How ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Reaffirmed Marvel’s Brand Strength

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Vudu is reporting that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is their top-grossing title for the weekend. A glance at the other VOD platforms (iTunes, Google, Amazon and YouTube) shows the Sorcerer reigning Supreme (sorry/not sorry) on YouTube and Google while placing second on iTunes and 18th on Amazon. Yeah, sometimes Amazon is an outlier, as four of the top five titles (Morbius, Father Stu, Uncharted and Spider-Man: No Way Home) are Sony flicks. Lionsgate’s Nicolas Cage/Pedro Pascal comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is third on Amazon and first over at iTunes. Anyway, Doctor Strange 2 dropped onto Disney+ on Wednesday, with Disney applying the 45-day window even to Marvel movies and despite a deluge of related MCU content (Ms. Marvel) and Star Wars stories (the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi).

Considering Sony gave Spider-Man: No Way Home an 88-day window (which kept extending as the film continued to leg out well into 2022) and Disney gave Eternals 68 days and Shang-Chi 71 days, I remain surprised that the Benedict Cumberbatch/Elizabeth Olsen flick arrived “at home” so quickly. Heck, Black Widow (Premier Access notwithstanding) got an 89-day window last summer. Considering the possible/presumed harm that Lightyear has suffered partially due to the three previous Pixar films being offered up “for free” on Disney+ instead of theaters, with subscribers becoming acclimated to seeing those films “for free” sooner rather than later, well, you’d think Kevin Fiege would have some pull about keeping the MCU movies only in theaters for longer. That’s especially true if it turns out that Disney’s theatrical might is now almost entirely dependent on MCU movies and periodic Avatar sequels and Lucasfilm flicks.

It’s not like Doctor Strange 2 dropped dead following the Disney+ announcement. On June 1, Sam Raimi and Michael Waldron’s horror-tinged fantasy had earned $378 million domestic. It has now earned $409.2 million. It ranks 34th among all-time domestic earners (sans inflation), right above Captain America: Civil War ($408 million) and Iron Man 3 ($409 million and just below (for now) Wonder Woman ($412.5 million). Yes, this “just a Doctor Strange sequel” flick is the second-biggest no-Iron Man/Spider-Man MCU flick in domestic and worldwide grosses behind Captain Marvel ($427 million/$1.128 billion) and Black Panther ($700 million/$1.346 billion). It and Jurassic World Dominion (both of which, like Lightyear, contain major LGBT characters) are not cracking $1 billion only because they didn’t earn what they might have in China and Russia by pre-Covid standards.

Heck, throw in $150-$200 million that might have been expected from China and Russia in pre-Covid times, and Doctor Strange 2 may have been fourth-biggest non-Avengers movie superhero movie behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion), Black Panther ($1.346 billion) and Iron Man 3 ($1.215 billion). Top Gun: Maverick may have stolen its spotlight and its preordained place as the event movie of the summer (at least domestically, as Jurassic World Dominion was always right there alongside it), but for a straight-up sequel to Doctor Strange ($677.8 million in 2016, including $109 million in China and $22 million in Russia) to earn (sans China and Russia) $947 million worldwide is a triumph of brand popularity. In “like to like” comparisons, Doctor Strange 2 earned 76% more domestic and 74% more worldwide. Once again, Marvel has turned the break-out sequel into a business model.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earned $409 million from a $187 million launch, which makes it the most frontloaded MCU movie yet. Why is that? Well, aside from Raimi’s horror elements (and controversial story beats concerning Scarlet Witch going full baddie), the opening represented both casual MCU fans and those who explicitly expected a cameo-filled, universe-shaking “mythology episode” on par with Captain America: Civil War. Civil War also earned “just” $408 million from a $179 million launch in May of 2016. Likewise, the inflated opening weekend was partially due to folks who wanted/expected an Avengers-level event while the following weeks were mostly playing to those happy with Captain America 3 or Doctor Strange 2. Now we see how Thor: Love and Thunder plays next month. There’s little kid-friendly competition until Fall, and it’s being sold as a “monster of the week” episode.

The sheer size of Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness’s grosses, more than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($869 million) and Spider-Man: Homecoming ($881 million), affirm the sheer size of Marvel’s brand-specific popularity. It confirmed that the lower-than-normal grosses for Black Widow ($380 million plus around $125 million from Premier Access), Eternals ($164 million domestic, fewer tickets sold in North America than any prior MCU movie, and $400 million global) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($225 million domestic and $430 million global) were at least partially about the Covid-specific circumstances of their release, especially overseas. Granted, those were two new franchises and a prequel starring a dead character, but Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage trounced all three of them with $505 million. However, Multiverse of Madness implies that, at least for sequels for “Infinity Saga” heroes, the MCU is safe.