LOS ANGELES: Marvel and Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” saw a sharp dropoff this weekend from its blockbuster opening, but still reported $61 million in estimated ticket sales to top North America’s box office
The superhero sequel, again starring Benedict Cumberbatch, had opened last weekend to a year’s best $187 million. It has now earned $292 million domestically and an additional $396 million abroad for a global total of $688 million.
Far behind in second place for the Friday-through-Sunday period was Universal’s animated action-comedy “The Bad Guys.”
The DreamWorks Animation production, with a voice cast led by Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina and Anthony Ramos, took in $6.9 million. In third for the second straight weekend was Paramount’s family-friendly “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” at $4.6 million.
“Firestarter,” a new release from Universal based on the Stephen King horror-thriller, took in $3.8 million, a disappointing opening for a major-studio thriller.
It stars Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon as parents who have been trying to hide daughter Ryan Kiera Armstrong from a shadowy federal agency that wants to use her, um, matchless ability to start fires using only her mind.
The film has received a dismal 12 percent rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, in sharp contrast to the fifth-place film, A24’s sci-fi yarn “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which scored 96 percent on the site and earned $3.3 million in its eighth weekend out.
Michelle Yeoh stars in “Everything” as a beleaguered laundromat owner who must resolve some messy family issues while doing existential battle in a bizarre and chaotic multiverse.
Rounding out the top 10 were “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” ($2.4 million), “The Lost City” ($1.7 million), “The Northman” ($1.7 million), “Family Camp” ($1.4 million), and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” ($1.1 million).
