It’s official: Doctor Strange is magic for the box office.
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The new Marvel Studios film is now estimated to bring in $85 million this weekend, upping its cumulative global earnings to $325 million. Doctor Strange’s strong opening weekend puts it ahead of Thor: The Dark World, Ant-Man, and Captain America: The First Avenger, but behind Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in opening box office numbers.
By beating out Trolls, Hacksaw Ridge, and other movies this weekend, Doctor Strange becomes the fourteenth consecutive Marvel Cinematic Universe film to debut #1 at the box office.
Be sure to check out ComicBook.com’s Marvel’s Doctor Strange review.
Meanwhile, Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls scored big at the box office, finishing in second with an impressive $45.6 million on its first weekend.
Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge also exceeded expectations, bringing in $14.7 million on its first weekend. That’s about equal to the opening weekend of Apocalypto, Gibson’s last directorial work. 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.
