Doctor Strange 2 Has Already Set A Box Office Record For 2022, And Movies Are Back, Baby

Rachel McAdams, Benedict cumberbatch and Xochitl Gomez in Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Although Doctor Strange played important roles in Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s been six years since Benedict Cumberbatch’s character shined in his own movie, which also served as his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. Well, we’re a month out from that finally being rectified, and if you’re determined to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as soon as possible, tickets are now on sale for the sequel. In fact, just a day after advanced tickets finally went up, Multiverse of Madness (which is reportedly super long) has already set a box office record for 2022.

During the first 24 hours of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness tickets resales, Fandango sold more tickets for the upcoming Marvel movie than any other 2022 movie so far. The movie that previously held this honor was The Batman, which opened to the public on March 4 and has made roughly $714 million worldwide as of this writing. Multiverse of Madness’ first presales also the ticket platform’s biggest since Spider-Man: No Way Home tickets went on sale back on November 29, 2021. Here’s what Erik Davis, Fandango’s Managing Editor, had to say about this accomplishment:

The epic first day of presales for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness proves fans are beyond excited to experience all the thrills, chills and blockbuster surprises Marvel Studios is known to deliver.

Nearly a decade and a half after Iron Man kicked off this game-changing superhero world, the MCU has become a Hollywood juggernaut, and while not all of its movies are received positively across the board (last November’s Eternals was particularly polarizing), you can count on a lot of people turning out to see them in theaters. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is no exception, so if you plan on seeing the sequel on opening night or at any point during the opening weekend, you’ll be in good company. To be fair though, Multiverse of Madness is shaping up to be an especially important entry in the MCU mythology.

Building off the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, as well as the Disney+ shows WandaVision and Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sees the title Master of the Mystic Arts traveling to other realities to combat a mysterious new adversary. Among the other familiar faces returning for the sequel is Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, who’s desperate to reunite with her children, Billy and Tommy. As far as the newcomers go, the biggest character confirmed so far is Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez, and while we will see Patrick Stewart involved in Multiverse of Madness, it remains to be seen whether he’s playing a Professor X variant or not.

Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Michael Waldron, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will work its magic in theaters starting with preview screenings on the late afternoon/evening of Thursday, May 5. Consult our 2022 release schedule if you’re curious about what other movies are slated to come out later this year.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.