Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessended its third theatrical weekend atop the domestic box office, generating $31.6 million to close out the three-day slate. The highly debated film has been met with mixed reviews from audiences and critics but has swiftly become the highest-grossing film worldwide in 2022, surpassing the previous titleholder,The Batman.
Multiverse of Madnesshas been a dominant figure at the box office ever since its official theatrical release, maintaining hold of the top spot over its three domestic weekends. Despite the troubling 67% drop in ticket sales from the previous weekend, the film continues to push forward, surpassing milestones that seemed impossible during the early stages of the pandemic. The film is quickly becoming one of the year’s highest box office earners, but it still has some work to do domestically.
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Per Deadline, theDoctor Strangesequel put forth a solid outing this past Friday, earning $8.5 million to close out the night. The narrative managed to conjure up a respectable $13.8 million by the end of Saturday but saw a decrease in revenue by the conclusion of Sunday, which brought the film’s overall weekend total to $31.6 million. The film has earned a combined $342 million over its three weekends, which sits second behind the $369 million generated byThe Batmandomestically.
While behind within the domestic arena, the Marvel film has done enough internationally to surpass the Matt Reeves film on the worldwide stage.Multiverse of Madnesshas accumulated $461.1 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to an impressive $803.2 million, passing the $768.5 global million total generated byThe Batman. This is the second time the new Doctor Strange project has dethronedthe masked vigilante, beating its opening weekend performance to become the most profitable debut weekend release of the year.
IfMultiverse of Madnesscan maintain its current pace, the Marvel film has the potential to become the second film since the inception of the pandemic to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The only film to accomplish this feat has been the ground-breaking filmSpider-Man: No Way Home, which has accumulated roughly $1.8 billion since its release in December of last year. The path, however, forMultiverse of Madnessisn’t necessarily clear of obstacles, with two new projects making their theatrical arrival this Memorial Day weekend. TheDoctor Strangesequel may surrender its three-week hold on the box office toTop Gun: Maverick, which received solid reviews after its premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
However, until then,Multiverse of Madnesscan revel in its accomplishments from yet another top-performing domestic box office weekend, beating the newly releases filmDowntown Abbey: A New Era, which earned $16 million to close out the weekend. Universal and DreamWorks’The Bad Guysfinished third with $6.1 million, followed bySonic the Hedgehog 2, which earned a modest $3.94 million.A24’s newest horror narrative,Men, rounds out the weekend’s top-five performances, bringing in $3.29 million to close out its debut weekend. It’ll be interesting to see whereDoctor Strangestands after a jam-packed Memorial Day weekend that will be anything but quiet.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessis currently playing in theaters.
