‘Doctor Strange 2’ Nears $40 Million After International Opening Day

Walt Disney is reporting that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has earned $27.2 million in its initial overseas debut. The MCU sequel, which begins domestic advance-night previews as early as 3:00 pm today, opened in 20 markets including France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea. Of note, it earned $5.9 million in South Korea, $3.8 million in Japan and $3 million in France.

It scored the second-biggest opening day ever in Malaysia behind Avengers: Endgame and scored the biggest Covid-era opening days in several territories (Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore) while scoring the biggest opening day since The Rise of Skywalker in Belgium. It’ll essentially be opening worldwide, save for China, Russia, Ukraine and parts of the Middle East over this week.

Considering the alleged reasons for not approving the last handful of MCU flicks (a brief reference to America Chavez having two mothers and/or the onscreen inclusion of a newsstand for the Epoch Times in Doctor Strange 2, too much screentime for the Statue of Liberty in Spider-Man: No Way Home), I’d argue that China’s government just doesn’t want MCU movies in their theaters and is finding arbitrary reasons to deny clearances.

Of course, if Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion (which has been cleared for release) doesn’t get anywhere near the $225-$265 million grosses of its predecessors and Avatar: The Way of Water doesn’t soar to infinity and beyond (Avatar earned $205 million in 2010 and a reissue brought in another $55 million in 2021), then it may become irrelevant as to whether Hollywood films play in China anyway.

The like-for-like comparisons are 4% below Spider-Man: No Way Home, +153% from Doctor Strange in late 2016 and 210% above The Batman. So far, I might be inclined to argue that Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is playing less like a solo MCU summer kick-off film (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which earned $869 million global in 2017) and more like an MCU event movie/mythology episode summer kick-off flick (Captain America: Civil War, which earned $1.155 billion worldwide in 2016).

That’s the “big question,” sans whatever it might have earned in China (over/under $125 million seems about right) in conventional times, and arguably the difference between a $145 million domestic launch and a $180 million debut. If we include previews, it has earned $3.5 million thus far in Mexico, $2.7 million in Brazil, a record $1.9 million in Australia, and $10.3 million across the whole Latin American region. If we add all of that in, we’re looking at an end-of-Wednesday total of just under $40 million thus far. Oh, and it earned $8.8 million on Thursday in Korea, giving it a $14.5 million two-day cume and bumping that overall cume to around $48.2 million.

With solid reviews, decent buzz and the usual prestige/anticipation granted to an MCU summer opener going way back to Iron Man in 2008, the Benedict Cumberbatch/Elizabeth Olsen/Xochitl Gomez sci-fi horror fantasy looks set for a domestic debut somewhere between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($146 million) and The Last Jedi ($220 million). However, even a jump from Winter Soldier ($95 million) to Civil War ($179 million) would “only” be $165 million.