Top 5 Breakdown

1. Solo: A Star Wars Story – £6,061,231– NE    

Took £1,214,917 from Thursday previews

2D took £4,745,889 (78.5%) 3D took £710,299 (11.75%) IMAX did £584,228 (9.67%)

Added £1.55m from Bank Holiday Monday half of £3m The Last Jedi took in December which wasn’t a Bank Holiday.

Before I start I want to say that Solo, once you get past the first hour, is an enjoyable if completely forgettable film. This reaction is similar to many who have seen it they enjoyed it but it’s like eating a McDonald’s an hour later your hungry again as like the other three Disney Star Wars films there is no sustenance to the film. I always go back to South Park’s memberries clip.

Despite my mixed feelings to Solo still believed would open slightly less than 2016’s Rogue One £17,305,011 (including 23.67% £4,086,256 from Thursday previews) was expecting an opening of £14.5m (including £2m from previews) and take £50m+ now its likely to take half; Solo Sunday estimates was only £21,000 less than finals £6,040,416 Vs £6,061,231

In comparison, The Last Jedi took £28,010,841in its opening 4-day weekend with 27.43% £7,684,217 from Thursday previews. The Force Awakens took £34,011,849 with 28.46% £9,679,746 from Thursday previews.

Over the days leading up to Solo release I checked may cinemas including BFI IMAX and Cineworld Leicester Square two cinemas that had many screenings of previews Star Wars films sold out. With less than 30mins to go to the first evening on Thursday/Friday screenings neither were sold out while checking cinemas across the UK there were more empty seats than sold seats.

There are about 805 cinemas in the UK with 4350 screens Solo and Deadpool 2 probably showing in about 70% of all the screens over the weekend Solo 1,750 (70,000+ screenings 7m+ seats had a potential opening of over £53.9m but sold only 11.25% this compares to over double the occupation for Avengers: Infinity War opening weekend.

Solo opened in 684 cinemas less than The Last Jedi opening in 723 cinemas and Rogue One opened in 698 cinemas but more than The Force Awakens 670 cinemas while Revenge of the Sith opened in 490 cinemas, Attack of the Clones in 2002 opened in 467 cinemas and Phantom Menace 460 cinemas. Most cinemas were showing Solo on multiple screens as previous Star Wars films so were probably playing on three times the number of screens to cinemas. For the prequels, most cinemas would normally get an individual print to play in multiple screens, but some would interlock between screens but with digital its far simpler press of a mouse to add an extra screen or 10.

Solo opened -77.2% less than The Force Awakens -71.3% The Last Jedi -55.3% Rogue One, 32% Attack of the Clones -46.1% Revenge of the Sith, -18.6% The Phantom Menace and 20% less than TFA Thursday previews.

Was expecting Solo to open close to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith £14.36m and Iron Man 3 £13.71m but instead opening closer to 2009’s Star Trek £5.9m, 2001’a The Mummy Returns £5,929,146, 2002’s Men in Black 2 £6,191,428 and less than Justice League £7,264,784 which received massive coverage after its disappointing opening

There are flops and then there are flops while there was much negativity surrounding Solo: A Star Wars Story over the film’s production it was still a Star Wars film and whatever your feelings about Disney’s previous three films they all opened very strongly. While Solo was never going to match the openings of The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi going into the start of last week for all my negative thoughts of the film still thought it would open with up to £15m including £2.5m from Thursday previews.

Disney has had massive success over the last decade but like anything they do its always go big or go home either they are huge successes but as these films have huge budget the flops are also massive flops but probably have had fewer flops than their rivals but are more recognisable John Carter (opened March 2012 £1,960,414 taking £4,643,786), The Lone Ranger (opened August 2013 £1,342,196 taking £4,090,415) Tomorrowland (opened May 2015 £1,482,178 taking £4,971,372), Alice Through the Looking Glass (opened May 2016 £2,229,399 taking £9,613,602 less than Alice in opened with in the UK in March 2010), Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (opened May 2017 £5,238,049 including £690,697 previews taking £19,537,127), A Wrinkle in Time (opened March 2018 £655,542 taking £2,365,210).

Since January 2017 has been 27 films opening bigger than Solo and 5 in 2018 including Fifty Shades Freed. Having not got access to ComScore data I can only estimate where Solo opening is on the biggest ever list which must at least 150th. But if previews were removed would have opened close to 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer £4,137,169.

The releasing of both A Wrinkle in Time and Solo had a major impact on their box office performances Disney’s decision to delay A Wrinkle in Time killed the film internationally as buzz was very poor ahead of its US opening. While with Solo it was a lot to do with their decision to open the film only five months after The Last Jedi believing Star Wars films would play as Marvel Cinematic Universe films audiences will want to see another film within months.

