Solo: A Star Wars Story 'struggling' at the box office

Solo: A Star Wars Story may have broken a Memorial Day box office record, but some analysts are calling the highly anticipated movie a disappointment.

The spinoff, which centres on the adventures of a young Han Solo, was estimated to make between $130m and $150m in the US – figures lower than the opening weekend of fellow Star Wars Anthology movie Rogue One, which made $155m (£116m).

Despite taking the record for best preview gross on Memorial Day weekend of all time, a $36m Friday has led to The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly to say the movie is “struggling” at the American box office.

The movie now has an estimated weekend total of $114.2m according to Deadline, the worst opening weekend for any of the Disney-produced Star Wars movies.

At the international box office, things are not looking too good either. After launching in 43 territories – including the UK and China – the movie took just $11.4m on Friday, with an estimated $10m weekend total in China. The Hollywood Reporter called the figures “dismal”.

A few factors that have led to the disappointing opening: unlike the other three recent Star Wars movies, Solo reaches cinemas in May and is surrounded by competition, including Deadpool 2 and Disney’s own Avengers: Infinity War.

Solo also comes just five months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with many publications noting that cinema goers may not be ready for another adventure in a galaxy far, far away just yet. The counterpoint would be that Marvel release movies every three months which still make huge amounts – however, these stories are seen as disparate enough not to impede on each other.

Ron Howard’s movie went through some very public issues before reaching cinemas, losing the original directors midway through production. However, this does not seem to have affected moviegoers’ opinions too much, the movie landing a solid CinemaScore of A- (the three other new Star Wars movies all landed A scores). Critics have been less impressed, Solo landing a 71 per cent rating on aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.

With some positive word of mouth, Solo could bring in high numbers over the following weeks – yet with stiff competition coming from Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom, followed later in June by Sicario 2 and Ocean’s 8, this could be a tough summer for Solo.