Estimated Box Office Gross: $700 million It's a Marvel movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Can it really do any wrong? Well, it's not actually a definite winner. Doctor Strange has a few things going against it that may impact its overall gross, should audiences - in an unlikely event - not respond well to the marketing campaign. Firstly, it's not a sequel to another movie; superhero sequels are the most profitable. Secondly, its titular hero isn't as off-the-bat famous as, say, Spider-Man. Thirdly, there's going probably to be some magic involved. Audiences might like Harry Potter, but the success of the Dark Knight trilogy suggests there's a good section of them like a more realistic approach to comic book movies. If audiences can embrace Doctor Strange, however, trust Marvel and throw caution to the wind in the same way that they did with Guardians of the Galaxy - and to an extent, Ant-Man - this could make a ton of money. Having listed the negatives, it only makes sense to list the positives, of course: obviously Benedict Cumberbatch is a huge audience draw, and Marvel made a wonderful decision in bringing the Sherlock actor to the MCU. Speaking of the MCU, this is an MCU movie, guys, which means that it has "profit" written all over it. If Ant-Man can pull in $518 million at the box office, then Doctor Strange can match that total - more than likely, it'll do better.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
