The video above contains spoilers for Doctor Strange.
Marvel’s Doctor Strange (our review here) was tracking to earn a surprising $73 million during its domestic opening this weekend, but it exceeded even that number, earning $85 million domestically. Its worldwide total is now over $325 million, with $44.5 million coming from China alone, where the film garnered the biggest opening for a first installment of any superhero franchise. Doctor Strange was only recently approved to screen in China, as it was at risk of being banned for referencing magic or ghosts (and Tilda Swinton’s character may have been altered to avoid rankling Chinese censors).
With those numbers out of the way, we can proceed to get far too specific about the comic book references in the movie itself. Mr. Sunday Movies is back with another deep dive into a movie’s details, as he’s recently done for the second Wonder Woman trailer and Suicide Squad. This time, he digs into all the artifacts and characters Doctor Strange carries over from the comics, like Strange’s “sling ring” used to create portals (as seen in this Inception-esque clip) and the psychic shield used during a battle in his Sanctum Sanctorum.
We’d also like to take a moment to give a slow clap to one particular moment in the film. After building up to the first meeting between Mister — sorry, Doctor — Strange and Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), Strange repeatedly insists on being called Doctor. Their first interaction calls that back with an unexpected vaudeville routine:
That’s the real dialogue. Vulture reached out to Marvel to ask if the line was written by Scott Derrickson, Jon Spaihts, C. Robert Cargill, or Dan Harmon, but it’ll remain a secret. At least until Dan Harmon does another Q&A, probably.
(Via Mr. Sunday Movies, Box Office Mojo, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vulture)
