Doctor Strange Beats Projections To Win Opening Weekend Box Office

Marvel’s Doctor Strange is casting spells on large audiences this weekend.

Doctor Strange earned $32.6 million on Friday, including Thursday night showings. Marvel Studios’ latest is now set for a $84 million opening weekend.

The opening exceeds the projected $75 million that Doctor Strange was expected to earn in its first three days. Doctor Strange‘s international box office debut also exceeded expectations by earning $86 million.

Be sure to check out ComicBook.com’s Marvel’s Doctor Strange review.

DreamWorks Animations Trolls landed in second place. The animated feature earned $12.3 million on Friday and is set to go for $44 million over the weekend.

Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge landed in third place. Hacksaw Ridge earned $5.2 million on Friday and is expected to total about $14 million by the end of the weekend. Be sure to read ComicBook.com’s Hacksaw Ridge review

In Doctor Strange, Dr. Stephen Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) life changes after a car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he looks for healing, and hope, in a mysterious enclave. He quickly learns that the enclave is at the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying reality. Before long, Strange is forced to choose between his life of fortune and status or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.

Doctor Strange is directed by Scott Derrickson, who wrote the screenplay with C. Robert Cargill from a story by Derrickson, Cargill, and Jon Spaihts. Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton.

In Trolls, after the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy (Kendrick), the happiest Troll ever born, and the overly-cautious curmudgeonly Branch (Timberlake) set off on a journey to rescue her friends. Together, this mismatched duo embark on a rescue mission full of adventure and mishaps – trying to tolerate each other long enough to get the job done.

Trolls was directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn and was written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Erica Rivinoja. Trolls stars Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden and Gwen Stefani.

Hacksaw Ridge is the extraordinary true story of conscientious collaborator Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He believed the war was just, but killing was nevertheless wrong; he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. As an army medic, Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. He was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Hacksaw Ridge is directed by Mel Gibson, written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan and stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Corr, Teresa Palmer, Richard Pyros and Rachel Griffiths.