Although some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies released during The Multiverse Saga have hit well with audiences, including Spider-Man: No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Deadpool & Wolverine, others have failed to achieve success, be it critically or commercially. Eternals falls into both categories, with the 2021 Marvel movie (which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription) earning mixed reception (CinemaBlend’s Eternals review gave it 3 stars out of 5) and only making $402 million worldwide off a reported budget exceeding $236 million. Well as it turns out, Eternals director Chloé Zhao believes the movie’s large budget ended up being “dangerous” to the production.
While speaking about her 2025 movie Hamnet, which premieres at the Toronto Film Festival on September 7 and arrives to the public on November 27, Zhao mentioned that her work on Eternals was actually a crucial “bridge” to her work on this historical drama. As she explained to Vanity Fair:
