If you thought this past summer was disappointing for the box office, then I can’t even imagine what these past couple months have felt like for you. With the exception of, perhaps, Don’t Breathe, there were only few films that managed to perform at or slightly above expectations. If you’ve been following the last few episodes of Los Fanboys Podcast, you may have gotten used to us saying something along the lines of, “this movie probably won’t make money for the studio in its theatrical run.”

The end of October, however, marks the end of the blockbuster drought. Next up on the docket will be Doctor Strange, the 14th film in the long-running, acclaimed Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like with Guardians of the Galaxy a couple years back and Ant-Man last year, Doctor Strange is one of those properties that not a lot of people outside of the comic book community have read. I myself have only read a couple Doctor Strange stories, and as such, I’m still not entirely not sure what to expect.

With this film, Marvel won’t be able to rely on the typical familiarity a mainstream moviegoer will have with a property, and instead will have to rely on their marketing and the little red logo at the top of the title (i.e. the good faith the studio has built up over the past eight years). With all this in mind, first projections are in for the film, courtesy of our friends over at Deadline.

According to the outlet, Doctor Strange is on track to hit $55-$75 million in its opening weekend. This may sound a little low to most fans, but again, remember that this is a name that not many have heard of, and that new franchises generally have opening in this range. If you look at Ant-Man, it’s a movie that opened at $57 million before going on to take in $500 million worldwide for Marvel. Captain America: The First Avenger made $65 million, Thor made $65 million, and Iron Man was the crazy outlier that hit $98 million its first weekend.

In short, Marvel tends to have tempered and realistic expectations for their films, and each of the ones mentioned above have all gone on to have sequels (or will have a sequel in the near future). With that in mind, anything within this range will likely be considered a success for the studio, so long as it has decent legs in successive weeks. Assuming the film is strong, it’s likely audiences will spread the word to their friends.

What do you think of these numbers? Does $55-%75 million sound like a decent opening number to you for Doctor Strange? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Deadline