‘Doctor Strange 2’ keeps hold on top spot in 2nd weekend

Top Gun: Maverick has brought in a huge box office haul on its opening weekend.The sequel to 1986’s Top Gun, which sees Tom Cruise return as Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, has already taken $248million (£196million) worldwide since its release on Friday (May 27).Of those takings, $151million (£119million) were in the US, with the film screening at a record-breaking 4,732 cinemas, the most for any film on its first weekend.This makes Maverick the highest-grossing opening for a non-superhero film since the COVID-19 pandemic began, as well as the first Cruise film to go over the $100million (£79million) mark on opening weekend.It sits behind last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($206million/£162million), Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness ($148million/£116million) and The Batman ($106million/£83million).While Cruise returns for the blockbuster, original stars Kelly McGillis (Charlie Blackwood) and Meg Ryan (Carole Bradshaw) are both absent from the film.Explaining the decision not to include the characters, director Joseph Kosinski told Insider: “Those weren’t stories that we were throwing around.“I didn’t want every storyline to always be looking backwards.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterTom Cruise’s star-spangled blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” capped off Memorial Day weekend with a box office debut for record books. The sequel, which sees Cruise return to the cockpit after 36 years, collected $156 million in its first four days of release.Those ticket sales were enough to overtake Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” which launched with $153 million over the long weekend in 2007, as the biggest Memorial Day debut in history.Paramount and Skydance had originally expected “Top Gun: Maverick” to finish the long weekend with $151 million, but the film had a better-than-expected turnout on Sunday, pushing the three-day haul to $126 million.

LOS ANGELES -- Doctor Strange and his multiverse got to linger a little longer atop the weekend box office as Tom Cruise and “Top Gun” wait in the wings.Marvel's “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” was the top-earning film of the weekend for the third straight week, bringing in $31.6 million in 4,534 North American theaters, according to studio estimates released Sunday.“Downtown Abbey: A New Era” made a strong opening showing for Focus Features with $16 million from 3,820 theaters, but there was no real blockbuster competition for “Doctor Strange."That will change with the long awaited, and long delayed, release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel that arrives next week on Memorial Day weekend, 36 years after the original smash hit and cultural landmark.It flies in amid sky-high hype.Cruise had the film festival in Cannes, France, abuzz on Wednesday with a whirlwind appearance for the film's European premiere that included a fly over of French fighter jets and an honorary Palme d’Or award.But while the world waits, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” crossed the $800 million mark in global grosses, surpassing “The Batman” to become the top-grossing film of the year.Released by the Walt Disney Co. and directed by Sam Raimi, “ Doctor Strange 2 ” benefitted from being the first Marvel movie to follow “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer played a pivotal role.It also builds upon the popular Disney+ series “Wandavision” and contains a number of cameos that fans didn’t want to be spoiled.Holdover family films “The Bad Guys” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” took the third and fourth spots.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness crossed $800M globally this weekend, now with $803.2M after three frames. Of that $342.1M is from domestic and $461.1M from the international box office. The offshore drop was 53% with $40M from 49 markets.

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.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is approaching $700M globally after two weekends. The worldwide cume through Sunday is now an estimated $688.1M, including $291.9M domestic and $396.2M from the international box office. The latter number will shortly pass The Batman to become the biggest overseas release of 2022.

“Doctor Strange 2” screenwriter Michael Waldron knows a thing or two about the multiverse. He first burst onto the scene as a writer on the beloved animated series “Rick and Morty” and was in line to become the show’s new showrunner, that is until Marvel Studios came calling asking if he wanted to head up a live-action TV show about Tom Hiddleston’s trickster villain Loki.It was while working on the Disney+ series “Loki” that Waldron was offered the opportunity to take a crack at a few different things all in one project: Marvel’s first horror movie, a Sam Raimi movie and a “Doctor Strange” sequel.

With Marvel’s global juggernaut Doctor Strange missing in action in China, Disney CEO Bob Chapek called the situation there “very fluid and very complicated, both from a business standpoint and from a political standpoint.”

Movies US charts:1. Spider-Man: No Way Home2. Uncharted3.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterFor the past two years, box office reports have been accompanied by a COVID-shaped asterisk: Ticket sales were [insert adjective of choice] for a pandemic.After all, “Wonder Woman 1984,” “F9: The Fast Saga” and every would-be blockbuster in between could have generated more in ticket sales without a devastating global health crisis upending the movie theater landscape.But as “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” debuted to $90 million last October ($10 million more than its predecessor) and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” landed the second-highest domestic debut in history with $260 million, the caveats began to fade. Add in “The Batman” ($134 million debut in March) and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” ($71 million start in April, $13 million more than its predecessor), and those numbers weren’t just notable for a pandemic, they were plain notable.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the newest timeline-altering tentpole in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, captured a huge $265 million in its international box office debut.Those mighty ticket sales represent the second-biggest opening weekend overseas in pandemic times. Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still stands as the highest-grossing COVID-era debut with $340 million internationally.The second “Doctor Strange” film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the goatee-rocking sorcerer, generated $185 million in North America over the weekend, bringing its global tally to a massive $450 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterDoctor Strange and his questionably effective book of spells has summoned a blockbuster $185 million at North American movie theaters over the weekend, reaffirming the box office dominance of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe after a shakier, pandemic-battered year for the franchise.The timeline-bending “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” represents a return to form for Disney’s MCU after COVID-era releases “Black Widow” ($80 million debut, plus $60 million on Disney Plus), “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75 million debut), and “Eternals” ($71 million debut). Due to the pandemic and other extenuating circumstances, those installments failed to live up to their franchise predecessors in terms of ticket sales.

despite poor reviews.The star-studded flick, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, is now projected to top $200 million in US sales through Sunday, well ahead of the $160 million to $180 million previously expected, according to Variety.“Dr.

Clayton Davis I’ve never been one to strictly follow ratings advice, and neither did my parents: The first two movie theater experiences of my life were “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” (1989) and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), at the tender ages of four and six. During “Halloween,” I ran out of the theater once a rake was shoved into the forehead of a sheriff, so I didn’t find out how the movie ended for another decade.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the latest timeline-bending entry in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, has kicked off at the international box office, collecting $27.2 million on opening day.The film is currently playing in 20 overseas markets, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Korea. “Doctor Strange 2” opens in North America and several other territories on Friday.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness began offshore release on Wednesday in 20 markets and is already doing some crazy numbers. With $27.2M through yesterday, the first-day overall results are only 4% below Spider-Man: No Way Home and a staggering 153% ahead of the original 2016 Doctor Strange, as well as 210% ahead of The Batman on a like-for-like basis at today’s rates.