OVERACHIEVING

‘Doctor Strange’ Rules Weekend Box Offices

Unexpectedly strong $85M from U.S. theaters.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s new film, Doctor Strange, opened to an unexpectedly strong $85 million at U.S. box offices, and a total of $325 million worldwide this weekend. Hollywood analysts looking at Doctor Strange, in which Cumberbatch plays a top surgeon who finds the help of a master of mystical arts when he loses his hands in a car accident, anticipated a $65 million opening, and the success adds another ringer to the Marvel Studios and Disney superhero lineup. After Strange, Mel Gibson’s Wold War II drama Hacksaw Ridge and Justin Timberlake’s animated film, Trolls, also came in with better-than-expected numbers. Trolls, also starring Anna Kendrick, took in $45.6 million from 4,060 theaters domestically. Hacksaw Ridge garnered $14.8 million from 2,886 U.S. theaters.