‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ has MCU’s Second Worst Box Office Drop in Second Weekend

by Josh Ramos · May 16, 2022

After dominating the box office for its opening weekend and opening week, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has experienced the MCU’s second-worst box office drop in its second weekend.

There are few films that debuted to greater audience expectation than the long-awaited Doctor Strange sequel.

Source: Marvel Studios

Set to bookend the multiversal narrative that has been a focal point of the Marvel Cinematic Universes Phase Four, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness promised a mind-bending cinematic experience that took viewers to the boundless uncertainty of alternate realities.

Taking Marvel’s resident sorcerer head to head against that varied unknown, and combining characters old and new in the adventure, it was primed to kick off the summer blockbuster season and did just that with a dominant opening weekend.

Source: Marvel Studios

The success of the film only carried over with a very good opening week, and with all eyes on how it would fare in the third phase of its opening release.

Now, according to a report from The Direct, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has experienced the MCU’s second-worst box office drop in its second weekend, putting it on par with some of the MCU’s lesser performers.

Source: Marvel Studios

The film grossed $16.7 million on Friday, which is an 81% drop from the $90.7 million it earned on its opening day; the film earned about $61 million over the course of its second weekend, with only a 67.5% drop from its first.

Although the news may sound dire for the MCU epic, history has proven that this may be par for the course as far as MCU films go.

Source: Marvel Studios

In December, the record-breaking Spider-Man: No Way Home suffered a horrid 83.9% drop in its second Friday; the major difference between the two is that the Spider-Man epic second Friday was Christmas Eve.

The drop didn’t affect the outcome, as the MCU film is the third-highest grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office, but many are not sold on the success of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.