Dr. Strange and his dubiously effective spellbook attracted a $ 185 million blockbuster in North American theaters over the weekend, reaffirming the dominance of Disney’s box office after a more trembling pandemic year for the franchise.
The bending timeline “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is a return to Disney’s MCU format after the COVID era released “Black Widow” ($ 80 million plus $ 60 million for Disney Plus), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($ 75 million debut) and Eternals ($ 71 million debut). Due to the pandemic and other mitigating circumstances, these contributions failed to meet their franchise predecessors in terms of ticket sales.
These returns to the box office mark the 11th biggest opening weekend in history. Given the anomaly of reaching these heights in the box office, Doctor Strange 2 easily secured the biggest opening weekend of 2022, as well as the second largest debut in the case of COVID-19. Prior to this weekend, Batman was the biggest opening weekend of the year with $ 134 million. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still ranks as the biggest opening weekend of the pandemic (and the second largest ever) with $ 260 million.
Overseas, the film grossed $ 265 million from 49 territories, for a total of $ 450 million. As “Doctor Strange 2” is unlikely to be played in China, Russia or Ukraine, the film will rely on repeated viewings from audiences around the world to exceed ticket sales above the desired limit of $ 1 billion. Only Spider-Man: No Way Home has crossed that threshold since COVID took over.
At the national box office, the sequel to “Doctor Strange” surpassed the entire number of the first weekend of its predecessor in one day. Multiverse of Madness raised $ 90 million on Friday alone, while the 2016 Doctor Strange adventure grossed $ 85 million between Friday and Sunday. Marvel and other major franchise films tend to be pre-loaded in terms of ticket sales because fans want to be among the first to see the film – so that spoilers don’t appear online and spoil the fun. Still, the sequel will quickly surpass the final box office of the original Doctor Strange, which finished theaters with $ 232 million domestically and $ 677 million worldwide.
“Doctor Strange 2” benefited as a follow-up to Sony box office film Spider-Man: No Way Home, which became a must-see film event and grossed $ 1.89 billion worldwide. With the enticing adventures of Peter Parker as its predecessor, plus Disney’s marketing machine, which is very annoying to some big surprise cameos, “Doctor Strange” landed in thin air – even for a Marvel movie. As the franchise now covers the big and small screens, Disney Plus shows like “WandaVision” and “What If?” Also added to the excitement.
Imax, 3D and other premium-format screens also added higher revenue to Strange, which cost $ 200 million, excluding huge marketing fees. According to Disney, 36% of total ticket sales at the box office come from premium formats. With $ 33 million from Imax alone, Doctor Strange is one of the company’s top 10 global weekends.
“This is another sensational Marvel discovery, according to the dominant Marvel standard,” said David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Doctor Strange increases its audience with a stronger follow-up edition.”
Sam Raimi, the mastermind behind the original Spider-Man trilogy, directed “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” The film unfolds when the eponymous neurosurgeon, turned into the Avengers, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, casts a dangerous spell that forces him to travel to the multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary and alternate versions of himself. Along with Cumberbatch, the cast includes Chivetel Egiofor as Carl Mordo, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch, Benedict Wong as Wong and Socitl Gomez as America Chavez, a teenager who can travel between dimensions.
“Doctor Strange 2” started the summer blockbuster season with a bang. In the coming months, Top Gun: Maverick (May 27), Jurasic World Dominion (June 10) and Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8) are set to keep cinemas alive with pedestrian traffic.
As “Multiverse of Madness” is widely seen in theaters (and occupies almost every screen in major chains), several titles complete the box office charts.
After two weeks in first place, Universal’s animated comedy “The Bad Guys” fell to second place with $ 9.7 million out of 3,839 seats. These returns bring the internal number of the film to 57 million dollars.
Paramount’s family “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” took third place with $ 6.2 million out of 3,358 North American cinemas. After five weeks on the big screen, the sequel to “Sonic” won $ 169.9 million in the domestic box office. This is one of the few sequels from the pandemic era to earn more than its cinematic predecessor. Sonic’s first silver-screen adventure took $ 148 million in North America before COVID-19 forced the multiplexes to close in March 2020.
Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets dropped to 4th place with $ 3.8 million from 3,051 screens. The latest chapter in the Harry Potter prequel series ranks as the most lucrative of the larger Wizarding World film franchise. “Dumbledore’s Secrets” has generated $ 86 million to date and could struggle to surpass $ 100 million in the domestic market, a benchmark that previous Harry Potter films have passed in a matter of days.
All-in-One A24 beat Focus Features’ The Northman for fifth place, with $ 3.3 million out of 1,542 theaters and $ 2.7 million out of 2,413 theaters. This weekend’s activity continues with a strong box office series for “Everything Everywhere and All at Once,” a film that leaps from the genre with Michelle Yeo, although it plays in far fewer theaters than “The Northerner.” Ever since it hit theaters seven weeks ago, Everything Everywhere has grossed an impressive $ 41 million in North America. The Northerner has earned $ 28 million so far.
At the box office, IFC Films unveiled Audrey Dwan’s abortion drama “It Happened” in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, bringing in $ 34,000 from four locations. That means $ 8,500 on site. “Happens”, which took place in France in 1963, arrives on the big screen at a politically busy time, with the Supreme Court seemingly on track to overturn Rowe v. Wade. IFC plans to present the film in more than 100 cities across the country next week.
“IFC Films is committed to presenting Happening on screens across America at this crucial time,” said Ariana Boko, President of IFC Films. “We hope the audience will look for this film and provoke important conversations about our future. We are proud to continue our long tradition of sharing important women-led stories with audiences across the country.
additional screen reader
Add Comment