Disney first bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05 billion, and people were worried. They were worried that Disney wouldn’t deliver any movie to its full potential.
Five years later, three Star Wars movies, 2015’s The Force Awakens, 2016’s Rogue One, and 2017’s The Last Jedi all grossed $4.46 billion at the global box office. That large figure does not account for the money also flowing in from merchandising, theme parks, and in-home sales. However, that trend ended this weekend.
Solo: A Star Wars Story, telling the origin story of Han Solo (now being played by Alden Ehrenreich), premiered with an estimated $83.3 million at the domestic box office over the first three days. It was projected to premiere with $101 million throughout the entire memorial day weekend. This is the lowest domestic debut for a Star Wars movie in the short Disney era. Internationally, Solo: A Star Wars Story only made a small $65 million.
All three of the Disney Star Wars movies have made more in their domestic opening weekends than Solo’s debut did worldwide. The Force Awakens made a little over $250 million, Rogue One made roughly $150 million, and The Last Jedi made around $230 million.
If you look back at the prequel movie releases, Solo even falls behind them. Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, and Phantom Menace all made more the Solo did at the domestic opening weekend. In Solo’s defense, it is the only Star Wars Movie to open during the summer AND on a holiday weekend where a majority of people are traveling or enjoying time anywhere but a movie theatre.