The box office for Marvel and Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” dropped sharply this weekend after its spectacular debut, but it still topped North America with $61 million in anticipated ticket sales, according to industry observer Exhibitor Relations.

The superhero sequel, starring Benedict Cumberbatch once again, had a year-to-date greatest opening weekend of $187 million. It has already made $292 million in the United States and $396 million elsewhere for a total of $688 million.

With $4.6 million, Paramount’s family-friendly “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” came in third for the second weekend in a row.

“Firestarter,” a new Universal thriller based on the Stephen King horror novel, made $3.8 million in its first weekend, a poor start for a major studio thriller.

It stars Zac Efron (of “High School Musical” fame) and Sydney Lemmon (of “Fear the Walking Dead”) as parents trying to keep their daughter Ryan Kiera Armstrong hidden from a dark federal entity that wants to harness her, well, unique talent to spark flames with her thoughts.

The picture had a poor 12 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, in stark contrast to the fifth-place finisher, A24’s sci-fi thriller “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which garnered a 96 percent rating and grossed $3.3 million in its ninth weekend out.

The following movies rounded out the top ten:

“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” ($2.4 million)

“The Lost City” ($1.7 million)

“The Northman” ($1.7 million)

“Family Camp” ($1.4 million)

“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” ($1.1 million) (AFP)

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