Very healthy ex-US first week box office - $86M, which comparing like-for-like release patterns puts it way ahead of Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and even The Winter Soldier at the same point in their launches...

http://variety.com/2016/film/box-off...ce-1201904483/

Forecasters are predicting a US first week haul of over $70M, optimistic ones even above $80M, which would make it a bonafide hit... as stated already by others in this thread, I've felt that the marketing wasn't quite as all-encompassing as other Marvel films, but they're clearly doing something right - maybe it's finally the movie all those Cumberbatch fans have been waiting for...?

Blu ray/DVD up for pre-order. No date yet:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvels-Doc...dp/B01M68CGH2/

Saw this today. Thought it was bloody brilliant.

Doctor Strange is a solid footnote in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even if it looks like Inception on steroids, the film is visually the most creative film they have done in years. Benedict Cumberbatch feels like a natural in his role as Steven Strange as many fans of Doctor Who will recognize. However, the weakness in the MCU is becoming a recurring problem as the story is set up to present another one-off villain that will only be used to set up another film in the future. Films such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy has allowed us to give Marvel a pass with such weak conflicts but seeing at least 3 more introduction movies in the future for Marvel, Kevin Feige and the boys are going to have to put in more effort into a satisfying plot and conclusion if they want the dump truck of money to continue. Doctor Strange gets an A for concept and visuals, but the story is essentially a Batman Begins origin with Magic added in the mix.

https://society-reviews.com/2016/11/...trange-review/

Just seen it. Never saw previews, didn't know the character and walked away feeling that It was a good film, just not great.

It was a superhero film when it could have been so much more.

Visual were stunning, acting the best you could get, even the plot add time stuff in was didn't stretch things into paradox rubbish.

A Solid 8/10 for me, defo one anyone can watch regardless of liking superheros (which this really wasn't).

I saw it last night and thought it was great. The visuals were stunning and the acting extremely good with a few shots of dry humour. I was unsure of Benedict Cumberbatch being suitable for the role but he was perfect. I am an Avengers fan apart from The Hulk and I enjoyed this trip into the mystical - loved the cloak!

Just seen it.

Story was 3/5 imo. Effects were 5/5. Acting pretty solid, sound okay, it was good but not great imo. Marvel REALLY need to get their act together with the story/plots.

But...

At the cinema I saw it at, the film quality was flippin' AWFUL imo and that of the person with me. Looked washed out at times, once or twice could hardly tell what was going on, very little visual quality (clear picture) too. I would certainly not recommend seeing it in that screen.

It's possible that the interior cinema lights had been left on (again) and a 'light fog' was affecting the screen, because it's happened before in a few of their screens there. But man, I was so looking forward to Doctor Strange, and this really spoiled it for us.

Saw it this evening. Thought it was good, not great. Visually beautiful.

Thought there would have been more of his time prior to his accident and him being a completely unlikeable asshole. But, alas, neither happened. He was in Kathmandu in no time.

Thought the whole cast were good especially Tilda Swinton, even though most weren't given a huge amount to work with (apart from Benedict obviously). Mads Mikkelson's character was a bit lame, once Dormammu was mentioned I wanted to see him more than Mads. Speaking of which, he looked pretty crap and not like I remember from the comics, more like a skinny Thanos, floating head.

The cloak was the star and the film was funnier than I thought it would be.

The mid-credit scene was great too. Cant wait for "you know what"

How strange. I saw it in the Vue Westfield London on Thursday. They left the light on in the projection booth and it meant that the cinema had a high ambient light level which made the film look, as you put it, washed out. Normally when something like that happens I go out and complain but I didn't want to miss any of the film and it's a long way from the back of the auditorium to the foyer.

Enjoyed Doctor Strange a lot nonetheless. Very sharp script, visually stunning but there are scenes where there's too much exposition in the dialogue and it does run out of steam before the credits and the little extra scenes.

Saw it last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cumberbatch is excellent as Strange, Swinton is also very good. Benedict Wong provided some light relief, and indeed there was a fair amount of humour present throughout the movie.

The effects were much better than I expected - on the trailers they came across as too reminiscent of Inception, and they are but taken to the nth degree.

The screening I attended (Waterloo Imax Sunday 12pm) was pretty near full, unusual for that time of day.

Loved this film.

I normally steer clear of 3D, but this is one of the few films I'd recommend that you see in 3D & preferably in IMAX too, to fully appreciate the stunning special effects.

Cumberbatch was excellent as Dr Strange & looks like he's going to carve out a path for himself in the MCU.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this, but I loved it. For me, I would say it's up there with my fave Marvel films. I saw it in IMAX and was worth every single penny, the visuals were amazing.
The only slightly negatives I can say about it were some of the humour fell a little bit flat, it improved as the film progressed though. Also, Benedict's accent was slightly distracting. He did slip out of it and back into his British accent. But these niggles are literally it.

Can't wait for more and I do hope we get a sequel.

The issue wasn't just with Doctor Strange at that particular cinema - we've had a number of 'technical issues' affect films we've been to see. The 'light fog' or 'reflection' issue or whatever it has really ticked me off this time.

Marvel films are normally very visually clear imo, but DS was definitely not clear in our opinion.

We've even had the FULL cinema lights left on and for 15 minutes into the film.

