Get ready for a wild tail-end of the week. After the box office feel asleep on the couch this past weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will clang loudly starting Thursday night for what looks to be at least a $150M+ opening stateside. That’s according to industry sources. There is the very good chance that the pic will overindex with $175M-$200M, but when a pic this big lands on tracking, it’s hard for even the brightest in box office analytics to target precisely.
After reporting previously that presales were the best of 2022 to date, outstripping The Batman, Fandango this AM says that the Sam Raimi-directed movie is selling 5x as many tickets as the original Doctor Strange ($85M domestic opening), and besting the presales of Captain Marvel ($153.4M), Thor: Ragnarok ($122.7M) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($146.5M). At CinemaCon last week, Disney EVP of Theatrical Distribution Tony Chambers announced that Doctor Strange has already banked $42M in presales. That number will continue to mushroom as we head toward Thursday night.
In a recent Fandango poll of thousands about the Benedict Cumberbatch sequel, moviegoers said:
93% are excited to see more Marvel films exploring the multiverse.
92% look forward to exploring the events following Spider-Man: No Way Home.
92% are fans of Benedict Cumberbatch.
90% are fans of director Sam Raimi.
85% are fans of Elizabeth Olsen.
83% are avoiding social media this week to avoid spoilers.
78% are fans of WandaVision.
“‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ will reshape the way we experience comic book movies moving forward,” says Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis. “Fans can’t wait to see what magic director Sam Raimi has in store for them as he delivers an epic spectacle that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible.”