|
After earning $12.3 million on Friday at 4,060 locations,
"Trolls" is also adding a boost, toying with an opening of about
$44 million. Both films are leading Mel Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge"
which shot to $5.2 million on Friday at 2,886 theaters and
should end up with about $14 million by the weekend's end.
"Doctor Strange," from Marvel and Disney, follows neurosurgeon
Stephen Strange who injures his hands in a car accident, and in
the process of healing, gains mystical powers. Scott Derrickson
directs the film with a $165 million price tag. In addition to
Benedict Cumberbatch as "Strange," Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel
Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton also star.
DreamWorks Animation's "Trolls" calls on the voices of Justin
Timberlake and Anna Kendrick to play characters who are complete
opposites, but must band together to on an adventure. Mike
Mitchell and Walt Dohrn directed the film based on a script by
Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Erica Rivinoja.
"Hacksaw Ridge," widely considered an Oscar contender, stars
Andrew Garfield as U.S. Army medic Desmond T. Doss during World
War II. The Lionsgate film was written by Andrew Knight and
Robert Schenkkan and also stars Vince Vaughn and Sam
Worthington.
Another Awards Season contender, Focus Features and Universal
Pictures' "Loving," from director Jeff Nichols, opened in 4
locations for a Friday total of $55,000. The film centers around
the Supreme Court case that declared laws prohibiting
interracial marriage unconstitutional. Joel Edgerton and Ruth
Negga star as the central couple with supporting work from Nick
Kroll and Michael Shannon.
This weekend's box office jolt is at least in part due to the
critical consensus for all the major releases. "Strange"
currently holds a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while
"Trolls" sings 74%, "Hacksaw Ridge" shoots 84% and "Loving"
embraces 89%.
The estimated weekend total would put "Doctor Strange" ahead of
other Marvel film openings like "Thor" ($65.7 million) and
"Ant-Man" ($57.2 million), but behind characters with higher
name-recognition like 2008's "Iron Man" ($98.6 million) and, of
course, films that band together multiple heroes like "Marvel's
The Avengers" ($207.4 million). Within the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, "Doctor Strange" is posting numbers that most closely
align with 2013's "Thor: The Dark World" ($85.7 million). Last
time this year the Bond film "Spectre" topped the box office
with $70 million.
The next expected release in the MCU is "Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2, which is slated for May 2017.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
