DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS opening | Superhero movies from 2018 to 2022 | May 6 to 8, 2022 weekend
Opening weekend box office figures, charts and commentary
The current weekend: May 6 to 8, 2022
1) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opening
- This is another sensational Marvel opening, by Marvel's own dominant standard. On average, a 2nd episode Marvel sequel opens +12% better than the 1st episode. This start is more than double Doctor Strange 1's opening, and also more than double Marvel's average for all of its 2nd episode openings. Like nine other Marvel series during the last 20 years, Doctor Strange is growing its audience with a stronger follow-up release.
- Marvel sequels make over half of their money overseas, and foreign was strong for the first Doctor Strange (65.7% of worldwide). With China, Russia and Ukraine down, international is going to be under pressure. Recently, Spider-Man 9 finished at 57.8% overseas without the help of China, down from 65.5% foreign for the previous Spider-Man in 2019. And Batman just finished at 51.7% foreign, with a relatively paltry $24m from China and nothing from the two warring countries, compared with 62.2% foreign for the previous Batman in 2016 — Batman v Superman:
2) Superhero movies from 2018 to 2022
- 2022 will be a good year for superheroes. Spider-Man in December was a 2021 release, but if there were 13 months in a year and it started on December 1st, then 2022 would be outstanding. This year, it’s been Batman, Morbius and now Doctor Strange. Looking ahead, the Thor series has been growing with each episode (#3 made $854m ww in 2017, #4 arrives in July), and Black Panther 1 was a smash ($1.35b ww in 2018, #2 opens in November). There are also three wildcards this year:
Black Adam on Oct 21 is a spin-off of Shazam! 1 (which made $366m ww in Apr 2019). Then, Shazam! 2 arrives two months later in December. That is unconventional series timing. Superhero spin-offs start with headwinds — they finish down -38% ww on average compared with the previous episode — and they usually arrive as the 5th movie in a series, not the 2nd. Earlier in the pandemic, Harley Quinn spun-off after the first Suicide Squad and crashed. The Rock is as big a star as there is; hopefully he will carry Black Adam without the help of a more established series;
Secret Headquarters on Aug 5 is about a kid who, after finding a secret headquarters in the cellar, begins to wonder if his father is a superhero. It's not a conventional superhero movie in the sense that it doesn't fully commit and exist in the superhero fantasy world. It explores the experience on the outside looking in. There have been some interesting movies like that (Kick-Ass), but they are not in the box office league of a pure superhero story:
- 2018 and 2019 were very strong years for superhero movies. The films consistently delivered, moviegoing conditions were healthy, and the Chinese market was more welcoming. In 2018, the seven superhero movies earned $1.21 billion in China, and in 2019 they earned $1.1 billion there. Those kind of numbers are not going to happen again any time soon. The current batch of superheroes in 2022 are doing very well in spite of that, and in spite of the current trouble in Russia and Ukraine.