Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premieres later this week, and early indications are that it’s going to have quite a successful opening weekend.
Originally set for a March debut, Multiverse of Madness was bumped to early May after Disney delayed almost the entire Marvel slate late last year. That decision may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Doctor Strange sequel, as the move got the film out of the path of The Batman.
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Now with one whole month basically all its own, it sounds like Multiverse of Madness is set to have an big-time kickoff to the summer movie season.
DOCTOR STRANGE 2 IS SELLING MORE TICKETS THAN ANY 2022 FILM
According to Fandango, the presale ticket numbers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are outpacing every 2022 film so far:
As mentioned by Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis, the follow-up to 2016’s Doctor Strange has quintupled the amount of tickets that were sold for the first film of the franchise. For context, Doctor Strange enjoyed an $85 million opening weekend six years ago, and finished its domestic box office run with $232.6 million. Out of the 27 MCU films, the debut outing of Stephen Strange falls between Thor: The Dark World ($85.7 million) and Black Widow ($80.3 million) when looking at first weekends, and amongst the domestic totals of Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($259.7 million) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($224.5 million).
Fandango cites Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as other MCU films Multiverse of Madness is outpacing, which means it’s a pretty safe bet that the adventure through the multiverse will net more than $300 million domestically. Captain Marvel grossed more than $425 million back in 2019, so it seems like that could be the ceiling for Multiverse of Madness if it continues the trend of its presale numbers.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has also beat out Fandango’s previous 2022 presale ticket leader The Batman, which sits atop the domestic box office with $368.8 million. The Batman also recorded the highest opening weekend of the year so far at just over $134 million, but if the presale numbers are any indication, the Dark Knight is going to be beat out by the former Sorcerer Supreme.
In addition to presale announcement, Fandango revealed that in a survey of more than 6,000 ticket buyers, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was voted as the most anticipated movie of the summer. That’s no small feat, as the next few months will feature such films as Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World Dominion, Lightyear, and fellow MCU installment Thor: Love and Thunder. It seems that the steady diet of Doctor Strange the MCU has had over the last few years, combined with the promise of cameos and surprises, is going to push Multiverse of Madness into becoming one of the biggest films of the year.
Even after its opening weekend, the runway is pretty clear for Multiverse of Madness to continue raking in the cash. The only real competition will come May 27, which will see the return of Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the long awaited Top Gun sequel. Smaller films such as Firestarter and Downton Abbey: A New Era will be among the box office casualties while Multiverse of Madness more than likely dominates the month of May.
Are you surprised presale numbers are as high as they are for Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness? Have you picked up your tickets yet? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to follow us on social media for more!
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