It was a magical weekend for Marvel’sDoctor Strange, which easily earned the top spot at the box office with a higher-than-expected opening weekend. The introduction ofSherlockstar Benedict Cumberbatch as surgeon-turned-sorcerer Stephen Strange raked in an impressive $84.9 million in U.S. theaters, extending Marvel’s streak of opening weekend winners and pushing Disney past the $6 billion mark for the year — a feat achieved by only one other studio in Hollywood history.
While it was an exceptionally good weekend forDoctor Strange, all three of this week’s major new releases enjoyed respectable debuts — both critically and commercially.
As far as Marvel movies go, the opening weekend forDoctor Strangewas the tenth best debut of the 14 films in the studio’s cinematic universe, ranking above the premieres ofThe Incredible Hulk,Ant-Man,Captain America: The First Avenger,andThor. The film also fared well critically, earning a 90 percent “Fresh” rating on professional review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” rating on audience-based review aggregator CinemaScore.
Also making big — and positive — debuts over the weekend were the musical animated featureTrolls, which took second place and earned similarly rave reviews, and war dramaHacksaw Ridge, which was directed by Mel Gibson and received more good reviews while outperforming expectations. All three of the weekend’s top films earned the sort of reviews that typically suggest they’ll have a strong run, but anything can happen as we enter the holiday season and more big-ticket films start hitting theaters.
The rest of the weekend’s top ten films were all returning features, with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks’Infernocontinuing its lackluster run in U.S. theaters while doing significantly better overseas, and Tyler Perry’s comedy sequelA Madea Halloweenfinally vacating the top spot after a two-week run at the top of the domestic box office.
This upcoming week’s highest-profile new release is the sci-fi dramaArrivalfromSicariodirector Denis Villeneuve, which will compete with Ang Lee’s military dramaBilly Lynn’s Long Halftime Walkand the holiday comedyAlmost Christmas, among other debuting films.