Had The Last Jedi been well-received things might have been different but Disney should have used it as a chance to delay Solo till December as everyone was thinking was going to happen after the lack of marketing till February. In comparison, Rogue One teaser trailer was released in April 2016 4 months after the release of The Force Awakens.

While there seems to be the need to release teaser trailers up to a year ahead of the reason a film can be a success with trailers coming only a few months before opening as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation first trailer released in March 2015 for a July release.

Of course, while previous three Star Wars films had the market to itself 20^th Century Fox surprised everyone bringing the release dare of Deadpool 2 forward by two weeks in January made even more surprising as it was only a month after Disney announced they would buy the studio.

By opening Solo only 5 months after The Last Jedi it meant Disney couldn’t start the film’s marketing for at least a month after opening the first trailer was teased during the Superbowl in February and released immediately after. In comparison, the marketing campaign for Deadpool 2 started with a scene before Logan in March 2017 with a teaser released in November and rather than a Superbowl TV spot Deadpool tweeted during the game and the first trailer was released immediately after.

Its only in recent years the industry has blamed the weather on films poor performance the first time I remember it being mentioned was for Men in Black 3 in 2012 and in the years since it has been the excuse used when a film underperforms. I do believe if it’s a film audience want to see they will go and see it I remember seeing the first Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003 on the hottest day of the year was melting at the Odeon Leicester Square while watching it.

The weather was used again as an excuse for Solo opening as was the Champions League Final as was the FA Cup Final last week against Deadpool 2 blaming these events is purely an excuse.

The last two occasions British clubs were in the Champions League Final Chelsea against Bayern Munich in 2012 The Dictator opened with £4,963,745 and Marvel Avengers Assemble took £2,814,216 in second. The year-earlier Barcelona played Manchester United at Wembley Stadium The Hangover Part II opened with £10,409,017 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in its second weekend took £4,757,411.

While the Olympics and World Cup do affect UK box office it’s doubtful FA Cup Final or Champions League Final have much impact on films box office. I remember I went to see Indecent Proposal at the Empire Leicester Square hours after Arsenal has drawn with Sheffield Wednesday.at the FA Cup Final.

After the polarized reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi 161 days and the reaction to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One once the memberries wore off Solo was always likely the protest film the film fans and non-fans used to show their disappointment in Disney’s handling with Star Wars.

With the release of Solo, I watched Disney’s Star Wars films again while Rogue One is better watching it again The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are even more disappointing watching again. These don’t get better the more you watch them like the original Star Wars trilogy I have seen countless times. Maybe it’s an age thing but I remember seeing the same film in cinemas half a dozen times over several weeks in the 80s and 90s. Are very few current films I can watch on repeat the only recent films I have been able to do so with has been The Greatest Showman it is still as enjoyable to watch as it was the first time after multiple times.

Disney’s annual Star Wars film is killing the golden goose as it is turning the extraordinary film series into something ordinary. Being only 4, 7 and 10 when the original trilogy opened it was only when those films were released on video was hard to see them as we had Betamax video player and local video rental shops were mostly VHS. It wasn’t until Odeon Marble Arch had a 70mm film season in the early 90s I saw the Star Wars films properly for the first time in cinema. This was part of 29th Century Fox’s marketing for the Star Wars 20th anniversary re-release in 1997 which is when I got to see them again in the cinema.

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 they immediately announced plans to make Star Wars films originally, they were to be split two or three years apart but then later was announced they would have yearly Star Wars films infinitely.

This sounded great on paper but four-Star Wars films in 888 days have lost some of their status as event films especially when the films aren’t as good as people expected them to be especially on repeat viewings. For all of the criticism of the Star Wars prequels much justified the one thing they did do by keeping them three years apart made them into events.

The prequels told an unknown story, while you knew how they would end was much more story to be told about how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. While the stealing of Death Star plans or Han Solo doing the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs is for the fans as the news on Friday Boba Fett prequel is in development likely to be released in 2020.

Problem with Boba Fett film as with the rumoured Obi-Wan Kenobi film both is bookended by previous films. Obi-Wan Kenobi featured heavily in the prequels and then we know he dies in A New Hope likewise we see Boba Fett as a boy in Attack of the Clones but then we know he dies in Return of the Jedi. George Lucas did have much bigger plans for Boba Fett originally when he planned to make Star Wars into a 12-film saga but while making Empire Strikes Back changed his mind and that’s why Boba Fett dies in the first 10 minutes of Return of the Jedi.

Maybe one of the reasons why Solo flopped is that Disney has already given us a Han Solo film with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and Vol 2. What might have been a far more interesting film and especially after Marvel finally made Black Panther this year would have been Lando film featuring Han Solo as Lando is the best thing about Solo.

