Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Racks Up $42 Million In Ticket Presales

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness brought in $42 million in ticket presales, which analysts are forecasting means a $150 million-plus opening box office when the Marvel movie opens on May 6. Deadline crunched the numbers, which also means the Doctor Strange sequel can sell five times as many domestic opening tickets as its predecessor back in 2016.

All in, those numbers could mean as much as a $200 million opening weekend, with a gross of $500 million or more domestically. That's not a huge surprise, as that's a long time to wait for a sequel and so far every new trailer and clip has been excitingly revealing lots of new info. For example, in late April, it was revealed that the Illuminati will appear--sparking all sorts of speculation for what that could mean. In the trailer released during the Super Bowl, which you can watch below, we got our first, better look at the return of Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who hasn't been around since the first Doctor Strange movie and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) who will be making her MCU debut in the film.

Benedict Cumberbatch will be returning in the title role, and also reprising are Benedict Wong (Marco Polo) as Sorcerer Supreme Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Lion King) as super villain Karl Mordo. Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla) is also returning as Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff for a storyline that will connect with the Disney+ series WandaVision.

Doctor Strange 2 hits theaters on May 6.