Doctor Strange 2 Brings In $36 Million From Thursday Night Previews In The US

gamespot.com:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a huge opening night for Thursday previews, bringing in $36 million in the US alone, according to Variety.

This is the eighth biggest preview for any movie in the history of cinema, just behind Avengers: Infinity War's $39 million in Thursday preview money back in 2018. Internationally, Multiverse of Madness is already released and has made $85.7 million from more than 40 markets so far. Combined, Multiverse of Madness has now made almost $122 million worldwide.

For comparison, Multiverse of Madness' $36 million in Thursday previews is ahead of previews for The Batman ($21 million), Black Widow ($13.2 million), Eternals ($9.5 million), and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($8.8 million). Spider-Man: No Way Home made $50 million for its Thursday preview screenings in the US and Avengers: Endgame was bigger than all of them with $60 million.

For the full weekend, Multiverse of Madness is expected to make between $160 million and $180 million in the US and between $125 million and $140 million from international markets. Put together, the Marvel film is looking at $340 million in global box office sales on the high end for its first weekend.

The film reportedly had a mighty budget of $200 million to produce, and that does not count what are surely very sizable marketing and promotion costs.

If Multiverse of Madness can live up to expectations at the box office, it would be 2022's biggest opening weekend thus far, surpassing The Batman, which currently holds the record in 2022 with a $134 million opening weekend in the US.

2016's original Doctor Strange made $85 million in the US for its opening weekend, ending its run with $232 million domestically and $677 million