Having opened to a disappointing $84.4 million stateside, a little less than $10 million behind the figure put up by Justice League ($93.8M), Solo: A Star Wars Story is busy bracing for another substandard weekend, expecting to haul in less than $40 million domestically, which is a steep drop from an already weak three-day debut.
Although, if there is a positive to be pulled from the wreckage of the pic, it’s that Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company have been sent back to the drawing board. That said, finding a root cause for the flop would be nice, seeing as the fandom has already begun pointing blame at The Last Jedi. Something director Ron Howard seems to be on board with, too.
After asking for feedback, the two-time Academy Award winner has been retweeting countless blurbs from those praising his Han Solo spinoff. However, lost in the flurry of activity, the director may have “accidentally” promoted the throwing of shade at the Rian Johnson-directed film.
While Howard has since undone some of his handiwork, you can still check out a few of his retweets below.
The holder of the lowest audience score of any live-action Star Wars movie on Rotten Tomatoes, with a viewership approval rating of only 46%, The Last Jedi worked the fandom into such an uproar that they went so far as to call a boycott on Solo. Considering that The Force Awakens ($247M) and The Last Jedi ($220M) currently sit second and third, respectively, on the all-time opening weekend list, I think it’s fair to assume the spurning worked.
What do you think, though? Is Rian Johnson’s film to blame for Solo: A Star Wars Story’s shortcomings? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.
