The early box office numbers for the weekend are in, and things aren't looking so good for Solo: A Star Wars Story. While there were crazy expectations for the film - what with being a part of the Star Wars franchise and all - it looks as though it will only end up with a little under $100 million by the end of the Memorial Day holiday. It's sad, but director Ron Howard seems to be taking it all in stride:
A random user on Twitter who calls themselves JD_09 used the hashtag #SoloAStarWarsStory to ask others social media users if the film was worth seeing despite its box office performance - and once person who chimed in was none other than Ron Howard. The long-time director took the question as an opportunity to address the disappointing ticket sales, and explained why he is still pretty happy about it. After all, no other movie in his filmmography has made as much money in three days, a.k.a. it's a personal best.
This wouldn't be that big a deal if Ron Howard had spent his entire career making small independent dramas, but the truth of the matter is that he is a seasoned blockbuster director. In 1995 it was Apollo 13 that really launched him into the world, but he's also the guy who directed all three movies in the Dan Brown trilogy. The most successful of the latter group, The Da Vinci Code, made $77.1 million when it was released in May 2006, and that's about six million less than the $83.3 million that Solo: A Star Wars Story has made in the last three days (you can check out all of the numbers in my box office report).
What's funny is that this is all feels very much in-character for Ron Howard. The man has been a part of the industry for the majority of his life, and he has a solid reputation for being a very kind and positive person. His ability to be optimistic in this situation is admirable, though there certainly must be a part of him that is disappointed by the turn-out.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is the first of the Disney Generation Star Wars movies to be released in the month of May - the rest having come out in December - and one might guess that it will be the last. There are many factors that may contributed to the deflated opening weekend numbers, including it being Memorial Day weekend in the U.S., not to mention imperfect reviews, but one can't discount the fact that the last few weeks have also seen huge crowds show up for both Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2. Blockbuster exhaustion is certainly a factor, and Ron Howard definitely can't be blamed for that.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is still the number one movie in America, and we'll be keeping a close eye on it as we move through the rest of the summer.
