Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Benedict Cumberbatch believes the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film will rival the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
"It's a big, big movie," Cumberbatch told Empire. "It's going to be an absolute riot. And if it brings off the level of ambition it's got, we're going to have a success on the level of Spidey. There you go, I'll put my flag in the sand."
Spider-Man: No Way Home effectively broke the multiverse wide open and set the stage for Multiverse of Madness, debuting the first trailer for the Doctor Strange sequel as a post-credit scene at the end of the film. No Way Home consistently broke box office records since its theatrical release, becoming the first pandemic-era film to earn over $1 billion at the global box office. Following that success, it was reported that Multiverse of Madness would have "more fun with the multiverse," with reshoots for the film including even more cameos and character introductions than originally intended.
In a December 2021 interview, Cumberbatch commented on the scale of the production, stating that he was not entirely sure if the sequel was really "his" movie. "There's a lot of stuff going on in it," he said at the time. "It's like, do I have a character arc in this? Is it working? No, there's great stuff for me to do. It's very busy. It's called The Multiverse of Madness, and it's bonkers."
The first trailer for Multiverse of Madness teased everything that Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been headed towards, depicting not only a possible team-up between Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch), Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Wong (Benedict Wong), but the MCU debut of America Chavez/Miss America (Xochitl Gomez). It has been confirmed that Multiverse of Madness will not only pick up after the events of No Way Home but will tie directly into two of Marvel's Disney+ series, WandaVision and Loki, both of which dealt heavily with the multiverse.
Multiverse of Madness recently wrapped extensive reshoots, which were described as "significant"Â when they began in November 2021. The additional material was helmed by director Sam Raimi and writer Michael Waldron, who served as head writer for Loki. Raimi took over directorial duties from Scott Derrickson, who directed the first film and departed the sequel over creative differences.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently slated to release on May 6, 2022.
Source: Empire