‘Doctor Strange’ reigns but ‘Downton Abbey ‘ shows class on screens

LOS ANGELES — “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” continued its domination in North American theaters this weekend, earning an estimated $31.6 million, while the latest “Downton Abbey” came in a stately second, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.

Marvel and Disney’s “Strange”, again starring the versatile Benedict Cumberbatch, has been a Covid-era star since its release three weekends ago. It has now earned $342 million domestically and $461 million abroad for a global total of $803 million.

“Downton Abbey: A New Era” from Focus Features took in a solid $16 million. Perhaps not surprising given the huge popularity of the British TV series that inspired it, but nonetheless a sign that older moviegoers — the most reluctant to return to pandemic-era theatres — are beginning to do so.

“This is a very good opening,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research, who noted that nearly half of ticket buyers were aged 55 or older.

Writer/director Julian Fellowes, Gross said, “is the George Lucas of period English sitting-room drama.”

Most of the original Downton cast — led by Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern and Michelle Dockery — appear in the sequel, which critics have called an “affectionate group hug”.

In third place for the Friday-through-Sunday period was Universal’s animated action-comedy “The Bad Guys”. The DreamWorks Animation production, with a voice cast led by Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina and Anthony Ramos, took in $6.1 million.

Paramount’s family-friendly “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” slipped one spot from last weekend to fourth, at $3.9 million.

In fifth was A24’s new horror film “Men”, at $3.3 million. Directed by Alex Garland, who made “Ex Machina”, and starring Jessie Buckley, it drew a rare low D+ grade from the CinemaScore site.

Meanwhile a pro-Donald Trump film, “2000 Mules”, earned $765,000 to claim 11th spot.

The movie from conservative Dinesh D’Souza — who in 2018 received a pardon from Trump for a felony conviction of making illegal campaign contributions — falsely claims to offer “smoking gun” evidence of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Rounding out the top 10 were “Everything Everywhere All at Once” ($3.1 million), “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” ($1.9 million), “Firestarter” ($1.9 million), “The Lost City” ($1.5 million) and “The Northman” ($1 million).