Having already scored the biggest ticket pre-sales since Spider-Man: No Way Home, next month’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is also seeking to emulate its Marvel Cinematic Universe predecessor by becoming just the second movie of the pandemic to land a $200 million opening weekend.
As per BoxOfficePro, the current projections have Benedict Cumberbatch’s second solo outing tracking for a debut of at least $165 million, with $205 million the top end of the current estimates. While that sounds ambitious, especially given how wide of the mark the chatter regarding The Batman‘s ability to reach $200 million turned out to be, it can’t be ruled out by any stretch.
The MCU is the biggest game in town by some distance, audiences are champing at the bit for more big screen content in the aftermath of No Way Home, with Multiverse of Madness also providing the double whammy of picking up right from where Tom Holland’s web-slinging threequel left off, as well as providing limitless possibilities and ample opportunities for all sorts of major guest appearances.
It’s almost a perfect storm, then, but at the very least we should expect Sam Raimi’s return to the superhero sandbox to open twice as high as Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange, which nabbed $85 million across its first three days in theaters back in October 2016.
When you factor in July’s Thor: Love and Thunder and November’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, there’s really no reason why all three of the MCU’s 2022 debutants couldn’t land at least $200 million right out of the gate.