Solo must be the most disappointing opening for an existing franchise since 2016’s Independence Day Resurgence as with the negativity surrounding Justice League for months it’s under $100m opening was expected. Independence Day Resurgence opening almost 20 years to the day the original film opening didn’t have the negativity surrounding it only opened with $41.03m taking $103.14m and $389.68m worldwide.

Independence Day opening 20 years earlier with $50.22m taking $306.16m and $817.4m worldwide. In the UK Independence Day: Resurgence opened with £5,067,855 taking £11,975,964 compared to Independence Day opening with £7.1m taking £35.69m which was 20^th Century Fox’s biggest film in the UK at the time overtaken a few months later by The Full Monty.

One thing I hope that doesn’t come out of the Solo debacle is neither Alden Ehrenreich or Ron Howard get blamed as it was a poisoned chalice for both of them but as often when a film underperformed the director gets the blame, but he just made the film Lucasfilm wanted. One positive is that it’s his biggest opening in the US not so in the UK as 2006’s The Da Vinci Code opened with £9,501,444 and just managed to squeeze ahead of his 2009 Angels & Demons £6,054,627.

2. Deadpool 2 – £3,771,293 – £20,682,579

Down 69.94% in its second weekend (49.57% not including previews) with 2.5 days of previews inflating its opening and the arrival of Solo: A Star Wars Story it was always going to drop heavily in its second weekend.

Deadpool 2 had the third biggest X-Men second weekend in the UK after Deadpool £5,694,280 and Logan £3,858,463 and it was the twelfth biggest adding in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ahead of Spider-Man Homecoming £3,718,078.

Deadpool dropped 59% in its second weekend 43%, not including previews taking £25,866,491 but had no competition as Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, How to Be Single, Goosebumps and Dad’s Army were all targetting different demographics.

In January 20^th Century Fox surprised everyone brought forward the release from June 1^st to May 18^th many people thought it was crazy decision opening then two weeks after Avengers: Infinity War and a week before Solo: A Star Wars Story.

As Universal Pictures is releasing Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom two weeks earlier internationally June 1^st would have seen Deadpool 2 sandwiched between Solo and Jurassic World 2. By open a week before it allowed Deadpool 2 to find get a wider audience as when three temples are released over three weeks the first and the last film always have the advantage and the film in the middle will be cannibalized.

Last year was expected Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes would perform being part of major franchises Spider-Man: Homecoming performed strongly but despite received positive reviews War for the Planet of the Apes got squeezed by Dunkirk opening the following weekend few could have predicted would have taken more than War for the Planet of the Apes.

The trailers for both Deadpool 2 and Infinity War included much footage that wasn’t in the films which the writers of both have admitted was done to mislead the audience. With Deadpool 2 the trailer featured X-Force heavily making audiences think they would feature heavily in the film. While in Infinity War it showed Thanos only had two Infinity Stones.

Disney previously mislead audiences with the Star Wars trailers The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi while also including footage that was never going to be in the final film for Rogue One. Maybe the reason why Thanos only has two Infinity Stones in the trailers for Infinity War is writers have said Thanos finger clicking was going to be at the start of Avengers 4 with the ending of Infinity War ending with Thanos getting all six stones. 

3. Avengers: Infinity War – £1,215,206 – £66,138,820

Down 40.65% in its fifth weekend had the second biggest MCU fifth weekend after Black Panther £1,881,691 just ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron £1,067,076, Guardians of the Galaxy £1,027,274 and Spider-Man Homecoming £927,957.

Infinity War has become the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the UK but while Avengers Assemble was 3.29x opening and Black Panther 2.95x opening Infinity War will be only 2.35x opening showing how front-loaded it has been.

But after opening with £29,379,496 almost double Avengers Assemble it was expected to top £73m overtaking Toy Story 3 to be Disney biggest non-Star Wars film in the UK. Instead, it will likely briefly move into the top 10 next week overtaking Mamma Mia but either Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom or Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.

Disney now has 10 of the top 30 biggest films in the UK all franchises, sequels or reimaginations with 7 of them released in the last 3 years. 

In 2012 Avengers Assemble dropped to third in its fifth weekend behind Men in Black 3 opening with £2.93m and The Dictator £1.07m Avengers Assemble took £872,664 and £46.89m staying in the top 10 for 9 weeks.

In 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped to fifth in its fifth weekend behind Pitch Perfect 2 £2.66m, Mad Max: Fury Road £2.63m, Tomorrowland – A World Beyond £1.48m, Poltergeist £1. 46m taking £1.06m and £44.99m.

The 19 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken £570,640,183 at the UK box office over the last 10 years with an average of £28,280,695. Ant-Man and the Wasp is the next MCU released in August with Captain Marvel released in March and the untitled Avengers 4 in April.   

