Written by: Vickie Sullivan | January 06, 2022
Eternals’ Low Performance Has Lessons for All of Us
Holiday movie season is over. Apparently, the big miss was Marvel’s opening of Eternals. This Fast Company article outlining what happened has lessons for us thought leaders.
Eternals wasn’t a total flop. After opening weekend, the film grossed $90 million in the international market. But its box office numbers were down 10%, and the movie got the worst reviews in franchise history (ouch!).
Looking at the big mistakes producers made with the film, a few stand out as things we can learn from and avoid. Here’s a look at two:
• The stories got too complex. In Eternals, we had twice the number of heroes, which is too many to keep up with. Yet a lot of us do the same thing when we describe our approach and what we bring to the party. So, keep it simple enough to understand by lowering the factors for success.
Listen: Why Stories Get Bogged Down
• The exposure became too much. Overheated hype can set very high expectations. While it’s tempting to leverage your hard-won attention to keep the revenue rolling, sometimes you must pull back your availability. Be aware of this delicate balancing act.
What happened to Marvel is evidence that the mighty can fall when they think market dynamics don’t apply to them. You might not be as famous as the Marvel franchise, but its nosedive from the top can happen to smaller players, too.
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