Will Dr. Strange Be Marvel Studios First Big Flop?

[Shawn Hopkins]

It's an obscure character and the focus on mysticism doesn't exactly scream "fun" enough to offset the obscurity like Guardians of the Galaxy did. Instead of looking like wacky fun, it actually looks like it could be dry and boring and metaphysical, like being trapped in a room with your patchouli-scented hippie acquaintance for 90 minutes while they natter about their past lives.

[Drz]

Yes.

Benedict Cumberbatch doesn't have a dedicated fan-base enough for this movie to carry its legs. Should have cast Will Smith instead!

[Warmonger]

Looks pretty sweet to me

I don't expect it to make money hand over fist at the box office, but I expect good reviews.

[Deadxman]

heard this sooo many times
last year it was ant man
then GoG
then no way they can pull off the avengers
then No way Captain America would do well out side the US
Why they cast Chris Helmsworth as Thor
all the way back to
Marvel is taking too big a risk with this unknown to mainstream audience charerter call Iron Man and using that addict RDJ? It's going to blow up in their face.

[MindofShadow]

How are we defining flop exactly?

[Cthulhudrew]

I think I saw this thread before, when it was "Will Guardians of the Galaxy Be Marvel Studios First Big Flop?" and then again when it was "Will Ant-Man Be Marvel Studios First Big Flop?"

[AJBopp]

Of course not. It looks more visually spectacular than anything they've done, the trailers are gripping, they have a great lead, and a fantastic story to tell.

I'd look for this to do $500-600 million.

[DebkoX]

No chance, even if it is average it'll still be a financial success.

[The Darknight Detective]

I have no idea if it will fail or not (I believe it will do fine, FWIW). Nevertheless, if it does flop, Zach Snyder will somehow be blamed for it.

[DebkoX]

I have no idea if it will fail or not (I believe it will do fine, FWIW). Nevertheless, if it does flop, Zach Snyder will somehow be blamed for it.

It'll be his fault of course.

[AndrewCrossett]

Iron Man, Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy were all equal or less than Doctor Strange in terms of familiarity with the general, non-comics-reading public. But they all succeeded because they were fun. If this movie is fun (not necessarily "funny" but fun), it should succeed as well.

[Frontier]

It's got the Marvel brand attached to it, so I'm betting it will do reasonable numbers at least.

[MindofShadow]

It really depends on how you are defining flop.

BvS is considered a "flop" despite grossing 873 mil WW

Ant-Man was considered a big success grossing 519 mil WW

So... what is a flop depends on what the expectations really are.

Last non sequel from Marvel was Ant-Man, grossing 519 mil. Before that was GoG, grossing 773 mil WW.

So... is 550-600 mil a "fair" thing to expect from this movie?

[The Darknight Detective]

It's got the Marvel brand attached to it, so I'm betting it will do reasonable numbers at least.

The Marvel brand may be the greatest star in their stable.

[AndrewCrossett]

Even if it does only average box office domestically (which I would define as ~$500 million), it stands to do hugely well overseas, especially in Asia... if it can get around China's ban on films that "promote superstition." Unfortunately, that means they'll probably nerf the hell out of the "magic" angle... or they may have shot some alternate scenes for the Chinese release that do so.