Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness continues to be the king of the box office in passing $550 million in global revenue in its first nine days. This includes the additional $19.2 million added yesterday globally. The only film this week that has put at least a partial dent in terms of revenue was Universal’s remake of the Stephen King novel Firestarter, which raked in $375,000 in its Thursday previews yesterday.
Sam Raimi’s return to the superhero genre debuted last weekend to a dominating $185 million globally, and officially became the 11th highest domestic opening of all-time. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has already become the strongest launch of 2022 thus far and is the second biggest opening since the pandemic, only behind the most previous entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Some within the industry had questions about the long-term sustainability of this film at the box office, mainly due to the horror elements and how deeply entrenched it is in the lore of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though with it remaining one of the only marquee releases currently, the Benedict Cumberbatch-led sequel has proven any potential doubters wrong with the massive financial success through just over a week. The big questions moving forward will be how long Doctor Strange 2 will hold as the king of the box office.
There doesn’t appear to be any major blockbusters standing in its way until May 27 with the release of Top Gun: Maverick, followed by Jurassic World Dominion on June 10. With that in mind, one can expect to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse continue to dominate the box office for the time being on its road to potentially $1 billion globally and being the most financially successful film of the year overall.
Source: Variety
