'Solo' Will Lose $50M-Plus in First Defeat for Disney's 'Star Wars' Empire

Hollywood Reporter ^ | June 4, 2018 | Pamela McClintok

[EdnaMode]

To borrow one of Han Solo's lines from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, "That's not how the Force works!"

It's an apt way to sum up the troubled performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story. In one of the biggest box-office surprises in recent times, Solo is badly underperforming and will become the first of the Star Wars movies made by Disney and Lucasfilm to lose money.

Wall Street analyst Barton Crockett says Solo will lose more than $50 million. Industry financing souces, however, say that figure could come in at $80 million or higher, although no one knows the exact terms of Disney's deals for home entertainment and television, among other ancillary revenues.

Solo, directed by Ron Howard, isn't likely to gross much more than $400 million globally against a budget of at least $250 million and a major multimillion-dollar marketing spend. The movie lost major altitude in its second weekend of play to finish Sunday with a domestic total of $148.9 million and global cume of $264.2 million.

[a fool in paradise]

There was a multinational movie-tv franchise in the 1970s about 2 guys who escape from a planet run by women (men have second class status and do the physical work basically as slaves).

I saw some of in the 70s and 80s on American tv.

STAR MAIDENS

#BullDykeStereotypes

[Uncle Lonny]

If you have seen one Starwars movie you have seen them all.

[otness_e]

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but didn’t Iger around the time of the FOX deal pretty much extend his contract to 2021?

But I definitely agree, there’s plenty of us who want him out sooner (heck, I was even willing to encourage him to run for President of the United States just to get him out of Disney). Heck, not just Star Wars fans, Disney fans as well (since he’s done a lot more to ruin Disney than even Eisner. At least Eisner actually attempted to honor Walt Disney’s legacy rather than gutting it for the radical left. Iger pretty much destroyed any chance of traditional animation from returning by removing the animation center and replacing it with a Star Wars Launch Bay, he’s focusing more on live action remakes of old films over, you know, actually continuing animated films, even cancelling a Jack and the Beanstalk adaptation recently, he’s buried Path to 9/11, he’s allowing ESPN and ABC to be overtly political in spite of what they’re supposed to be, and he’s doubling down on Gay Days.).

[Widget Jr]

Sorry, I goofed up. I missed that he extended his contract.

In any case, three years is a long time when shareholders and fans aren't happy.

[otness_e]

Hopefully, they’ll eventually do to him what they did to Eisner back in 2005.

[Jagermonster]

Disney paid George Lucas over $4 billion for Lucasfilm thinking they were buying a money tree.

They did buy a money tree. And then they started poisoning it with bad writing.

[freepertoo]

I am so sad this movie did not do well. It did great justice to a much loved character, and it was a fun movie. Well acted, well put together. Felt to me like original Star Wars (especially Empire). I do hope it does well enough in DVD or Netflix to warrant a sequel. I’d love to see one.

[dfwgator]

Die, Hollywood, Die!

[elbook]

The market knows best.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Disney paid George Lucas over $4 billion for Lucasfilm thinking they were buying a money tree.

The first three Disney SW movies have done over that much at the box office, and that’s not counting the toys and other licensing. It still looks like a good buy for Disney.