Who would have thought that a Star Wars movie would have a wildly successful opening weekend? Next you’ll be telling me that it will create divisive feelings amongst the Star Wars fanbase, go on to make lots more money around the world, and have a long and successful life on DVD and streaming formats.
As reported by Variety, the unofficial numbers are in, and Solo: A Star Wars Story is tracking for a $165 to $175 million opening over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. That total is domestic only, and includes the four days over the holiday weekend. If the estimates hold up, this will destroy the currently Memorial Day weekend record-holder, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which plundered nearly $140 million when it debuted in 2007.
Following hot on the heels of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (which came out in December of 2017), it remains to be seen if any kind of Star Wars fatigue is setting in with movie-goers. The Last Jedi made $1.3 billion worldwide, which was down from the $2 billion that Star Wars: The Force Awakens raked in. Of course, The Force Awakens (2015) benefitted from a ten-year gap between Star Wars movies. The previous spin-off film in the franchise, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), made $1 billion worldwide.
Directed by Ron Howard, Solo: A Star Wars Story takes place prior to the events that were catalogued in the historical drama known as Star Wars: A New Hope. The movie follows Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich, assuming the role made famous by Harrison Ford) as he meets his Wookiee companion, Chewbacca, trades quips with rival studmuffin Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), obtains the Millennium Falcon, and travels down the seedy path that leads him to become a world-class smuggler.
Solo: A Star Wars Story premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, and opens wide in North America on May 25.
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