‘Doctor Strange 2’ Nabs $13 Million Monday For $200 Million Cume

Disney is reporting this morning that Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earned $13.3 million in North America on Monday, a reasonable 65% drop from its $38.5 million Sunday gross. Among solo/non-Avengers comic book flicks, that’s the seventh-biggest Monday gross, essentially tied with Captain America: Civil War ($13.3 million from a $179 million debut weekend) but ahead of Iron Man 3 ($11.3 million after a $174 million debut) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($9.8 million and -74% from Sunday after a $146 million debut weekend). The Sam Raimi-directed MCU sequel has become the 13th film to pass $200 million domestic in four (or fewer) days. Rough math, but it could end its first full week in theaters with around $240 million domestic.

If it drops by 61% in weekend two (on par with Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 2), it’ll gross $73 million and end the second weekend with $314 million, a ten-day total tied (sans inflation and 3-D bumps) with The Dark Knight. Yes, it could hold better due to the lack of big new wide releases (all due respect to Blumhouse’s Firestarter) and the fact that, online discourse aside, it’s a solid gateway horror flick for kids eight and up. But the sharp 2x multiplier and B+ Cinemascore make that not quite a foregone conclusion. That said, when studios don’t offer up a regular slate of theatrical releases, the biggies that do show up tend to stick around. And Doctor Strange 2 is “it” until Top Gun: Maverick over Memorial Day weekend.

The film earned another $15.7 million overseas, bringing its foreign box office up to $278 million. Even without China, to say nothing of Russia and Ukraine, the current domestic/overseas split is a somewhat “normal” 42/58 and really a (rough guestimate) $62 million four-day gross in China would have pushed the split to a normal pre-Covid 36/64 range. That said, with $29 million worldwide and a new global cume of $479 million, the Benedict Cumberbatch/Elizabeth Olsen/Xochitl Gomez flick will sail past $500 million worldwide (and Venom: Let There Be Carnage) today. More “fun with math,” but it could end the first nine days (it began its overseas debut on Wednesday in various countries) with around $565 million global and end its second global weekend with around $750 million.

Whether it ends up above $1 billion, which is A) still very much in the cards and B) not remotely the bar for success, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is yet another example of a theatrical tentpole playing about as well in Covid-era times as it would have in a pre-Covid/non-Covid environment. It’s also poised to be Disney’s first mega-hit since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($1.073 billion) in late 2019, which isn’t nothing considering the complicated narrative surrounding their Covid-era releases concerning theatrical glory versus Disney+ streaming gains. It would be nice if Disney could pull blockbuster grosses out of more than just an MCU movie, but they’ll get a chance when Lightyear (Pixar’s first pure theatrical since Onward) opens on June 17.