4. Sherlock Gnomes – £689,914 – £4,343,619

Down only 2.85% in its third weekend despite hot weather and poor reviews parents still will take their children to see films like Sherlock Gnomes and with half-term, rainy weather and only Show Dogs as competition will likely have a decent week.

Gnomeo and Juliet increased by 13% in its third weekend in February 2011 taking £2,502,806 becoming #1 and £12,901,447 went on to take £15,326,020 if Sherlock Gnomes have a decent half-term it could take half.

After the film only took $42.64m in the US it would be a decent performance for the film but was helped with Elton John and British cast and setting and a lack of anything else for young children which was also one reason why Peter Rabbit did so well, 

The Angry Birds Movie dropped 54% in its third weekend in May 2016 taking £919,519 and £5,771,901.

The Emoji Movie and Peter Rabbit have shown younger audiences don’t care what Rotten Tomatoes say and Sherlock Gnomes were helped to be the only children’s film on release and with its trailers played before Peter Rabbit.

The Incredibles 2 July 14^th and Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation opening July 27^th is the next family films opening just before the summer holidays. But apart from Peter Rabbit taking over £40m at the box office, Coco £18.3m and Early Man £11.15m (was surprising both opening a week after each other).

2018 has had far fewer children’s films than last year which probably helped Peter Rabbit be the success it was the similar reason why The Emoji Movie did so well, but Captain Underpants didn’t as it had Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3 as competition but holding back Emoji Movie it was the only main family film on release.

Last year Sing £29.17m, The Lego Batman Movie £27.43m, Beauty and the Beast £72.43m, Power Rangers £4.52m, The Smurfs: The Lost Village £6.01m, The Boss Baby £29.11m, Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience £3.62m, A Dog’s Purpose £2.9m, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul £6.01m and Despicable Me 3 £47.7m all opened before the summer holidays.

While there have been far fewer children’s films released in 2018 than in 2017 there will be far more and far bigger profile children’s films released in 2019.

5. Show Dogs – £546,405 – NE

Proving again bad reviews and sunny weather doesn’t affect children’s films Show Dogs opens similar to Duck Duck Goose £0.65m. With half-term and only Sherlock Gnomes being an alternative for younger audience’s parents will be dragged to Show Dogs as they were Peter Rabbit during Easter holidays.

Films with dogs have been very popular over the decades including Beethoven, Turner & Hooch, Air Bud, Oliver & Company, Bolt, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Marley & Me and My Dog Skip.

Over May Day Bank Holiday last year, A Dog’s Purpose opened with taking £1.33m including £633,000 from previews taking £2.99m; the sequel A Dog’s Journey opens next May and there is also A Dog’s Way Home opening in January; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul opened for last years half-term with £1.44m taking £6,01m.

Show Dogs received much media coverage last week after the film generated criticism as the film showed a “troubling message that grooms children for sexual abuse,” features scenes that normalize “unwanted genital touching to its child audience.”

The US distributor Global Road Entertainment issued a statement saying, “filmmakers are saddened and apologize to any parent who feels the scene sends a message other than a comedic moment in the film, with no hidden or ulterior meaning, but respect their right to react to any piece of content.” The US distributor also removed the two scenes from the film and the cut version was shown in the US from last Friday. But eOne hasn’t reclassified the film in the UK so must still be showing the uncut version.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,192,041 down 22.6% from last weekend £17,042,583;

The weekend admissions 1,693,578 down 22.71% from last weekend 2,191,391; 2018 average ticket price is probably up about 3% from last year’s £7.49 to £7.67 for 2018;   

13 films opened at weekend taking £6,912,539; Solo: A Star Wars Story took 87.68% (£6,061,231); remaining 12 films shared 12.31% (£851,308): Solo: A Star Wars Story took 45.94% (£6,061,231) and Deadpool 2 took 25.58% of the top 10; top three films from Disney-Fox took almost 84% of the top 10 box office with a similar percentage in the US.

The weekend was up 35.73% from last year (£9,718,848) Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge £5,238,049, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul £1,444,092, The Red Turtle £91,997.

Up 48.61% from 2016: (£8,876,599) Alice Through the Looking Glass £2,229,399, Money Monster £820,829, Love and Friendship £263,094, Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants £97,647, Top Cat Begins £69,784, Bobby £1,061,

Next weekend in 2017: (£16,108,699) Wonder Woman £6,179,616, Baywatch £4,631,244

Also opened

The Breadwinner – Studiocanal – Opens with £79,329 from 77 screens 

 UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Solo: A Star Wars Story – Disney

Opens with $84.42m; received 71% Rotten Tomatoes score and A- CinemaScore.

