Solo: A Star Wars Story Ron Howard

As has been widely reported, Ron Howard’s ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ came up a little short this Memorial Day Weekend, taking in $103 million on a budget of approximately $250M.  Based on ticket presales and online buzz, ‘Solo’ had been expected to premiere with anywhere from $130M-$170M, so this– which would have been a huge success for a less expensive, lower profile flick– is being seen as a disappointment and even Disney’s worldwide distribution chief Dave Hollis has admitted that the company is going to have to sit down and dissect why the public failed to turn out for this installment.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.  On the plus side, this was the best opening ever for famed director Ron Howard, who has delivered such classics as ‘Splash’, ‘Cocoon’, ‘Willow’, ‘Backdraft’, ‘Apollo 13’, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and ‘The Da Vinci Code’ just to name a few.  Howard acknowledged this accomplishment but urged fans to see the movie on the big screen and judge it for themselves.

 


 

Not only is this a career high for Howard, but exiting audience members gave it a great “A-” CinemaScore and many online are jumping to defend the movie for being a fun popcorn flick that is unencumbered by the weightiness of other recent ‘Star Wars’ installments.  And even critics aren’t that harsh on it, with it ranking 70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.  (It might be a C-, but that’s still passing!)

‘Solo’ is just going into its second weekend and has little competition.  It could easily remain at #1 this coming weekend.  If moviegoers do what Howard hopes, and go to the theater to see and judge ‘Solo’ for themselves, the film could prove to have legs in the long run.

Unfortunately, at this time, it looks as though ‘Solo’ will perform along the same lines as Warner Brothers’ ‘Justice League’, a film that also got decent-to-strong reviews and audience reaction, but just was not able to lure the masses to see it no matter how much was spent on advertising and promotion.

Did you see ‘Solo’ this weekend?  What do you think?

Source: Indie Wire