‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Looking at Near-$200M Opening Weekend, Sam Raimi Talks Horror Elements
Tickets for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness went on sale last week, and a few records have already been broken. Long-range forecasts are already predicting an opening weekend number of around $200M.
According to Box Office Pro, the Sam Raimi-directed sequel is looking at earning $165M-$205M during its first three days of release in the U.S. The movie is already the king of pre-sales in 2022, selling during its first three hours as many tickets as The Batman did over its first 24 hours. Of course, pre-sales are only a small part of the movie’s total opening weekend number, and there are many cases of movies obliterating pre-sales records that end up making much less than was expected. However, Spider-Man: No Way Home had a record-breaking first 24 hours of pre-sales, and it went on to deliver the second-largest opening weekend ever in the States despite the pandemic.
Nobody is expecting this movie to open as high as Spider-Man: No Way Home, a movie that doubled the studio’s expectations for its opening weekend, and smashed any type of forecast from the main box office trades. It’s very unlikely those expectations will be destroyed again, but as word-of-mouth continues to build as we get closer to the movie’s release date, it’s very possible these early estimates could go higher. Should Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness open to more than $207M, it will become the third-highest opening ever in May, after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
(L-R): Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Benedict Wong as Wong, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange in Marvel Studios’ DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
We recently posted a few bits from an interview Fandango did with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness director Sam Raimi. In another quote from that interview, which we didn’t cover, the director has finally confirmed that the upcoming sequel will indeed contain several horror elements.
Kevin Feige commented recently that Evil Dead II fans will be very pleased watching Multiverse of Madness. When asked about this, Sam Raimi theorized it may have been a reference to the original pitch of the movie, which was the first MCU entry with full-blown horror elements in it. Scott Derrickson, who was originally going to direct, is a seasoned horror director, and of course, so is Raimi. He said the following:
“I think what [Kevin] meant, from my point of view, is that this film has a flavor of horror to it. I think when the original director, Scott Derrickson, and Kevin promoted the coming of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, they said that it was going to be the first Marvel superhero film that had an element of horror to it. I hope I’m not misquoting them. But even after Scott left the picture due to creative differences, that was still the mandate — to make the first Marvel film that had an element of horror. So, I kept true to their original statements.
I think that’s what Kevin means, because it is spooky at some times and scary at others. It’s unknown what you’ll find in the multiverse. It’s within that unknown that suspense and darkness exists. A tool to titillate the audience’s fear. Plus, Doctor Strange in the comics has always dealt in universes and dimensions that were quite spooky, so we tried to bring some of that into this film.”
In fact, when he was then asked what was the one thing he always wanted to do in either a superhero movie or a horror movie, he simply said:
“To combine elements of both. That was a lot of fun.”
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel Studios’ DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
The main villain of the movie is also a big mystery at this point. After the post-credits scene of the first Doctor Strange, one might have thought it was going to be Mordo. After Kevin Feige’s announcement at Comic-Con 2019 that Wanda would be in Multiverse of Madness, and after watching the trailers, one might say it’s the Scarlet Witch. And also from the trailers, there’s room for the heartless version of Doctor Strange to be the main villain. Raimi said the following:
“Well, there’s iterations of our characters throughout the multiverse. So, if I were to say Strange … I’m not really supposed to answer this question, but I might be saying altered Strange. Same with Wanda and Mordo. But I would say, at different times, all of the above.”
The new movie will also introduce America Chavez in the MCU, the first gay Latina character in a Marvel movie, played by Xochitl Gómez. Chavez’s comic-book creator, Joe Casey, recently expressed his disappointment to The Hollywood Reporter about Marvel’s “pittance” of an offer for taking his character into what could be a billion-dollar film. While no figure was explicitly said by Casey, THR‘s sources noted they usually are in the range of $5,000.
Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez in Marvel Studios’ DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Casey agrees that Marvel owns the character, but he just wishes the next one in line will get a better deal if he speaks out. He said:
“The fact is Marvel owns America Chavez. That’s not in dispute on any level, but there are still systemic flaws in the way that creators are neither respected nor rewarded.
For me, it’s not about money. It’s not even about the respect. I would never expect to be respected by a corporation. If I’m in a position where I can afford not to take their insult of an offer, and be able to talk about it, maybe the next guy — where that kind of money could change their life — would get a fair shot of receiving that money.”
This is not really new for Marvel. Jim Starlin, who created Thanos, was very outspoken about his disappointment after barely receiving any compensation for creating the main villain in two of the biggest movies of all time — he ended up getting a better deal and ultimately had a cameo in Avengers: Endgame. He was also invited to the premieres of both movies, a classic move by Marvel Studios regarding comic-book creators.
Casey has not received a counter-offer from Marvel yet, but according to THR‘s sources inside the comic-book company, conversations are ongoing. This will probably get resolved behind the scenes, with no more drama, and hopefully, the company will learn the lesson for next time.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters on May 6th. Tickets are already available.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
