Solo stalling at the box office with $101 million four-day opening
Business isn’t exactly booming for the galaxy’s favorite space smuggler this Memorial Day weekend.
Disney and Lucasfilm’s Han Solo origin tale Solo: A Star Wars Story is on track to earn about $101 million in ticket sales from 4,381 theaters in the U.S. and Canada over the four-day holiday weekend — easily topping the box office, but coming in well below the $130 million-$150 million previously projected by Disney.
After earning $14.1 million from Thursday night previews, a pre-Memorial Day record, Solo appears to be stalling, and its estimated Friday-Sunday gross of $83.3 million falls considerably short of Rogue One ($155.1 million), let alone The Last Jedi ($220 million) and The Force Awakens ($248 million). Solo’s three-day overseas take — about $65 million, from 88 percent of its foreign markets, including China — is also underwhelming.
Marking the 10th film in the Star Wars saga and the second “anthology” movie, Solo explores the younger years of Han Solo, the interstellar scoundrel originated by Harrison Ford. Alden Ehrenreich plays the title role, joined by Emilia Clarke as first love Qi’ra, Joonas Suotamo as trusty sidekick Chewbacca, and Donald Glover as fellow rogue Lando Calrissian. Reviews have been mixed to positive, while audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore. It’s the only Star Wars movie of the Disney era not to receive an A.
Solo reportedly cost upward of $250 million to make, partly because original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by Ron Howard, who reshot significant portions of the film.
Solo also comes as the fourth Star Wars movie in less than three years, and its soft opening might be a sign of franchise fatigue. Nevertheless, Disney has Episode IX on the calendar for Dec. 20, 2019, and is mulling standalone movies about Boba Fett, Lando, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Taking second place this weekend is Fox’s Deadpool 2, with an estimated three-day gross of $42.7 million ($53.5 million through Monday). That figure represents a rather steep decline of 66 percent in its second frame, and brings its domestic total to $207.4 million after 10 days in theaters.
Superheroes will also claim the No. 3 spot, as Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War adds about $16.5 million to its domestic haul in its fifth week.
Rounding out the top five are Paramount’s rom-com Book Club, with about $9.5 million, and Warner Bros.’ back-to-school farce Life of the Party, with about $5.1 million. Further down the list, Magnolia Pictures’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary RBG will rejoin the top 10 with an estimated $1.2 million in its fourth weekend, in just 415 theaters.
According to ComScore, overall box office is up 7.7 percent year-to-date. Check out the May 25-27 figures below.
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story — $83.3 million ($101 million four-day)
2. Deadpool 2 — $42.7 million ($53.5 million four-day)
3. Avengers: Infinity War — $16.5 million ($20.1 million four-day)
4. Book Club — $9.5 million ($12 million four-day)
5. Life of the Party — $5.1 million ($6.5 million four-day)
6. Breaking In — $4.1 million
7. Show Dogs — $3.1 million
8. Overboard — $3 million
9. A Quiet Place — $2.2 million
10. RBG — $1.2 million