‘Doctor Strange 2’ stays atop box office

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” stayed on top of the box office charts during its second weekend in theaters, earning an additional $61 million from North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

With $688 million in global grosses, it’s already one of the highest grossing films of the pandemic and the second biggest of 2022. But a 67 percent fall is also a steep drop — even for reliably frontloaded superhero films.

Released by The Walt Disney Co., “Doctor Strange 2 ” benefited from being the first Marvel movie to follow “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer played a pivotal role.

Directed by Sam Raimi, “Doctor Strange 2” also builds upon the popular Disney+ series “Wandavision” and contains a number of cameos that fans didn’t want to be spoiled. The elements all came together to give “Doctor Strange” the 11th-biggest domestic debut of all time. But reviews also weren’t quite as strong as those for the latest “Spider-Man” installment, which could impact the film in the long run.

Blumhouse’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “Firestarter,” starring Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, debuted in fourth place, finishing behind holdover family films “The Bad Guys” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” which took the second and third spots.