At the close of last weekend, we shockingly learned that Solo: A Star Wars Story, one of 2018’s most anticipated blockbusters, tanked at the box office. The Ron Howard-directed space western made just $84.7 million domestically during its opening weekend, a total worse than practically every Star Wars film released since the turn of the century, and a figure lower than that of Justice League ($93.8M), another hotly anticipated release that severely underwhelmed at the ticket booth.
Unfortunately, things are about to get much worse for the Anthology film, as according to The Wrap, the spinoff, having made just $143 million worldwide, which is less than half of the $290 million global opening earned by Rogue One, might not even reach the half-billion mark when all is said and done.
Analysts who spoke to the entertainment website peg the global total for Solo: A Star Wars Story to finish at just $400-450 million, which is easily the lowest for any of the Lucasfilm space set operas, including the Original Trilogy with inflation taken into account. As a result, Solo might need its home video release and other ancillary revenue to turn a profit on its $250 million production budget.
Expected to earn less than $40 million domestically this weekend, a steep drop of at least 53% from an already disappointing $84.7 million three-day debut, Solo, up against weak challengers such as Action Point and Adrift, will pointlessly prevail at the box office this weekend by $20 million or so, a figure that should’ve been much larger.
Bafflingly, at the beginning of the year, had someone told you that Solo: A Star Wars Story would be the most disappointing release of 2018, you would’ve scoffed in their face. Sadly, this is the reality with which Lucasfilm and Disney are now dealing, and it’ll be fascinating to see how they adjust their plans for the franchise going forward.