Late last year, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness would undergo extensive reshoots (approximately six weeks of filming). The significance of this additional photography was questioned by some of THR's sources, while it worried others. Nevertheless, the trade stated that an insider had indicated the reshoots were not due to concerns over the film's plot. Either way, fans were left wondering whether or not Doctor Strange's sequel was in any sort of trouble.
The reason behind these reshoots remains largely unclear, but Deadline reported in early January that the project had concluded filming. Now, Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Drag Me to Hell) has offered some more information about the movie.
While promoting an upcoming horror short film he produced, Variety asked Raimi about In the Multiverse of Madness' production. The filmmaker understandably kept things relatively vague and didn't appear to address the reshoots directly. He did, however, offer the following when asked if the Doctor Strange follow-up had finished filming:
"I wish I knew the answer to that question. [...] I think we're done, but we just cut everything. We're just starting to test the picture and we'll find out if there's anything that's got to be picked up. If something's unclear or [there's] another improvement I can make in this short amount of time left, I'll do it. One thing I know about the Marvel team is they won't stop. They’ll keep pushing it until it's as close to being great as it could."
Raimi elaborated, praising Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige for their collaborative nature:
"Marvel’s been a great team to work with, [...] I think that was a not-surprising surprise. I've been super-supported by the whole Marvel operations, starting at the top with Kevin Feige, and working all the way down to the crews that they work with. [They're] super professional and have supported me every step of the way."
Shortly after the reshoots were revealed to be happening during an interview with Empire Magazine (via SYFY), Benedict Cumberbatch explained the reason for getting cameras rolling once again:
"We're in the middle of reshoots and we're working incredible hard to make a schedule work to realize the full potential of the film — bits we want to do better, but also bits that were just impossible to do on the day because logistics, COVID, etc. [...] We were so delayed in production, because of that. Luckily, not during production too much. Although everything is just a little slower."
It's important to mention that restructuring films after test screenings is a common practice in Hollywood. Age of Ultron, for example, famously removed a Loki appearance from Thor's Scarlet Witch-induced hallucination because test audiences had gotten confused by his appearance, thinking the God of Mischief was the real villain behind the film.
Regardless, reshoots — even those as extensive as In the Multiverse of Madness' are reported to be — shouldn't necessarily be a cause for concern. There are many moving parts required to finish any type of production, and it's easy to run into a creative wall that requires a change of course every now and then. Ultimately, it's clear that Marvel Studios and the people behind In the Multiverse of Madness are working hard to, as Raimi put it, make it as good as it can be.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is scheduled to be released on May 6, 2022.