With a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, Doctor Strange is a bona fide hit for Marvel. Not that we needed any further confirmation of that, mind you. The film is the biggest single character launch for the studio to date and has also smashed through numerous box office records. It wasn’t perfect, to be sure, but director Scott Derrickson delivered a wholly enjoyable outing that introduced the general public to the Sorcerer Supreme in an exciting way.
It’s safe to assume, then, that Derrickson is probably pretty pleased with what the critics have been saying. That is, he would be if he’d been reading the reviews. In a recent interview with CBR to promote the film’s upcoming Blu-ray release (February 28th is the date for your diaries, folks), the director admitted that he didn’t pay too much attention to the reviews once he saw that the Rotten Tomatoes score was positive.
I kind of put the blinders on. Once I saw that the reviews were all positive, I didn’t read them. I just saw it was 90-something percent on Rotten Tomatoes and the box office was huge. At that point, I just kind of turned it off and tried to not pay too much attention to it for my own, I think, mental and emotional health.
I can only assume, and based on some of the Twitter feedback, that people got an experience that went beyond their expectations, and that was always the idea. It was to create characters that they cared about, that had ideas that had some weight and some significance, and that would be a visceral experience beyond what they’d experienced before in a movie. It seems, based on what little feedback I have paid attention to, it seems like that happened.
Directors, and even actors, choosing to ignore reviews is nothing new, but it’s interesting to hear that Derrickson still didn’t read them even despite the fact that he knew they were positive. Perhaps he just didn’t need to spend time combing through what the critics were saying though if he’d already succeeded in winning everyone over. Whatever the case may be, it’s nice to see him talk candidly about the situation and to know that he can, as he says, put the blinders on when it comes to this type stuff.
When the director will get the chance to return to the world Stephen Strange is currently unknown, as we’ve heard Marvel is far too busy to look into a Doctor Strange 2 at the moment. However, we will get to see more of the Sorcerer Supreme in a number of upcoming MCU films, like Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War – though how big of a role he’ll have in the latter is up for debate.
Regardless, Doctor Strange isn’t going anywhere and given how well his debut outing did, we can’t wait to see what Marvel does with the new fan-favorite character next.
