Solo: A Star Wars Story’s short time at the top of the box office charts should end this weekend as Ocean’s Eight opens. Lucasfilm’s spinoff has had a pretty rough go of it during its theatrical run, coming up well short of expectations and becoming the first Star Wars installment to lose money for its distributor. Even without much in the way of high-profile competition (existing holdovers notwithstanding) last weekend, Solo still took a pretty significant hit and has earned only $158.4 million domestically as of this writing. There’s a good chance its U.S. total doesn’t match The Force Awakens’ opening weekend.
Since Lucasfilm brought back the galaxy far, far away in 2015, they’ve enjoyed a mini box office dynasty that saw them score the highest-grossing film in the U.S. for three consecutive years. Not only that, Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi all stayed in the #1 position for at least three straight weekends, so this streak is about to come to an end.
Related: Read Screen Rant’s Ocean’s Eight Review
Per Box Office Pro, Ocean’s Eight is projected to earn $41 million in its first three days. This figure would be much higher than earlier estimates, which had the heist film pegged for a debut in the $30-36 million range. The film boasts a star-studded cast that includes the likes of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, and Rhianna and reviews have been generally positive. Plus, the modern Ocean’s film franchise has proven to be a popular commodity, pulling in $1.1 billion collectively to date. Unadjusted for inflation, it’s possible Ocean’s Eight scores the biggest debut in the series.
Should this pan out, Solo will become the first Star Wars film since Revenge of the Sith to lead the charts for only two weekends. Given the way the film is performing, this isn’t all that surprising of a development. Despite mostly positive reviews and word-of-mouth of its own, Solo was hampered by a weak marketing campaign that failed to generate substantial interest amongst casual audiences. Lucasfilm thought they could get by on the brand name when they should have tried to do a little more. Now in its third weekend, Solo should gross $14.7 million – a figure it took fellow spinoff Rogue One five weekends to sink below.
Ocean’s Eight would be best-served to make all the money it can at the start, seeing that next weekend sees the release of impending juggernaut Incredibles 2. Pixar’s superhero sequel is starting to generate excellent buzz following its world premiere, and advanced ticket sales are out-pacing blockbusters Finding Dory and Wonder Woman. Much like Solo, it looks like Ocean’s Eight is going to have a short reign at the top.
MORE: Solo Is Star Wars’ First Box Office Failure
Key Release Dates
Ocean’s Eight
Release Date:2018-06-08
