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Doctor Strange Is Now The MCU’s Biggest Single-Character Launch

The House of Mouse must be pretty happy right about now, as they ruled over the box office this weekend thanks to both Moana and Doctor Strange, with the former taking in $55.5 million and the latter pulling in another $13.4 million. Both of those figures are significant, and here's why.

The House of Mouse must be pretty happy right about now, as they ruled over the box office this weekend thanks to both Moana and Doctor Strange, with the former taking in $55.5 million and the latter pulling in another $13.4 million. Both of those figures are significant, and here’s why.

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In regards to Moana, that weekend gross puts its total five-day debut at a well-deserved $81.1 million, which means it’s now the second-highest Thanksgiving opening of all-time, with only Frozen ahead of it – as that film hit $93.6 million back in 2013. Furthermore, Disney is now the undisputed king of Thanksgiving debuts, as the top 6 all belong to to them.

The good news doesn’t stop there, either, as the studio’s other effort, Doctor Strange, has now brought its worldwide total to over $600 million, making it the biggest single-character launch for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beating out The Incredible HulkCaptain America: The First AvengerThorAnt-Man and Iron Man. Pretty impressive, eh? Especially for a character that was relatively unknown to the general public up until about a year or so ago.

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Elsewhere at the box office, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them continued to perform alright if a little under expectations, taking in another $45.1 million (it now sits at $156 million domestically), while Bad Santa 2, which has been torn apart by critics, did $6.1 million this weekend, bringing its five-day total to a measly $9 million.

Finally, the last thing to note is that Allied, another film that hasn’t been earning great reviews, failed to kick up much of a storm, taking in only $18 million over the five-day period, and that’s thanks in large part to the star power of Brad Pitt. With poor word of mouth and some heavy competition on its way, it’s not looking too pretty for the film’s future at the box office.

For a complete list of this weekend’s top 10, see below:
 

Rank Film Weekend Total
1. Moana $55,523,000 $81,108,000
2. Fantastic Beasts $45,100,000 $156,228,123
3. Doctor Strange $13,369,000 $205,093,475
4. Allied $13,000,000 $18,022,000
5. Arrival $11,250,000 $62,387,300
6. Trolls $10,340,000 $135,136,662
7. Almost Christmas $7,610,000 $36,688,865
8. Bad Santa 2 $6,106,648 $9,031,191
9. Hacksaw Ridge $5,450,000 $52,248,382
10. The Edge of Seventeen $2,960,000 $10,273,770