Doctor Strange 2 Just Hit A Horrible Box Office Mark

Doctor Strange 2 had a monster opening when it hit theaters last week, but now it seems to have hit a horrible box office mark since then.

By Douglas Helm | Published

doctor strange 2

Doctor Strange 2 came out of the gates sprinting, but it looks like it’s hitting a bit of a sophomore slump for its second weekend in theaters. The Friday box office numbers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness show $16.7 million, which is a steep 81% drop from the $90.7 million it made on opening day. This gives it the dubious honor of being the second-worst Friday drop for a movie in the MCU. With that being said, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will probably end up doing just fine financially.

While the second Friday drop for Doctor Strange 2 probably isn’t what the studios want to see, you can’t deny the incredible opening weekend numbers the movie put up. In its opening weekend, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness managed to pull in $187.4 million domestically and $265 million internationally. Those numbers firmly lace the movie as the 11th highest-grossing opening weekend of all time. The movie had a ton of buzz around it, with rumors of major cameos flying around. This hype undoubtedly led to the stellar opening numbers.

While Doctor Strange 2 is generally liked, with a current 76% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and an 86% from audiences, the general consensus is that it didn’t quite live up to the hype. This consensus may have prevented people from turning out in droves to catch the movie in its second weekend. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness still has time to add to its total. At the time of this article’s writing, the movie has made $568.7 million worldwide. That puts it squarely above Ant-Man as the 20th highest-grossing MCU movie to date. Next, it will need to surpass the first Iron Man‘s $585.8 million to move up in the rankings. The lackluster reaction to the movie certainly isn’t going to help it climb the list, but it does have a few more weeks to make some money. While the weeks following an opening couple of weeks usually don’t significantly contribute to the box office numbers of a movie, it could be enough to push Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness just a little further.

Doctor Strange 2 is Benedict Cumberbatch’s second solo outing in the MCU, after having his first Doctor Strange movie in 2016 and appearing in multiple Marvel movies and shows since then. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sees Strange opening the door to the multiverse and enlisting the help of Wanda Maximoff and Wong to deal with the threat. In addition to Benedict Cumberbatch, the movie also stars Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams, and more. Sam Raimi directs with a script by Michael Waldron. If you want to see where the multiverse takes Doctor Strange and find out what happens next in the MCU, you can check out Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in theaters now. The next big MCU blockbuster will be hitting theaters in July with Thor: Love and Thunder.