‘Doctor Strange’ Conjures Biggest Opening Weekend of 2022 So Far

It’s a multiverse of madness … and of money.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was expected to do well in theaters this week, and it blew away those expectations to do even better. When the box office totals came in, the film was not only the #1 movie of the weekend, it was the biggest opening of 2022 so far. The film grossed an estimated $185 million over the weekend, including $90 million on Friday alone, per The Hollywood Reporter.

This marks the second Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in a row to absolutely dominate the box office. Spider-Man: No Way Home opened in late 2021, at the height of the Omicron wave of the Covid pandemic, and made $260 million in its opening weekend on the way to grossing $804.6 million in the U.S. and $1.89 billion worldwide. It’s now the third-biggest movie ever domestically, and the sixth-biggest internationally. Doctor Strange isn’t on quite that same level of success — but it’s about a superhero who’s never had the same level of name recognition or popularity as Spider-Man, and so the fact that it is even in the same league as Spider-Man is surely cause for celebration over at Marvel.

If the $185 million number holds, that would make Multiverse of Madness the 11th biggest opening in the history of movies; just behind Avengers: Age of Ultron’s $191 million, and just ahead of Incredibles 2’s $182 million. It’s also the seventh biggest opening in the history of the MCU, after the four Avengers, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Black Panther.

After three days in theaters, Doctor Strange is already the second-biggest movie of 2022 behind only DC’s The Batman, which has earned $369 million in U.S. theaters so far. Doctor Strange will almost certainly top that number when all is said and done. Internationally, the film has already made over $450 million.

In other words… the movie is a big hit.