Solo: A Star Wars Story debuted last weekend, but its initial box office numbers weren't nearly as high as Disney and Lucasfilm, not to mention random box office estimators, expected last weekend. In its first weekend at the box office, the movie only made $101 million domestically, and that was over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend. Internationally, the movie fared even more poorly, and unfortunately, there's not good news related to the movie's first full week at the box office. This past Friday, Solo: A Star Wars Story only managed to pull in roughly $8.2 million at the box office, domestically. That's a 77.2% drop from the first Friday to its second Friday of release.
Usually when we talk about box office drops, we talk about from weekend to weekend. Generally, movies see a fairly significant drop between the first weekend at the box office and the second, although there have been exceptions. The Greatest Showman, for example, actually saw its box office grow during its second weekend in theaters late last year. A good drop in the second weekend might be the 45% drop that Wonder Woman saw in its second weekend. A 77% drop would be a steep drop for a whole weekend, but the final box office numbers for the whole weekend aren't being counted here. Right now, we're just noting that Solo: A Star Wars Story made 35.6 million during its first Friday and only made a little under $8.2 million during its second Friday. That's a very steep drop.
The only way to compare the 77% Friday to Friday drop would be with another Friday to Friday drop. Per Forbes, Solo actually fared slightly worse than Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Friday to Friday drop, percentage-wise, as TLJ came in at 76.5%. During its first Friday, the movie made $104.7 million at the box office. During its second Friday, the movie also dropped heavily, earning just $24.6 million at the box office. Obviously, those numbers in general are higher that Solo: A Star Wars Story; however, the percentage it dropped is similarly around 77%.
Whatever the full weekend total with Sunday included ends up being, it's clear that Solo: A Star Wars Story has not been the box office win Disney and Lucasfilm clearly anticipated. Due to directorial changes and reshoots, the Han Solo prequel film reportedly cost about $250 to make, and that's not even counting the money the studio spent on advertising. At this point, with both a lackluster domestic and worldwide intake, the real question is whether or not Solo: A Star Wars Story will go on to make money.
Reviews for the movie have been decent but not great, and I've already personally outlined why I think the movie is worth seeing. Regardless, after a few weeks where people flocked to the movies, that seems to be slowing down. If you'd like to head to the movies this June, you can take a look at what is coming with our full guide.