Over recent years Disney has had huge success throughout the year apart from Memorial weekend. Have released 15 films over the last 31 years on Memorial weekend and only had one big opening in 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End opening with 4139.8m their last five releases since have underwhelmed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Tomorrowland, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. 2018 is the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest Memorial Day openers for decades Super Mario Bros released by Disney in the US.

Recent Memorial Day weekends have underwhelmed the last film to open with $100m was 10 years ago, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was seen as a disappointment. Solo just squeezed past $100m.

2017 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales $62.98m –  Baywatch $18.5m

2016 – X-Men: Apocalypse $65.76m –  Alice Through the Looking Glass $26.85m

2015-  Tomorrowland $33.02m –  Poltergeist $22.62m

2014 – X-Men: Days of Future Past opened with $90.82m

2013 – Fast & Furious 6 $97.37m – The Hangover Part III $44.67m

2012 – Men in Black 3 $54.92m

2011 – The Hangover Part II $85.94m –  Kung Fu Panda 2 $47.85m

2010 – Sex and the City 2 $31.1m –  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time $30.09m

2009 – Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $54.17m – Terminator Salvation $42.55m

2008 – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull $100.13m

2007 – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End $114.73m

2006 – X-Men: The Last Stand $102.75m

2005 – The Longest Yard $47.6m – Madagascar $47.22m

2004 – The Day After Tomorrow $68.74m – Raising Helen $10.98m

2003 – Bruce Almighty $67.95m – The In-Laws $7.31m

2002 – Insomnia $20.93m – Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron $17.77m

Over the years have been many flops but most of them were predictable going into the films opening weekend. A month ago, Solo was tracking to open with $170m over the 4-day weekend over the weeks that followed those numbers dropped but not dramatically. This, of course, is much different from most of the flops as they were expected in the weeks or days leading up to opening even on Thursday Solo was expected to open with $110m.

After Justice League opened with only $92m last November Solo must be a bigger box office disappointment as Justice League both films had a troubling production with box original directors leaving the film during production. But while Zack Snyder left due to a family tragedy Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired we, of course, will never see the film they were making but Lucasfilm knew what they were getting when they hired them to direct?

After the issues on set with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being fired Ron Howard was the director brought in to stabilise the ship, the original budget of $150m was almost doubled to over $250m with depending on what you read up to 70% of the film reshot. Ron Howard has made many great films over his career Splash, Cocoon, Willow, Parenthood, Backdraft, Apollo 13 and Ransom. But his films have disappointed at the box office with The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons his biggest hits since his Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind in 2001. Solo will probably become his biggest film in the US so is easy why he decided to direct the film as it should allow him and Imagine making more of the films they want to make.

In the weeks leading up to the release of Solo opening was predicted up to $170m for its four-day Memorial Day weekend and $150m for its 3-day opening (similar to Deadpool 2 tracking). But despite positive reaction from its world premiere in Los Angeles was a haze over the film which has surrounded it since Ron Howard replaced Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as directors in June 2017. Saying that many had an issue with the film as soon as Lucasfilm announced plans for spinoff films as felt Han Solo is Harrison Ford no other actor could ever replace him.

The most surprising thing about this was why Disney kept to the May 25^th release date as replacing the directors gave Disney an opportunity to delay its release as the problem with opening two different Star Wars films in just over 100 days they couldn’t start marketing Solo for several weeks after The Last Jedi was released. Marvel has a similar issue next year after the dramatic events of Infinity War they will be promoting Spider-Man; Homecoming 2 the same time they are promoting Avengers 4, but everyone believes Spider-Man is dead.

What was surprising is when the Royal Wedding was announced in November 2017 Disney didn’t switch Mary Poppins Returns for Solo: A Star Wars Story as the Royal Wedding was an almost Disney fairy-tale an American commoner making a prince. Of course, it might be that the film wouldn’t have been completed by the time but would have had huge free publicity as the global media went crazy for Britishness while moving Solo back six months to give it time to distances it from the disappointing The Last Jedi. 

There were 5,888 days between Star Wars Return of the Jedi released in June 1983 and the first Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace released in July 1999 with the two sequels Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Was then 3,650 days between Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens but then only 365 days between The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Last Jedi but has been only 161 days between The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Are 4 films in 888 days too much of Star Wars especially after the polarized reaction to The Last Jedi and people admitting The Force Awakens was just A New Hope remake and Rogue One told an unnecessary story which many have said similar about Solo.  

Much has been written about the reasons why Solo disappointed saying it was the marketing or poor word of mouth but most of the previous Star Wars films had no competition opening against them. The only one that did was Attack of the Clones in May 2002 with three-week-old Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones opened similar to Solo.

