‘Doctor Strange 2’ Begins Six Weeks of ‘Significant’ Reshoots
Most Marvel movies undergo at least some reshoots before they’re released, typically to film material that the director or producers realized they need during the early stages of the editing process. But Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is apparently doing much more extensive reshoots than that.
According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter the film is now filming “significant” reshoots in Los Angeles that will continue until Christmas. Although some of their sources downplayed the significance of the production, another noted “They’re here until the end of the year. That’s like a whole other movie” — in other words, a lot of entire movies are shot in six weeks, or less.
More details on the reshoots, via THR:
Insiders say that Cumberbatch and company are undertaking six weeks of shooting, if not more, working six days a week. Sam Raimi remains as helmer, and Loki head writer Michael Waldron is still on board writing the new material. It is unclear what actors on top of Cumberbatch are involved. The crew involved is familiar with the Marvel method and worked on recent picks up for the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home and additional shooting for next year’s Oscar Isaac series, Moon Knight.
It’s kind of funny to hear this scramble to finish the film — which was recently delayed from March to May and is due in theaters in just about six months — described as “the Marvel method.” Back in the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby glory days, the company used a different “Marvel method”; with the writer, typically Lee, hashing out only loose plots for his comics and then handing them off to artists like Kirby to detail in their artwork. Then Lee would come back and write dialogue to match the art that was already illustrated. I guess no matter how much things change, some things remain the same.
If you read or hear about Marvel productions, it does seem that most do involve reshoots, and they sometimes get very complex. So hopefully Doctor Strange 2 is just the latest example, not an extreme one. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is scheduled to open in theaters on May 6, 2022.