In terms of movies, Marvel seems to have gotten their formula down pat because just like almost every other Marvel released before it in recent years, Doctor Strange is off to a great start by opening with $86 million over the weekend where the movie has been launched in multiple countries around the world.
This is according to Variety who also reports that Doctor Strange did exceptionally well in IMAX where it pulled in a whopping $7.8 million to become the highest-grossing IMAX movie in October. It was also the top-grossing movie in almost every market that the movie has been launched in, which includes the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Korea, and Hong Kong.
According to Disney, Marvel’s parent company, it seems that Doctor Strange is doing better than some of their other movies at launch. For example they claim that its opening is nearly 50% ahead of Ant-Man, 37% ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy, and 23% ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, all of which are pretty strong movies in their own right.
So far reviews of the movie have been pretty positive. There were some initial complaints and accusations of whitewashing when it was revealed that Tilda Swinton was cast in the role as the Ancient One, a character whose origins in the comics was that from Tibet, although Marvel has since stated that the Ancient One is more of a title rather than an actual person.