Disney had a warning with The Last Jedi and Jumanji what happens when a film with same demographic opens close to Star Wars and Jumanji took $200m+ from The Last Jedi and Disney could have then easily delayed Solo till Christmas but 20^th Century Fox saw the disturbance in the force decided to take advantage moving Deadpool 2.

Rian Johnson tweeted

Reaction after first viewing “Solo: A Star Wars Story” -best of the new #StarWars flicks. A great western, great story, characters and theme. Lawrence Kasden/Jonathan Kasden wrote a great script. Ron Howard made a great flick. Can’t wait to see it again #Solo #SoloAStarWarsStory

But he is partly to blame for Solo poor opening after the polarized reaction to The Last Jedi had it been a better film audience would have been more accepting to two Star Wars films in 5 months.

While Ron Howard tweeted

Didn’t meet projections but amounts to a new personal best. check #SoloAStarWarsStory for balanced feedback & then C it on a big screen!

Due to the opening in several countries on Wednesday knew that Solo was in trouble even before its Thursday midnights opening down from Rogue One -87% South Korea; -80% Hong Kong; -67% France; -40% Italy and -67% China.

After the performance of the first three Star Wars films in China despite Disney heavily promoting the films, Solo wasn’t even called a Star Wars film instead it was known as Ranger Solo. Always surprised Disney didn’t wait to launch Star Wars in China in 2021 with the new film series as Chinese audiences don’t have the generational fanbase of Star Wars having only had Star Wars films legally available since 2015.

So, to launch the film franchise with Part 7 it’s like launching Harry Potter film series with Deathly Hallows Part 1. After the poor opening for Rogue One, there seemed to be little point in releasing Solo, especially three weeks after Avengers: Infinity War has taken over $330m in China.

Ahead of the films release Solo was expected to open with over $300m worldwide similar to Rogue One $280m but instead only took $68.2m internationally and $153m with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opening internationally next week Solo could take half Rogue One $1.056bn and a quarter of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

After having two Star Wars films in 5 months is now an 18-month gap before the next Star Wars film which will be directed by JJ Abrams after Colin Trevorrow was fired last September.

The question is will Lucasfilm change their plans in making Star Wars films as while multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films work being released over a year audience need a bigger gap with Star Wars films. While away from the fanboys does anyone really want or need the anthology films as wouldn’t they work better as TV series.

Disney has now taken $4bn worldwide $1.638bn US and $2.482bn internationally.

• Deadpool 2 – 20^th Century Fox

Drops 65.4% in its second weekend taking $43.46m and $208.17m

Deadpool 2 dropped bigger than 2016’s Deadpool in its second weekend as it had no competition for the first three weeks of its release which is why it held #1 for three weekends.

Deadpool dropped 57.4% in its second weekend taking $56.47m and $236.86m but it was against Rosen opening with $11.8m, The Witch $8.8m and Race $7.35m which were no competition for Deadpool.

Deadpool 2 was always going to drop heavily as Solo: A Star Wars Story targeted the same demographic but 20^th Century Fox’s decision to open ahead of Solo instead of the week after allowed it to get a head start and make it much harder for Solo.

The 10 Marvel X-Men film has taken over $2.26bn at the box office over the last 18 years in the US and almost $5.5bn globally Marvel Cinematic Universe 19 films have taken three times more in the US and globally.

Deadpool 2 took $157m internationally and $279.7m total and $498m globally opens in Japan on June 1^st Deadpool created a special musical version of the trailer for Japan after The Greatest Showman was a massive hit in Japan.

Deadpool took $85m in its second weekend and $491.7m and $783.1m globally with Solo underperforming Deadpool 2 has a chance to get close to that total before Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens in 10 days’ time.

Deadpool took $363.1m in the US fourth biggest 20^th Century Fox film behind Avatar, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and $420m internationally

• Avengers: Infinity War – Disney

Drops 41.3% in its fifth weekend taking $17.29m and $622.48m.

Having the twelfth biggest fifth weekend while Black Panther had the fourth biggest fifth weekend and The Avengers the seventh.

Black Panther took 3.49x opening but Avengers: Infinity War will likely take only 2.56x it’s $257.69m opening much closer to Avengers: Age of Ultron 2.4x than Marvel’s Avengers 3x opening taking about $665m about $40m less than Black Panther. With $300m budget and similar marketing costs, the film will likely make about $250m profit.

In 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron was the fourth biggest film globally taking $1.4bn behind Furious 7 $1.51bn, Jurassic World $1.67bn and Star Wars: The Force Awakens $2.06bn while Marvel’s The Avengers was the biggest film globally in 2012 taking $1.9bn Avengers: Infinity War is expected to be the biggest film globally of 2018.