But I was SO looking forward to seeing DS that I've written a harsh complaint to the cinema chain in question

It almost seems trivial comenting on this film given the political earth[]quake that happened yesterday but here goes....

Pros:

Tilda Swinton - her look was almost comical, but she added so much depth and presence to her character with just a glance that by the end I wanted a prequel of her backstory.

(I still don't see why they couldn't have gone with an Asian actor though - he didn't have to be Tibetan even... but at least they made a good choice with Tilda)

Chiwetel Ejiofor - his excellent acting made his dubious character arc totally believable. The only way to do a superhero film character is with 100% conviction. And he gave that.

The Visuals - my lord, that's set the bar now - and folded it and curled it and thrown it into another dimension How was it done on such a relatively small budget?

The humour - Integrating humour into even tense situations is what Marvel does so much better than DC. So much better. I didn't expect this film to make me smile anywhere near as much as it did and certainly didn't expect a cloak to provide the highlight lol in the movie.


Cons:

Eye-shadow man - another generic villain. I found it difficult to care about him. Must do better Marvel. Loki is the only one that's knocked it out of the park so far.

Hasty Training: IMO he became a master far too quickly. All they had to do was show him training over a few seasons in a montage or perhaps a more artful way, but it seemed like he became a wizard a week after he stepped into the Himalayan Hogwarts. The only real way to make that believable is to show that he was predestined to be the sorceror supreme but (ironically) they didn't have time for that either.

Basil Exposition: They tried hard, but couldn't quite overcome the origin story curse of causing the film to drag due to necessary exposition.

Stan lee Cameos: Not specific to this one and of course I'll miss him when he's gone, but I'm getting bored of them now. Hope he's not in Logan.


Not a pro or a con:

Benedict Cumberbatch - the accent is a bit ropey and while he wasn't awful in any way I don't think he made the role his own in the same way that Tilda or Chiwetel did. I found myself thinking what a great Dr Strange Robert downey Jr would have made for example.

Overall, I liked it. Was a fan of the early Steve Dikto Dr Strange comics but always thought he would be the hardest character to portray well on screen because of the cosmic elements of the stories. However, they they did a solid job. Not often I come out of a film wanting a prequel and a sequel. Plus, let's face it (warning, bad pun alert) any film that has two British Benedicts in it can't be all Wong.

I'll get my cloak.

My my. Looking at the figures it seems a lot of people have made an appointment to see it.

$340m ww already. Wouldn't surprise me if Marvel dash off a repeat prescription pretty soon.

I quite enjoyed it.

Yes, from the reviews, it seems the film cured audiences temporary movie ailments, which may or may not have been brought on by batmanvssupermantoolongandboringombosis.

Watched this earlier on today, and I enjoyed it. The film would have worked as completely unrelated project to the MCU too; a mere story about some wizards with magical abilities. There were obviously connections to be made though, and vastly opposing threats.

I don't know much about the dark realm villain, but I don't quite get what was stopping him from going back on his/it's word? I'm also slightly perplexed how they (Marvel) are going to introduce this character (Strange) into the MCU as a whole; he's limited by physical means, but he's quite capable otherwise. If Thanos or Hulk need sorting out, he can just throw them into a Mirror Realm and walk away, crisis averted.

Wasn't too sure how I was going to feel about them implementing the changing of time within the MCU, undoing history and rewriting it, but if they go about it in the fashion they've done here, I can just about live with it cause they're not exactly time travelling (yet). An easy fix against Thanos though, wouldn't you say?

Thanos arrives, the Avengers attack, Strategy #1 fails. Stephen winds back time, they try Strategy #2, that fails, Stephen winds back time again, attempt Strategy #3. Rinse & Repeat until successful.

Edit: Anyone else catch the reference to Rhodey?

Spoiler in case some haven't seen the film:

Thoroughly enjoyed the latest addition to the MCU, and everything falling into place with



In 3D, the visuals in the film are mighty impressive

Although I didn't know much about Doctor Strange apart from his origin story and one episode in the Spiderman animated series, this was a mighty fine effort and was engrossed from start to finish

8.5/10 from me

Marvels answer to superman with the cape etc just looked like a superman flick

But by doing what he does (or will do) isn't Mordo essentially just a hypocrite?


According to various sources, Doctor Strange is in Thor 3, though it'll likely be a cameo of sorts, and at the beginning of the story before things for Thor kick off.

From the Doctor Strange film; Either way, I doubt Strange will be a huge part in Thor 3. It's already got quite the cast. If Strange (or anyone else) is added to it as a main role, they might as well just rename Thor 3 Civil War 2.

Yeah we pretty much know where Doctor Strange next two appearances will be before we get a sequel to Doctor Strange

However Marvel have not announced any plans past 2020 so it might be a wait for the sequel but we will still get Doctor Strange appearances in the MCU before then as Marvel moves its focus away from the older superheroes onto the newer ones!

According to the director that's not supposed to be a reference to Rhodey. Which either means some other airforce colonel will get injured in a mechanical suit (you know, happens all the time) or they screwed up the timelines they wanted and had to retcon the reference.

Indeed. And on it goes.

Possibly in need of a tonic after the week's events, many booked to see the Doctor again this weekend. A strong $43m kept it on top as it hit $150m, and it should pass $500m worldwide in the next day or two.

Well done Bendy, btw.