Disney's distribution chief has commented on Solo: A Star Wars Story's box office opening coming in well below where early tracking indicated it would. The second Star Wars anthology film after Rogue One, Solo was controversial from the get-go because it recasts the Han Solo role made iconic by Harrison Ford, among other things. The film's cause wasn't helped when original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired with a few week's left in production and replaced by Ron Howard, but it managed to overcome that and earn decent reviews from critics on the whole; in fact, some are already arguing that Solo deserved better reviews than it got and is under-appreciated.
Despite that and early box office tracking predicting a record-breaking turnout for Solo over the Memorial Holiday weekend, the film ultimately disappointed at both the domestic and global box office. Solo earned $84.7 million in its first three days of release stateside, which is easily less than half that of the openings for the two Star Wars Episodes released by Disney and Lucasfilm, as well as a drop of more than 45% from Rogue One's $155.1 million U.S. debut a year and a half ago. Ever the class act, Howard has acknowledged that Solo "didn't meet projections" on social media, but also noted that its opening was a personal best for himself as a director.
Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis was similarly measured in his statement to THR about Solo's opening, saying "There's a question of frequency, and how many times people will go to the movies. Is this too much and too soon for a third time in a five-week period?" Hollis is of course referring to the fact that Solo not only had to compete with Fox's Deadpool 2 one week after it opened to a hefty $125.5 million in the U.S., but also Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War, which continues to post big numbers a month after it bowed to $258 million stateside alone. In other words, U.S. moviegoers had already spent a lot on going to see films this month even before Solo arrived.
28-05-2018 - Vidéo
