Box Office: ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Conjures A Magical $36 Million Thursday

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earned $36 million in Thursday previews. That is well above The Batman and Spider-Man: No Way Home, both of which opened with less than $50 million. It is in line with the launch of the upper realm of the Avengers. Captain America: Civil War opened with $25 million, above the $21 million preview gross of Captain Marvel, which opened with $155 million in March of 2019. It's above the $27 million Thursday of Age of Ultron, which made $191 million in May of 2015. It's below the previews of the two previous movies in the series, but it's still above the previews of the two previous movies in the series, and it's still above the previews of the two previous movies in the series, and it's still above the previews of

The Benedict Cumberatch-led sequel won't have the white-hot buzz and four-day weekend that boosted Black Panther past $200 million in February of 2018, but a debut on par with Iron Man 3. The best-case scenario is earning seven times its Thursday number, which would put its opening weekend at around $255 million. Even a 16.4% Thursday-to-weekend figure, think The Batman, still puts the film at $215-$ 220 million for the weekend. It is going to be huge.

While reviews have been generally positive, I am curious as to how word of mouth will play for this potentially divisive and controversial chapter. The film is a Doctor Strange sequel with little to no impact on the broader MCU. Kevin Fiege and his friends know that general audiences don't care about Easter Eggs or fan bait as much as they do online, and the film's cameos are no different. This is a film that is playing against fan expectations.

The reception of Iron Man 3 is a classic example of how online narratives do not equal the opinion of the general public. Even though Star Wars: The Last Jedi caused an online uproar, it still earned rave reviews, an A from CinemaScore, and grossed $620 million worldwide and $1.333 billion global. It still looks like an opening weekend between $180 million and $220 million. This would be one of the biggest opening weekends in box office history, since Doctor Strange opened with $88 million in late 2016