‘Doctor Strange’ casts a spell on box office: USD 551.6 million, and counting

By IANS

LOS ANGELES: Disney/Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ easily will extend its reign over the global box office in its second weekend without any truly fire-breathing competition from rival majors, according to ‘Deadline Hollywood’.

The blockbuster is expected to draw $74 million to $80 million over the weekend, which may be a 57-60 per cent decline, but is not likely to affect its position on top of the pecking order.

On Thursday, the North American collections of the Sam Raimi-directed sequel stood of $230.4 million. In overseas territories, the Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer has garnered $321.2 million to crank up a global total of $551.6 million.

Hitting the five-century global mark, notes ‘Deadline Hollywood’, was “pre-ordained” following a weekend debut that ultimately came in at $449.4 million. That was good for the second-biggest worldwide start for a Hollywood movie during the pandemic era, and the fourth ever for the MCU, behind ‘Avengers: Endgame’, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.

The sorcerer’s Top 10 offshore markets, as of Tuesday, were Korea ($32 million), the UK ($27.8 million), Mexico ($23.8 million), Brazil ($17.6 million), India ($14.3 million), Australia ($13.7 million), France ($12.9 million), Indonesia ($10.5 million), Japan ($10.3 million) and Germany ($10.2 million).