Advertisement

Doctor Strange beats Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America at the box office

Strange... barnstorming the box office - Credit: Disney
Strange… barnstorming the box office – Credit: Disney

Doctor Strange has cast a spell over the UK box office, beating the opening weekends for both ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’.

It made a sturdy £5.2 million over the weekend, bringing its current total in the UK to £9.1 million since it opened on Tuesday last week.

Edge of Tomorrow 2 is a ‘sequel that’s a prequel’
Kevin Fiege discusses Captain America without Steve Rogers
Horror remakes that are better than the originals

That can be thrown on the pile that’s being made around the world by the new movie in the ‘Marvel cinematic universe’, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as neurosurgeon Stephen Strange who seeks out mystical powers to heal his hands following a car accident.

So far the movie, directed by Scott Derrickson, has made $86 million (about £70 million) around the world, which puts it 37 percent ahead of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, 23 percent ahead of ‘Winter Soldier’, and even one percent above the gang-busting ‘Thor: The Dark World’.

(Credit: Disney)
(Credit: Disney)

It’s a solid war chest already to put against its not insubstantial £135 million budget, while its also riding high on excellent reviews.

It maintains a steady 92% ‘fresh’ rating on reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, and has roundly enjoyed plaudits from the critics.

James Dyer in Empire called it ‘a bizarre and beautiful detour on the Marvel journey, which culminates in a mind-bending, expectation-inverting final act’.

Giving the movie fours stars in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw wrote: “It’s a tremendously engaging and likeable superhero ride, in which the classiest of casts show they know exactly where to take it seriously – and where to inject the fun.”

It’s out now across the UK.