'Doctor Strange' set to work Marvel magic, kick off summer movie season
Sorry, Batman, but if it's May at the box office, it's Marvel: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (NYSE:DIS) kick-started the weekend early on Thursday, and is primed to set a new high-water mark for 2022 film openings.
That includes The Batman (WBD), which opened the weekend of March 4 to $134 million. With a strong $36 million in Thursday "previews," the new Doctor Strange is aiming for $175 million to $180 million or more, and observers on the high end think it could surpass $200 million with the right breaks.
That would certainly unofficially start a summer blockbuster season that once was thought to begin on Memorial Day weekend. But in a growing tradition, Marvel films in early May have scored at the box office for a decade or more. Sony's (SONY) Spider-Man films in 2002 and 2007 are among the top 10 May openings ever, as are Disney's (DIS) Iron Man 2 (2010), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Deadpool 2 (2018).
The Avengers is tops in May openings with $207.4 million in 2012, followed by Avengers: Age of Ultron with $191.3 million in 2015.
The new Marvel film has cleared out all competitors not only this weekend but for a few weeks: The next major contender is Paramount's (PARA) (PARAA) Top Gun: Maverick on May 27.
Last week's chart-leading family films - The Bad Guys (CMCSA) with $16.2 million and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (PARA) (PARAA) with $11.5 million - face a tough chore holding on to much business, with Doctor Strange playing on 4,400 screens.