Though its box office draw is naturally on the wane, Doctor Strange is said to be closing in on $500 million worldwide, and will likely break past that threshold by the weekend.
Word comes by way of Box Office Mojo, confirming that Scott Derrickson’s visual treat has remained tip top of the domestic box office for the past two weekends. It’s set to be dethroned by the oncoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, of course, but Marvel’s Doctor Strange will no doubt pull in enough receipts to drive its total cume past half a billion dollars.
What’s interesting is that, much like Ant-Man before it, a significant portion of Doctor Strange‘s box office was gathered overseas, with Box Office Mojo noting that, at the time of writing, foreign receipts account for exactly 67.8 percent of that eye-watering total.
International markets continue to be big business for not just Marvel, but the entire Hollywood movie industry, and Doctor Strange is just the latest example of one such trend. The real question left now is, how far can the Sorcerer Supreme reach? Does the origin story have the mileage to hit $600 million, thus eclipsing the total of Ant-Man? We’ll be keeping tabs on Derrickson’s feature as it nears the end of its theatrical run. One thing’s for sure, though; breaking past $500 million worldwide certainly warrants those early talks of a sequel.
Doctor Strange is playing across screens nationwide right now, and has been doing so since November 4. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait too long for Benedict Cumberbatch’s next turn as Stephen Strange, as he’s been confirmed to appear alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers: Infinity War.