Los Angeles, Nov 8 (IANS): Oscar winner Chloe Zhao's 'Eternals' soared to the top of the U.S. weekend box-office, making a $71-million debut, and added another $90.7 million internationally, bringing its global haul to an impressive $161.7 million, reports 'Variety'.

The film is playing in several major markets, including South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Mexico and Australia. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have banned the movie because of its portrayal of gay love.

Analysts, however, point out that the superhero film's first weekend collections in the United States fell just shy of more bullish projections, which had the movie debuting at $75 million to $80 million.

"That's a sign, perhaps, that the iffy reviews muted 'Eternals' results or a signal that the underlying intellectual property, the story of a group of god-like extraterrestrials, didn't have the resonance of other comic book adaptations," comments 'Variety', pointing out that Marvel has in the past "successfully introduced lesser-known heroes, such as the 'Guardians of the Galaxy', to movie fans and spawned successful franchises with them".

'Eternals', as reported here earlier, has the ignominious distinction of being the only Marvel movie to draw a 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with only 47 per cent of the reviews marked as positive.

The movie, which has been hailed for its inclusivity, scored the fourth-best opening weekend for any movie during the pandemic era, sliding in behind Marvel's own 'Black Widow' ($80.3 million) and 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' ($75.3 million) as well as 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' ($90 million), which was made by Sony but based on a Marvel comic creation.