What ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Blockbuster Ticket Sales Signal for Summer Movie Season

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterFor the past two years, box office reports have been accompanied by a COVID-shaped asterisk: Ticket sales were [insert adjective of choice] for a pandemic.After all, “Wonder Woman 1984,” “F9: The Fast Saga” and every would-be blockbuster in between could have generated more in ticket sales without a devastating global health crisis upending the movie theater landscape.But as “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” debuted to $90 million last October ($10 million more than its predecessor) and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” landed the second-highest domestic debut in history with $260 million, the caveats began to fade.

Add in “The Batman” ($134 million debut in March) and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” ($71 million start in April, $13 million more than its predecessor), and those numbers weren’t just notable for a pandemic, they were plain notable.

And now “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” opened to $187 million over the weekend, notching not only the second-best domestic launch since COVID-19, but the 11th-biggest North American opening weekend of all time.