Could ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ Top $1 Billion?

Marvel Studios reigns supreme again, as director Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness topped the box office charts for its third consecutive weekend, for a running cume of about $804 million in global receipts. Despite some too-soon reactions in certain quarters suggesting the film was underperforming, in reality it’s now inevitable that it will top $900 million, and there’s still a chance Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness could top $1 billion.

Not that the movie has to reach the billion dollar box office bar, since it’s already an enormous blockbuster and will wind up with an even more elite-tier final cume. But since there was even skeptical discussions about its performance a mere week ago, and with the MCU currently the only franchise umbrella that’s been able to hit billion dollar territory since the pandemic started over two years ago. In fact, since 2018, no releases except those from Disney’s collection of studios have topped $1 billion besides the Warner Bros. DC supervillain movie Joker.

Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is already the highest-grossing movie of 2022 worldwide, and among the highest-grossing films of the entire pandemic era. And with a 74% at Rotten Tomatoes, it’s just behind Avengers: Age of Ultron when it comes to critical reception, although the Cinemascore of B+ is below the MCU’s typical A-grade range.

It seems certain Top Gun: Maverick will replace the Doctor Strange sequel atop the charts next weekend, but that won’t be enough to deny the mystical superhero his next big box office milestone. Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness should sit right around $850+/- million by close of business next weekend, only its fourth of release. From there, it will take modest amounts for several more weeks, until it crosses $900 million and shortly thereafter ends its theatrical run.

However, there is always the chance Top Gun: Maverick underperforms next weekend for some reason (doubtful, but possible). Regardless, there’s nothing else eating into Doctor Strange’s audience until Jurassic World Dominion arrives on June 10th. This is another film that presumably will be a monster hit, but which has a chance of underperforming as well. Then, a week later comes Lightyear, the Disney spinoff from the Toy Story series.

And that gets Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness through the start of July, with the competition spaced out evenly enough not to cause any sudden large tumbles that derail its pace. Some estimates suggest it could climb significantly beyond $900 million, but I want to see how it holds up against the Top Gun and Jurassic Park sequels before I look much past a $900 million finish.

Without a change in the landscape and some unexpected results for other franchises, it appears Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness will wind up shy of $1 billion, and I’m skeptical at the moment that it can hold well enough against this competition to even reach $950 million. That’s not a knock against Doctor Strange, by any stretch. Those are simply proven franchises, and their likely success just means the numbers probably won’t be there to boost the MCU sequel toward such numbers.

It’s worth noting Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness lacked both the Russian markets and Chinese markets. Those two nations’ receipts account for more than $130 million of the first Doctor Strange film’s box office back in 2016, so it’s clear the sequel would easily top $1 billion if it hadn’t lacked those markets this time around. And let’s not forget there’s a global pandemic still raging and currently experiencing a surge, which is also still affecting box office attendance.

No reasonable assessment can claim Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness isn’t a huge success and a box office hit, both for the sheer numbers it has put up regardless of context and especially in light of the fact it’ll complete its run with $900 million despite lacking two major markets and releasing during a surging pandemic.

It’s also worth noting Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is the first big cinematic payoff for Marvel’s Disney+ MCU tie-in shows, and it proves the approach can work to great results. Hopefully this means even stronger direct tie-ins between MCU streaming and cinema. (And luckily, that appears to be the case, as Ms. Marvel will appear in her own self-titled series on Disney+ this year ahead of her role in the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels next year.)

I’ll keep close watch on Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness box office numbers each week, so if it does appear there’s still a path to $1 billion after the next couple of weeks, then I’ll be back with another report, so be sure to check back soon.