It was a ho-hum holiday weekend at the North America box office as the latest offering from Disney’s Star Wars franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story, crashed and burned in its debut.
Despite receiving mostly positive reviews from the critics – 71% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and a 63/100 from Metacritic- and the usual marketing overload from your pals at the Mouse House, the best Solo could capture from a wide 4,381-screen count was an estimated $83 million. The opening for the super-expensive, problem plagued Solo is a major disappointment given that it’s part of a franchise whose previous three offerings –The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi– all opened north of $150 million in North America alone.
With positive feedback from the press and an obscene amount of consumer awareness, what went wrong? Why did Disney take it in the Midichlorians on this picture? Sure, there was continued competition from the likes of fellow action pics Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War, but that shouldn’t have stopped a Star Wars-related film from commanding a majority of the holiday multiplex business. No, there was something else that tarnished the golden space goose for Disney.
Overkill.
There was a time where we had three-year waits between Star Wars films (this was a good thing). Not anymore. Solo is the fourth Star Wars film in less than three years, and the second one in less than six months’ following last December’s The Last Jedi. While a steady diet of Star Wars may be great for those who can’t get enough of the galaxy far, far away, it is way too much in too short of a time for the general public. And if that product begins to resemble nothing special, which is the case with Solo, then people will begin to find other things to do with their leisure time.
For once, it appears that franchise fatigue isn’t exclusive to North America. Solo opened in 54 international markets day-and-date with North America and the best it could come up with was an underwhelming $65 million. China continued to send the message to Disney that it is simply not interested in Star Wars via Solo’s dismal $10 million, third place opening.
After a solid start last weekend, Fox’s Deadpool 2 dropped a steep 66% in its second go around on 4,349 screens. The Ryan Reynolds sequel scored an estimated $42.7 million, bringing its ten-day total up to $207 million. The Merc With a Mouth may finish with $275-280 million, roughly $80 million less than the 2016 original made. Deadpool 2 has snarked its way to a solid $280 million in international ticket sales so far.
Disney’s other big-ticket offering, Avengers: Infinity War, continued to be a draw in its fifth weekend where it earned $16.4 million from 3,768 theaters. Down 44%, Infinity War has brought in $621.6 million domestically. The film passed The Last Jedi today to become the seventh-biggest domestic film of all time, and should pass the original Avengers tomorrow to move up to number six on the chart. Overseas, the Thanos tale has banked a mighty $1.3 billion so far.
Paramount’s Book Club had a solid second weekend as the comedy banked $9.4 million from 2,810 screens. Down only 30% from its debut, Book Club has earned $32 million so far. A solid $50 million is possible for the female ensemble. Rounding out the top five was Warner’s Life of the Party with $5.1 million from 2,937 theaters. Its three-week total is $39 million.
- Breaking In (Universal) $4 million (-41%); $35.6 million
- Show Dogs (Global Road) $3 million (-49%); $10.6 million
- Overboard (2018) (Lionsgate) $3 million (-35%); $41 million
- A Quiet Place (Paramount) $2.2 million (-43%); $180 million
- RBG (Magnolia) $1.1 million (-11%); $5.6 million
Three films open next weekend, but none are expected to be big earners: Action Point, Adrift and Upgrade. Solo should be able to hang on to the number one spot for a second weekend with a weak $35-40 million haul.
