Solo: A Star Wars Story dominated the Memorial Day Weekend box office but the good news stops there. The film came in well below expectations & wasn’t able to crack $100 million over three days.
The film grossed an estimated $84.7 million & looks to hit $103 million over four days. The movie was originally tracking at $130-150 million but it was clear by end of day Friday that it wouldn’t reach those heights. There is a ton of speculation as to why it underperformed from the good but not great reviews (70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) to general Star Wars fatigue (The Last Jedi came out six months ago & was polarizing with moviegoers). I thought the brand could overcome this but I think the bigger issue was releasing the film in May. The last three Star Wars releases dominated the lucrative month of December while Solo comes during the more crowded summer movie season. “Deadline” also reported that a few theater chains contacted them and stated that the film wasn’t selling out some of their big houses or their smaller houses and that they saw business for the film wane as early as Saturday. Internationally, the film had a soft debut of $65 million from nearly the entire international marketplace with Japan being the lone holdout for now. The film did get an “A-” CinemaScore so those who saw it, mostly enjoyed it but with a reported $300 million budget (a gross it won’t see domestically) Solo is in a bit of trouble.
Deadpool 2 held well with a gross of $43.4 million over 3 days & an estimated $55 million over four. Some think it should’ve done a little better given the holiday weekend but it’s a crowded marketplace with three tentpole releases vying for attention. The film has a domestic total of $208 million to date & $487.1 million worldwide. The sequel has definitely paid off for the studio but I do think more time between films is necessary to avoid oversaturation.
Avengers: Infinity War holds at third with $17.4 million over three days & $21.2 million over four. The film has grossed $622 million domestically & has earned a staggering $1.9 billion worldwide. $2 billion is definitely in its sights.
Holding well in fourth is Book Club with $10 million over three days & $12.5 million over four. The film is playing extremely well with older audiences & has succeeded as counterprogramming to the larger summer movies. The film has grossed $32.4 million to date & will be a sleeper hit of the summer.
Rounding out the top five is Life of the Party with $5.3 million over three days & $6.5 million over four. The film has grossed $39.3 million to date and while the film isn’t a total bust, it is going to be one of the lower earners of Melissa McCarthy’s career.
Check out the full top ten results below:
- Solo: A Star Wars Story – $84.7 million (NEW)
- Deadpool 2 – $43.4 million (-65.4%, $208.1 million)
- Avengers: Infinity War – $17.4 million (-40.8%, $622.6 million)
- Book Club – $10 million (-25.8%, $32.4 million)
- Life of The Party – $5.3 million (-29.8%, $39.3 million)
- Breaking In – $4.2 million (-37.3%, $35.8 million)
- Show Dogs – $3.2 million (-45.8%, $10.8 million)
- Overboard – $3.1 million (-31.4%, $41.6 million)
- A Quiet Place – $2.4 million (-38.8%, $180.1 million)
- RBG – $1.2 million (+0.6%, $5.7 million)
