Why Marvel’s Cryptic Campaign For ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Represents A Calculated Risk

Fandango is reporting that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has sold more tickets in its first 24 hours than any film this year, including The Batman. Of course, there haven’t been many “very big” movies thus far this year, so if the MCU sequel hadn’t at least come in second for the year (and third since The Batman and Spider-Man: No Way Home), there’d be cause for concern. While pre-release ticket sales stats are not one-to-one indicators of record-breaking opening weekend box office (I’m old enough to remember when Solo: A Star Wars Story sold more tickets in day one than Black Panther), studios tend to prefer that their big tentpoles sell “more” tickets” on day one as opposed to “fewer” tickets.

I went into detail on Tuesday about potentially “unfair” expectations in terms of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reasserting the pre-Covid notion that Disney and Disney’s Marvel movies would soar above most of their theatrical competition. Simply put, when Venom: Let There Be Carnage is outgrossing Shang-Chi, Dune is essentially tying with Eternals and Black Widow is about to get passed by Uncharted, well, at some point Disney is going to have to remind folks who still rules the mountain unless of course they no longer do. After all, The Batman is going to essentially earn more globally than Eternals and Black Widow combined, but I digress. What’s interesting about the marketing is that it’s been, well, comparatively minimalist.

That’s not to say the two teasers (the one released at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Super Bowl trailer) aren’t filled with over-the-top fantastical imagery and grim pontifications about world-changing stakes. Both trailers play very well in an IMAX theater. However, along with the minute-long “Dream, Dream, Dream” commercial that Marvel dropped on Wednesday, the campaign has been quite cryptic about simple things like “What did Doctor Strange do to mess up the multiverse?” or “What will happen if the timeline isn’t made right?” Heck, is there an actual villain beyond diabolical manifestations of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange and Elizabeth Olsen’s Maximoff? Is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo a baddie or just a time protector who’s had enough of Strange’s mischief?

We can debate to what extent these questions are “spoilers,” but it’s another example of how an online obsession with spoilers has gone from “don’t give away the ending” to “any information about anything, even reveals from the first five minutes or a credit cookie that’s 104% irrelevant to the movie, is a spoiler punishable by death.” What we have here is a campaign that is selling the sequel entirely on the shoulders of “Hey, it’s a solo Doctor Strange movie!” Doctor Strange was a solid hit ($677 million in 2016) but wasn’t comparatively a sensation, and his appearances since then ranged from cameos (Thor: Ragnarok), supporting roles (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and co-starring gigs (Avengers: Infinity War) have been of a certain “added value” nature.

So, after over six years of added value play, where part of the fun is seeing the Sorcerer Not-So-Supreme interact with his fellow Avengers, the campaign for Multiverse of Madness is banking on an increased appeal of Strange essentially by himself and only interacting with Scarlett Witch and the new-to-MCU American Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). That may be accurate in terms of Sam Raimi’s horror/fantasy sequel, and the extent to which Doctor Strange 2 is now a “must-see” mythology chapter and a must-succeed MCU flick is partially a matter of circumstance, including James Gunn getting fired and rehired for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (that film was supposed to be the Phase Four kick-off flick) and the pandemic turning the entire theatrical industry upside down.

Disney may be hiding a deluge of Easter Eggs, cameos and related fan service so as to juice post-debut word-of-mouth. Moreover, it’s not required that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness top $1 billion (or even $875 million without China, natch) as long as it receives good reviews, earns solid buzz and makes money. Nor for that matter must it pass Jurassic World: Dominion (Fallen Kingdom earned $1.308 billion in 2018) or Minions: The Rise of Gru (Despicable Me 3 was the only $1 billion-plus grosser of summer 2017). But if Disney still wants to argue, if only for the MCU, that it’s a theatrical force to be reckoned with, the movie has to deliver more than just “somewhere between Venom 2 and F9.”

Betting against an MCU summer kick-off movie is like betting on Rocky Balboa to beat Apollo Creed (the first time), so Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will likely soar to some variation of infinity and beyond thanks to the MCU brand, its event-movie status, the No Way Home halo (both in terms of Doctor Strange and Sam Raimi) and the general lack of early summer competition. And so far, if the Fandango pre-sales are any indication, it’s off to a good start. The only question is just how big of a deal is it that Doctor Strange will again get another solo movie 6.5 years after the first one and following copious added value supporting turns? Ask me again in early May.