The 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken $6.6bn in the US and $16.76bn

Infinity War took $32.5m internationally ($336.8m the third biggest Hollywood release in China) taking $1.283bn and $1.904,07bn worldwide.

• Book Club – Paramount Pictures

Down 25.8% in its second weekend taking $10.07m and $32.27m total

Having the best hold of a wide release in the top 10 targets the older audience holding stronger than last year’s Going in Style $6.28m taking $23.31m and 11.93 and close to 2013’s Las Vegas $11.03m taking $33.46m

22 years ago, The First Wives Club took $15.31m and $41.78m of $105.48m

• A Quiet Place – Paramount Pictures

Down 38.3% in its seventh weekend taking $2.43m and $180.13m

A Quiet Place has become Paramount Pictures #32 biggest film in the US overtaking Top Gun and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Crocodile Dundee and will shortly overtake Mission: Impossible, Thor, What Women Want and Interstellar and is Paramount Pictures biggest film since 2015’s Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation $195m.

Took $4.7m internationally including $27.9m from China and $131.7m total and $312.46m overtaking Get Out’s global total; globally #406 biggest film and Paramount Pictures #41 overtaking Beverly Hills Cop II and will shortly overtake Beverly Hills Cop and Fatal Attraction.

UK Box Office Predictions

After Solo disappointed last weekend (with the top ten taking less than Solo was expected to take on its own) it’s likely to of picked up a bit during half-term holidays. With only Book Club opening this weekend before Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opening Wednesday Solo is likely to still drop close to 60% taking £2.5m and about £17m total.

Book Club will generate some interest, opening similar to Going in Style last year with £500k+.

Opening UK

• Book Club – Paramount Pictures

Romantic comedy starring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen and directed by Bill Holderman; been comparable to The First Wives Club opened November 1996 opened with £1,140,941 taking £4,766,291.

Last June My Cousin Rachel and Hampstead opened with £0.63m and £0.45m also targetting older audiences and Book Club is likely to do similar.

Probably would have performed far better if it was released soon after Fifty Shades of Grey was released in 2015 when the hype was at its highest opening several months after Fifty Shades Freed the moment has pasted.

Many people have said Book Club feels like a Nancy Meyers film Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated and The Intern.

Why is a film with Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen directed by a man as similar female focussed films I Feel Pretty and Life of the Party and the upcoming What Men Want are?

• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Universal Pictures (Wednesday)

The fifth instalment of the Jurassic Park film series and sequel to 2015’s Jurassic World starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, B. D. Wong, James Cromwell, Geraldine Chaplin, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, Jeff Goldblum and directed by J. A. Bayona.

In July 2015 it was announced it would be released June 22^nd, 2018 a month later was announced the UK release would be two weeks before on June 8^th to open ahead of the World Cup, (was later announced it would open in most international territories on June 8^th)

The first Jurassic Park was released July 16^th, 1993 a month after US back when distributors would hold back films to give them the best date for local audiences rather than the US.

Six years later Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released 6 weeks after US release but all films since have opened day and date as most films today. Disney’s summer Pixar film is one exception opening in June in the US but a month later in the UK to open at the start of the summer holidays as Incredibles 2 is this year but next year Toy Story 4 will open day and date with the US as they have their Lion King reimagination set for July.

Back in 1993, Thursday previews were limited to one main evening preview on Thursday night Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in comparison has two full days of previews extended its opening weekend. Jurassic World opened on 16^th July 1993 with £4.9m having small drops on its following weeks as it played in cinemas for almost a year taking £47,790,337 currently 38^th biggest film in the UK. In 1993 average ticket price was £4.12 inflation inflated total of £114,190,618 sixth biggest film in the UK.

In 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened with £5.7m (£10.67m 2018 BO) taking £25.79m (346.61m 2018 BO)

In 2001 Jurassic Park 3 opened with £4.76m (£8.76m 2018 BO) taking £18.1m (£33.32m 2018 BO) as probably with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull it is the film that is ignored in Jurassic World as the events feature after The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Globally marketing for the film started last week in Spain home of director J. A. Bayona while is an embargo in place until probably early next week social media reaction was very positive but needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as premiere audiences are always hyped up see Justice League reaction and Spain is the home of its director.

The marketing moved to the UK a few days later where some of the films was shot and part of its marketing was a dinosaur being transported on the Thames and ending up at City Hall. In 2015 Universal Pictures did similar with a mysterious crate in the middle of Waterloo station arriving on Friday but by Monday the four velociraptors had escaped.

In the US it’s having a $185m promo campaign twice the size of 2015’s Jurassic World and bigger than Avengers: Infinity War $150m+, Spider-Man: Homecoming $140m and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 $80m. Of course, the difference between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom US release and those films is it opens in the US two weeks after international which could have more impact on its release than the marketing as well as opening the week after The Incredibles 2 expected to open with $140m+. But the Jurassic Park brand is still huge 25 years after the original film was released with merchandising sales still very strong.

