Huge opening for Doctor Strange gives Hollywood a boost

AFP
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Los Angeles (AFP) โ€“ โ€œDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessโ€ enjoyed a blockbuster opening over the weekend, taking in an estimated $185 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

That represented the biggest opening weekend of the year, the second-biggest of the pandemic era and the 11th biggest all time, analysts said.

โ€œThis is another sensational Marvel opening, by Marvelโ€™s own dominant standard,โ€ said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.ย 

The superhero sequel, directed by Sam Raimi and distributed by Disney, again stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, backed by Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejofor and Rachel McAdams.ย 

The complicated plot โ€” how could a multiverse story not be complicated? โ€” includes alternate universes, witches and sorcerers, death and revival, and even an octopus demon.

With the huge bump from โ€œDr. Strange,โ€ the weekendโ€™s estimated gross offered more evidence of Hollywoodโ€™s return from the darkest pandemic days: It was nearly 10 times the $22 million from the same weekend last year.

โ€œStrangeโ€ shoved Universalโ€™s animated action-comedy โ€œThe Bad Guysโ€ out of the top spot where it had resided for two weeks. The DreamWorks Animation production took in $9.8 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.ย 

In third, also down one spot from last weekend, was Paramountโ€™s family-friendly โ€œSonic the Hedgehog 2,โ€ at $6.2 million.

Warner Bros.โ€™ โ€œFantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,โ€ the latest episode in the โ€œHarry Potterโ€ prequel series, also slipped a notch, to fourth, at $4 million.

And with multiverse-based films seemingly everywhere, A24โ€™s โ€œEverything Everywhere All at Onceโ€ held to fifth spot, at $3.3 million. Michelle Yeoh stars as a beleaguered laundromat owner who is called on to save, well, pretty much everything.ย 

Rounding out the top 10 were:ย 

โ€œThe Northmanโ€ ($2.8 million)

โ€œThe Lost Cityโ€ ($2.5 million)

โ€œThe Unbearable Weight of Massive Talentโ€ ($1.5 million)

โ€œMemoryโ€ ($1.2 million)

โ€œFather Stuโ€ ($800,000)