[UPDATE] Following a very strong start with Thursday night previews, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness continued at a strong pace, ending the weekend with $185 million in the US, $265 million from international markets. This amounts to $450 million worldwide at the box office for its first weekend. All of these numbers come from Deadline, which has further analysis of the weekend's box office figures.

　　The original story follows below.

　　Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a huge opening night for Thursday previews, bringing in $36 million in the US alone, according to Variety.

　　This is the eighth biggest preview for any movie in the history of cinema, just behind Avengers: Infinity War's $39 million in Thursday preview money back in 2018. Internationally, Multiverse of Madness is already released and has made $85.7 million from more than 40 markets so far. Combined, Multiverse of Madness has now made almost $122 million worldwide.

　　For comparison, Multiverse of Madness' $36 million in Thursday previews is ahead of previews for The Batman ($21 million), Black Widow ($13.2 million), Eternals ($9.5 million), and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($8.8 million). Spider-Man: No Way Home made $50 million for its Thursday preview screenings in the US and Avengers: Endgame was bigger than all of them with $60 million.

　　For the full weekend, Multiverse of Madness is expected to make between $160 million and $180 million in the US and between $125 million and $140 million from international markets. Put together, the Marvel film is looking at $340 million in global box office sales on the high end for its first weekend.

　　The film reportedly had a mighty budget of $200 million to produce, and that does not count what are surely very sizable marketing and promotion costs.

　　If Multiverse of Madness can live up to expectations at the box office, it would be 2022's biggest opening weekend thus far, surpassing The Batman, which currently holds the record in 2022 with a $134 million opening weekend in the US.

　　2016's original Doctor Strange made $85 million in the US for its opening weekend, ending its run with $232 million domestically and $677 million worldwide.

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　　Multiverse of Madness is directed by Spider-Man's Sam Raimi, who hadn't directed a film since 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful. He spent his time away growing avocados.

　　In addition to Benedict Cumberbatch as Strange, Multiverse of Madness stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams.

　　GameSpot's Multiverse of Madness review scored the film an 8/10.

　　"Despite the unevenness in the presentation, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a fun, fresh take for the MCU and, with any luck, a hopeful indication of things to come in the future," reviewer Mason Downey said. "While Phase 4 has certainly not been shy about taking risks and playing with styles and genres thus far, Multiverse of Madness represents Marvel's most extreme diversion from the mold in some key ways (while, unfortunately, being deeply beholden to the formula in others.) It feels exciting to think that the MCU may be getting less precious with its toys and allowing more directors to start pulling at the seams."

　　In related news, Scarlet Witch is now available in Fortnite.