Hope is a term that Star Wars considers its lifeblood. Unfortunately for the latest outing of the Star Wars franchise Solo: A Star Wars Story, it needs a lot more than hope. Some hoped that the film was just experiencing a soft opening over the Memorial Day weekend, but it appears that even word of mouth for the film isn’t helping it at the box office.
Lucasfilm’s newest spin-off is eyeing a second-weekend take of only $25-27 million, which is a 69% drop in sales from its first-weekend 3-day take of $84.4 million. This is not a good sign for Solo, which was expected to start a trilogy of its own. Solo will still top the weekend, with little to no competition.
The only films hitting theaters this weekend are Adrift starring Shailene Woodly, the low-budget thriller Upgrade, and Johnny Knoxville’s newest film Action Point. The three films are trending for an opening weekend of $11 million, $3 million, and $2 million respectively. Deadpool 2 is still tracking strong, with a projected $17-$19 million box office.
The first Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story nabbed $64 million domestically in its second weekend, declining only 59% from its $155 million opening weekend. Could the franchise be feeling the fallout from the fanbase split that The Last Jedi created? It is hard to know at the moment, but if this falloff happens with the release of Star Wars: Episode IX, then there is cause for worry.
Other recent Memorial Day openers also experienced a similar drop-off, X-Men: Days of Future Past fell 62%, Fast and Furious 6 dropped 63%, and X-Men: Apocalypse dropped 65%. Big outdoor family holiday weekends are normally a hard sell, but see big blockbuster releases.
It is safe to assume that the studio was aware of the risks of releasing on Memorial Day weekend. With so many huge blockbusters dropping in May this year, Lucasfilm may be feeling the cold sting of film fatigue.
