It brings me absolutely no joy to report that Solo: A Star Wars Story is struggling to maintain any sort of momentum at the box office, both in the US and outside.
The second anthology film in the Star Wars saga grossed merely US$ 29.3 million in North America in its second weekend, a huge plummet from the US$ 103 million it made in its opening weekend. This brings its 10 day total in the US to a disappointing US$ 148.9 million. There doesn’t seem to be hope for the galaxy outside of the US, either. Outside of the US, Solo merely grossed US$ 30.3 million down from last weekend’s US$ 65 million. Solo‘s global tally now stands at US$ 264.2 million.
Now, many might rush to its defence, saying US$ 264.2 million is nothing to scoff at. But as fans, we need to remember that this isn’t A Quiet Place we’re talking about with a US$ 17 million dollar budget. Because of the massive reshoots that took place after the firing of Lord and Miller, Solo is reported to be the most expensive Star Wars movie ever made, yes, more expensive than The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. We’re looking at a US$ 300 million budget with a possible additional US$ 200 million marketing cost (Click here for my comprehensive breakdown). With that in mind, a US$ 264.2 million haul after two weekends is a huge disaster.
To put things into perspective here’s how the other three Star Wars movies in the Disney era performed after two weekends, in the US.
Solo‘s second-weekend box office haul is more than 50% less than the first anthology movie, Rogue One, which was carried by a stream of unknown characters. And we’re talking about numbers inside the US, by the way, which means we cannot use China’s lack of enthusiasm as an excuse.
And if those numbers aren’t enough to make you believe that Solo is struggling at the box office, then perhaps this will. In its THIRD WEEKEND, Deadpool 2 grossed approximately US$ 23 million in the US and a mere 7 million less than Solo, bringing its cumulative global gross to US$ 598 million.
With Jurassic World dropping in a few days time and Incredibles 2 on the 14th of June, I am certain that Solo will not suddenly find its legs out of nowhere. This movie will run out of gas within the next two to three weeks. There is no way in hell that Solo’s total gross at the end of its run will even equal or surpass The Force Awakens‘ US$ 248 million opening weekend box office haul. Last week, I made the prediction that Solo will end its run with less than US$ 600 million at the global box office. Based on this weekend’s box office haul, it isn’t a stretch to say that this movie might even end its global box office run raking in less than US$ 500 million.
But let’s look on the bright side. You can bet that Kathleen Kennedy and the rest of the executives at Lucasfilm and Disney are monitoring this massive fumble and learning from it. Star Wars: Episode IX will be back with a bang, especially since it has locked a December release date, just like The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi.
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