Doctor Strange 2 or Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness has helped the summer movie season a blockbuster beginning. According to the Walt Disney Co., the Marvel film grossed an estimated $185 million in ticket sales in US and Canadian theaters during its first weekend.
It surpassed the
now third biggest opening of the year, The Batman, which earned $134 million.
The top place is still with Spider-Man: Far From Home, which earned $260.1
million. Interestingly, Doctor Strange 2 earned more than double the opening of
the first Doctor Strange movie which earned only $85 million when released in
2016.
The film is
doing better than estimated at international levels. It has made $450 million
since opening Wednesday.
Reasons for
Success
One of the key
reasons for the success of Doctor Strange 2 is the immense popularity of
Spider-Man: Far From Home because it included Benedict Cumberbatch's powerful sorcerer.
People were eager to see more of the actor and know how the story would unfold
in this film that picks up several months after the events of "No Way Home."
Another reason for
success was the presence of Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, who became even
more popular thanks to the recent Disney+ series "WandaVision," which
showed her and her dead boyfriend Vision's story and her transformation into
the Scarlett Witch.
Huge
Footprint
Doctor Strange
and the Multiverse of Madness also has a huge footprint. It is plating in 4,534
theatres in the US and Canada. Disney says that it's the seventh widest opening
ever. 35% of the overall box office was in premium format screens like IMAX and
3D.
The CEO of IMAX,
Rich Gelfond, said "Summer blockbuster season is off to a roaring start
with 'Doctor Strange' — an excellent sign for the phenomenal slate ahead."
The Social
Media Buzz
The film also
trended on social media platforms during the weekend. People talked about the
many cameos, the PG-13 rating, and the film's horror elements. Paul
Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore, said, "This is a
total win for the industry for whom the last two summers almost didn't exist in
terms of the box office. Marvel has been kicking off summers for over a decade.
This is a return to normalcy."
Other Movies
As so many
theatres screened Doctor Strange 2, little was left for other movies playing in
theatres. The Bad Guys fell to second place in its third weekend, and Sonic the
Hedgehog 2 landed in third.
The success of
Doctor Strange 2 will probably help build momentum for big summer movies that
are expected to be released soon, like Top
Gun: Maverick, which will be released on May 27.
Dergarabedian
said, "We've got a real summer movie season on our hands, something we
couldn't have imagined two years ago. It's been a long time coming."
The final
domestic figures for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness will be
released shortly.
Sources:
https://www.castanet.net/news/Business/368366/-Doctor-Strange-2-conjures-up-biggest-opening-of-2022
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/doctor-strange-box-office-1.6446503
https://www.kbjr6.com/2022/05/08/doctor-strange-2-conjures-up-biggest-opening-2022/