With less than a month from its release to theaters, Marvel's "Doctor Strange" is projected to gross $55 million to $75 million on its opening day. This estimate is based on the films strong interest across all demographics but is the first choice among men aged under and over 25 years old which stands at 19% and 18% respectively.
According to Deadline, even if "Doctor Strange" will perform at the lower end, it will still be the best opening of films released this fall season. With "Doctor Strange" performing well, this will stretch further Disney's gap from second place Warner Brothers, which currently stands at $617 million. As of this writing, Disney is currently No. 1 at the 2016 US box office this year with $2.1 billion.
"Doctor Strange" stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon-turned-sorcerer of several dimensions. The film is under the helm of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" director Scott Derrickson. The film is another title from the Marvel universe apart from its more established characters --- Thor, Captain America, Ironman and Avengers.
"Doctor Strange" marks the second time that Marvel is releasing a film at the fourth quarter of the year. It has previously released the sequel "Thor: The Dark World" November of 2013 which earned $85.7 million, an opening that bested its first chapter by 30%.
Movies opening opposite "Doctor Strange" included DreamWorks Animation's "Trolls" released by 20th Century Fox which is projected for $40 million and Mel Gibson's World War II film "Hacksaw Ridge," which has a lot of heat on it coming out of the Venice Film Festival.
After "Doctor Strange", Disney will follow up its offering for the coming holidays with animated feature "Moana" on November 23, and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" on December 16 which had an impressive six minute supercut trailer.