The first trailer was released in December was viewed 64 million timed in its first 24 hours (18^th most watched trailer in the first 24 hours Avengers: Infinity War trailer was released the week before was seen by 230m in first 24 hours and the second in March 179m) the second was Super bowl spot which was the most viewed seen 3.56m times in the first 12 hours (69,000 times on YouTube and 2.7 million times on Facebook) Mission Impossible: Fallout was second with 2.09 million views.

Both trailers received a mixed reaction from fans as many felt it looked like it was taking the action from the acts of the film, but writer Colin Trevorrow said it came from the first 57 minutes of the film describing the film as “The Impossible meets The Orphanage with dinosaurs.” The final trailer released in April seemed to be much more revealing with many feeling it felt far too similar to The Lost World as the first film felt to the original film.

Nostalgia for Jurassic Park with Jurassic World opening 22 years to the day of the original US release date helped it open with £19.35m including previews of £2.51m (in 2015 it was the sixth biggest opening in the UK now it’s the eleventh). It was only the second film to take over £10m in its second weekend after Skyfall (Spectre and Beauty and the Beast have since overtaken it while The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Infinity Wat have also taken over £10m in their second weekends) going on to take £63.67m.

Despite Avengers Infinity War having the third biggest opening in the UK taking £29.37m it will only squeeze into the top 10 biggest films in the UK and with Solo: A Star Wars Story flopping Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has a real chance to be the biggest film of the year.  With rival studios holding back their films from opening against the World Cup starting June 14^th Fallen Kingdom could be the big winner and should open bigger than this first film and could take £70m+ depending how audience reaction is.

Distributors run scared of the World Cup every four years in 2014 Warner Bros brought forward Edge of Tomorrow a week to avoid it but then was canalized by Maleficent and X-Men Days of Future Past while 22 Jump Street opened the week later and performed strongly.

With a summer World Cup distributor know delaying the film to July won’t have any effect on the films box office the problem with happen in 2022 with the Qatar World Cup starting before Thanksgiving and ending days before Christmas. Currently, only Untitled Disney Animation and Untitled Disney Live Action are dated during the World Cup. As Qatar is 10 hours ahead of the US won’t have much impact on the US but as its only two hours ahead of UK and one-hour Europe is similar to Russia this year.   

Early this year Universal Pictures announced June 11^th, 2021 release date for Jurassic World 3 which will be exactly 28 years to the day Jurassic World opened in the US.

After Solo flopped and Avengers: Infinity War won’t break £70m Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom could be the biggest film of the year. After Universal Pictures last week acquired international rights to Bond 25 to be released October 25^th, 2019 they will be battling out with Star Wars IX to be the biggest film of 2019 too. Solo might have underperformed at the box off as The Last Jedi compared with The Force Awakens but being the final part of the trilogy its likely to take close to The Force Awakens £123m but will have Jumanji 2 opening against it.

Many took issue with Jurassic World as Star Wars The Force Awakens, Spectre and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 receiving 12A certificates. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has also been given a 12A with BBFC insight report saying, “Action violence and occasional bloody moments include blood on a dinosaur’s teeth as a dinosaur bites off a man’s arm before devouring him, and elbow blows, taser shots and punches as a man evades bad guys and dinosaurs.”

Embargo ends June 5^th the day before opens internationally.

Opening in the US

• Action Point – Paramount Pictures

Action comedy starring Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius and directed by Tim Kirkby

It is made in a similar style to previous Jackass films like 2013’s Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa which opened October 2013 with $32.05m taking $102m but Action Point is tracking badly opening with about $10m.

• Adrift – STX Entertainment

Romance drama starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin and directed by Baltasar Kormákur based on true story of a couple who get stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and must navigate to Hawaii with no communication or navigation tools.

While starred in last years excellent HBO drama series Big Little Lies returning in series 2 next year she has yet to open a film herself best known for starring in Divergent films and The Descendants

Similar films include

2010’s 127 Hours $18.3m

2017’s The Mountain Between Us $30.35m

2016’s The Finest Hours $27.6m

2004’s Open Water $30.6m

2013’s All Is Lost (2013) $6.3m

Over a quiet weekend for new releases and after the underwhelming opening for Solo Adrift will give audiences something different but as The Mountain Between Us and The Finest Hours underwhelmed at the box office its going to be a hard one to sell to audiences. Expected to open in low teens similar to 2016’s The Shallows opening with $16.8m.

• American Animals – The Orchard

Crime drama starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, and Jared Abrahamson and written and directed by Bart Layton. Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews and was acquired by The Orchard and MoviePass Ventures.