Weekend Box Office: 'Doctor Strange' Makes Magic Happen

After weeks of slow business at the box office, Hollywood needed some good news, and it came this week in the form of a magical Marvel superhero. Doctor Strange surged to the top of the charts, and it pulled a couple of other movies along with it. The end result was the kind of busy weekend in theaters that had not yet happened this fall.

Doctor Strange went into the weekend with high expectations, but it exceeded even the most optimistic predictions. By the end of the day Sunday, the movie had taken in an estimated $85 million, proving correct those bullish projections that had the movie earning in excess of $75 million. The movie's total gross was helped along both by strong preview showings on Thursday and a bigger than expected Friday.

Second place went to the animated Trolls. That film is perhaps the bigger surprise, as it pulled in an estimated $45 million, nearly twice as much as most experts thought it would earn.

Way, way back in third place was the week's final new release, the war drama Hacksaw Ridge. This one only took in $14.8 million, not nearly enough to challenge the other two new movies, but still a respectable showing for a movie with modest expectations.

None of the week's hold-overs managed to bring in more than $8 million, but the total gross for all movies for the weekend was higher than that of the same weekend last year. Year-over-year gains have been difficult to come by so far this fall, and this weekend renews hope that Hollywood's business for the year could approach last year's record pace before the end of 2016.