Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Wins the Domestic Weekend Box Office with $185 Million in the US

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is off to a strong start as it has not only won the domestic weekend box office with ticket sales of $185 million, but it has also secured the 11th best domestic opening of all time.

As reported by Variety, Doctor Strange 2 managed to surpass all other COVID-era MCU films except for Spider-Man: No Way Home’s $260 million opening, which was also the second-biggest domestic opening of all time.

This means it outpaced Black Widow’s $80 million theatrical and $60 million Disney+ debut, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ $75 million debut, and Eternals’ $71 million debut. It also became 2022’s biggest opening by dethroning The Batman’s $134 million first weekend.

Internationally, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earned another $265 million, bringing its global tally to $450 million. If the film is to cross the $1 billion mark globally, it will have to do so without China, Russia, or Ukraine as the film will most likely not open there.

The original Doctor Strange earned $85 million in its opening weekend in 2016, and the sequel flew past that on Friday alone with $90 million in ticket sales. Doctor Strange ended its theatrical run with $232 million domestically and $677 million globally.

Doctor Strange 2 cost $200 million to produce, and premium formats have played a big part in recouping the production and marketing costs. With $33 million from IMAX alone, 36% of Doctor Strange 2’s overall ticket sales came from these premium formats.

In our Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review, we said “the script is downright hokey sometimes, and there are odd moments that are weird for the sake of it without adding anything to the overall lore or character development. That said, it’s got a score that’s to die for, some rockin’ performances, and fans will never once be bored!”

After two weeks atop the box office, The Bad Guys settled for second place this time with $9.7 million. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 landed in third place with $6.2 million, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore took fourth with $3.8 million, and Everything Everywhere All at Once rounded out the top five with $2.7 million.

If you have already seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or can’t wait to learn what secrets it holds, be sure to check out our breakdown of the ending and post-credits scenes, our biggest WTF questions after leaving the theater, what to expect from the Illuminati going forward, and our breakdown of THAT cameo.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.