Doctor Strange Has Already Passed Ant-Man at Worldwide Box Office

Containing mind-bending visuals and magical concepts heretofore unexplored in a Marvel Studios’ film, Doctor Strange could theoretically have turned off some of the core MCU audience. That obviously didn’t happen, as the origin story of the future Sorcerer Supreme has become only the latest in the MCU franchise’s string of huge hits. A critical and commercial darling, Strange reinforces the notion that Marvel Studios’ can turn seemingly any property into a hit.

Strange’s immense success began right out of the starting gate, with a $85 million domestic opening instantly surpassing The Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man , Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor. It also came extremely close to topping Thor: The Dark World’s $85.7 million domestic kickoff. As of weekend two, the good doctor had surpassed Hulk’s total domestic take, and was rapidly gaining on First Avenger’s, while internationally it had already topped both of those, along with Thor.

ComicBook.com reports that the good news for Doctor Strange is continuing. The film has earned a robust $181.5 million domestically and $390 million from international markets, leading to a current total worldwide gross of $571.5 million. This handily vaults over Ant-Man’s $519.3 million global haul, moving Strange up to 10th overall on the worldwide MCU box office chart.


Back on the strictly domestic MCU leaderboard, Strange’s latest total has now floated the former surgeon up above First Avenger, Ant-Man, and Thor’s total stateside tallies. The next domestic benchmark to clear would be Thor: The Dark World’s $206.3 million number, which is certainly possible before Strange ends its theatrical run, but far from certain. How well Strange holds up in its fourth weekend against newcomer Moana and current weekend champion Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them should give an indication as to whether the film has the staying power to pass the Asgardian sequel. After that is Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s, whose $259.7 million domestic total would be a much bigger mountain to climb.

As for Doctor Strange’s continued trajectory up the MCU’s worldwide standings, it’s hard to imagine Strange not jumping over Iron Man’s $585.2 million global earnings within the next week. Iron Man 2’s $623.9 million global haul is also definitely within striking distance for Strange. Where things get a bit harder to forecast is Thor: The Dark World’s $644.6 million total. Either way, Strange is far from done kicking the financial butt of some of its fellow MCU entries.

We'll keep you posted on Doctor Strange‘s climb up the box office ladder.

KEY RELEASE DATES
Doctor Strange release date: Nov 4, 2016
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 release date: May 5, 2017
Spider-Man: Homecoming release date: Jul 7, 2017
Thor: Ragnarok release date: Nov 3, 2017
Black Panther release date: Feb 16, 2018
The Avengers: Infinity War release date: May 4, 2018
Ant-Man & The Wasp release date: Jul 6, 2018
Captain Marvel release date: Mar 8, 2019
The Avengers 4 / Untitled Avengers Movie release date: May 3, 2019