Doctor Strange 2 Sees One Of The Worst Box Office Nosedives In MCU History

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, hit theatres all across the world. Last weekend, audiences flocked to the movies, with the film grossing $187.4 million domestically and $265 million abroad. However, after that, the film suffered a huge drop.

The anticipation for the sequel to the Sorceror Supreme was high, especially after the box office and critical success of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Multiverse of Madness became the 11th highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, thanks to filmmaker Sam Raimi’s comeback to comic book films and an endless list of possible appearances.

However, Marvel’s clever Wizard’s life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. Doctor Strange 2 has a CinemaScore of B+ and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 74 percent. After such a great start, a lack of massively favorable word of mouth is a recipe for a poor second weekend.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a Marvel Studios film, made $16.7 million on Friday, down 81 percent from its opening day domestic total of $90.7 million. This is the second-worst second Friday release for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. The film is expected to decline 65-69 percent in its second weekend, with a gross of $60-$65 million expected.

Spider-Man: No Way Home saw an extraordinarily high decline of 83.9 percent on its second Friday in December, but it was on Christmas Eve. Tom Holland’s third Spidey film is the third-highest grossing domestic film of all time ($804.6 million), so the Friday decline didn’t appear to matter much. According to current estimates, Multiverse of Madness will gross between $380 and $405 million in its domestic run.

Obviously, fans are seeing these movies once and then waiting a month for them to be on a streaming platform rather than re-visit the theater time and time again. Either way, the MCU saw a powerful addition with the new Doctor Strange flick.

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