paced and crammed with detail".[143] Linda Marric of The Jewish Chronicle described it as "a mishmash of well-meaning, yet jarringly verbose and bafflingly incoherent nonsense which is only just about saved by some half decent performances";[144] Nicholas Barber of BBC Culture called Zhao's direction "workmanlike";[145] and Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent said that it "strives for the same expansive soulfulness" as Nomadland "but discovers there's room enough only for the occasional burst of it".[146] Brian Truitt of USA Today praised Zhao's "penchant for naturalistic environments", but wrote that the narrative "struggles to juggle its many subplots and tries to do too much".[149] Robbie Collin wrote the film was "constantly engaged in a kind of grit-toothed authenticity theatre, going out of its way to show you it's doing all the things proper cinema does, even though none of them bring any discernible benefit";[150] Kevin Maher felt "a strange self-sabotaging energy at the heart";[151] and Steve Rose of The Guardian missed "the breezy wit of Marvel's best movies ... like coming into Avengers: Endgame cold without having seen any of the preceding installments".Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "much of the criticism of Kirby's work", which was divisive for its subject matter and relationship to the wider Marvel Universe, "has followed Zhao in her adaptation."He compared the divisive response to that of Zack Snyder's DC Extended Universe films Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), writing that they and Eternals share "a deconstructive approach to superheroes and force them to question their purpose in the world, through meditative and melancholy narrative beats, and a tragic yet hopeful ending."
The Eternal (film)Eternal (film)Chloé ZhaoPatrick BurleighKaz FirpoEternalsJack KirbyKevin FeigeNate MooreGemma ChanRichard MaddenKumail NanjianiLia McHughBrian Tyree HenryLauren RidloffBarry KeoghanDon LeeKit HaringtonSalma HayekAngelina JolieBen DavisCraig WoodDylan TichenorRamin DjawadiMarvel StudiosWalt Disney StudiosMotion PicturesDolby Theatresuperhero filmMarvel ComicsWalt Disney Studios Motion Picturesthe 26th filmMarvel Cinematic Universeensemble castDeviantsancient aliensTerrence Malickprincipal photographyPinewood StudiosCanary IslandsHollywood, Los AngelesIkarisSpritePhastosMakkariGilgameshArishemCelestialstarshipLondonDane WhitmanNatural History MuseumEmergenceapex predatorsthe BlipTiamutAmazon rainforestmind-controlactive volcanopermanent childlike statemid-credits scenePip the TrollEbony BladeSan Diego Comic-ConEternalmuseum curatorZack SnyderinterpretationSupermanMan of SteelBollywoodJohn McClaneDie Hard film seriesHrithik RoshanErrol Flynn filmsBollywood danceTinker BellPeter PanNeil GaimanJohn Romita Jr.CelestialsMahd Wy'ryBill SkarsgårdDavid KayeHarish PatelHaaz SleimanZain Al RafeeaHarry StylesEros / StarfoxThanosPatton OswaltMahershala Alihis own filmMarvel TelevisionJohn RidleyBlack WidowNicole KassellTravis KnightCristina GallegoCiro Guerraworld-buildingFinal FantasyYuval Noah HarariCaptain MarvelGuardians of the Galaxythat film's title charactersAvengersThe Tree of Liferoad trip filmVarietyMillie Bobby BrownBuckinghamshireNomadlandback-to-backThe RevenantMinn-ErvaD23 ExpoFuerteventuraOxford University Museum of Natural HistoryOxfordHampstead HeathCamdenworking titlewrappedScanline VFXCOVID-19 pandemicIndustrial Light & Magic