Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is certainly a much-anticipated entry into both the Disney/Marvel catalog and the summer Box Office. Much anticipated as a three-pronged sequel, tying together loose ends from Loki and WandaVision as well as Spider-Man: No Way Home, it is anticipated as one of the biggest performers of the 2022 summer season. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, looks at its starting potential, and how it weighed against reality.
Key Domestic Start
This will also be one of the widest rollouts of the post-pandemic era, with 4,400 domestic theaters hosting the film. With this in mind, a target of $160M to $180M was set for its domestic opening. It still managed to outperform the target, netting $185M domestically in its opening weekend. This catapults it to the second-best Box Office debut of the current era, with only Spider-Man: No Way Home to beat it.
Weekend pre-sales for the U.S and Canada stood at $60M, placing it ahead of The Batman at the same point in its sales cycle. However, the bulk of these were for Thursday night, not the opening weekend, which does suggest a little frontloading. All the same, it’s an impressive achievement.
Chasing $300M Globally
How likely was it to achieve these targets? That heavily depends on how compelling it is among non-Marvel fans- to which the answer was, apparently, very. It was hoped that the addition of Wanda to the lineup, played by Elizabeth Olsen, could give it pulling power among younger women, a demographic often missed by the MCU titles. The return of Sam Raimi to the director’s chair was anticipated as another drawcard.
Additionally, the film was hoping to add at least another $140M to its international openings. This was projected without a release in China and Russia. It’s also highly unlikely to gain much traction in the Middle East, with open LGBTQ elements in the film’s storyline.
And it has managed to deliver. Unlike domestic figures, which remained more-or-less in the target range, it has managed to pull another $262.4M internationally, giving it an impressive $450M opening weekend globally, and putting it in the spotlight as the second-highest global opening of the pandemic era to date.
Film and Television 