‘Doctor Strange 2’ Earns Third No. 1, Crosses $800 Million at Global Box Office

Focus’ “Downton Abbey: A New Era” also arrives with $16 million opening

doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness-benedict-cumberbatch
Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has added $31.6 million domestically and $40 million internationally in its third weekend in theaters, bringing its box office totals to $342 million domestic and $803 million worldwide and passing the theatrical runs of “No Time to Die” and “The Batman.”

This means that the MCU now has the top two highest totals for any Hollywood film since theaters reopened, as “Doctor Strange 2” is now only second to the $1.89 billion total of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” It should also pass the totals of last year’s Chinese blockbuster hits “Hi, Mom” ($822 million) and “The Battle at Lake Changjin” ($902 million) in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Focus Features’ “Downton Abbey: A New Era” has opened to $16 million from 3,820 theaters — a record screen count for Universal’s specialty wing — and earned a global opening of $51.7 million. Though that $16 million start is half of the $31 million domestic opening that the first “Downton Abbey” film made, it’s a better result than other pandemic-era films released for older moviegoers like Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” which opened to $10.5 million.

True to form for an adaptation of the hit ITV/PBS period drama, demographics for “Downton Abbey: A New Era” were 73% female and 48% over the age of 55. With sterling audience reception including an A on CinemaScore and a 77% “definite recommend” on Postrak, both Focus and theater owners will be hoping that the word-of-mouth will continue to bring seniors back to cinemas, especially those that haven’t returned since the pandemic began.

Universal/DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys” is in third on this weekend’s charts with $6.1 million in its fifth weekend and totals of $74.3 million domestic and $182.1 million worldwide. Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” adds $3.1 million in its seventh weekend to bring its domestic total to $181 million.

Completing the top 5 is A24’s “Men,” a new horror film from “Ex Machina” director Alex Garland that opened to just $3.3 million from 2,212 theaters, just barely edging out the $3.2 million that fellow A24 film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” took in during its ninth weekend. While “Men” got fairly positive reception from critics, it has alienated audiences with a D+ on CinemaScore.

But the big story of the weekend for A24 is “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which with $52.3 million has passed “Uncut Gems” to become the indie distributor’s highest grossing film in history. At a time when arthouses have been struggling with the closures of some high-profile locations, the Daniels sci-fi multiverse film has been a ray of hope, bringing in younger audiences and legging out like the best of indie darlings thanks to its critical acclaim.

Next weekend will see the highly anticipated release of Paramount/Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which has scored rave reception from attendees at CinemaCon and Cannes and currently holds an excellent 97% Rotten Tomatoes score. The film could be one of Tom Cruise’s biggest blockbuster hits with projections of a $100-million plus extended opening on Memorial Day weekend, dwarfing the openings of his “Mission: Impossible” films.

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