Ron Howard Responds to Disappointing ‘Solo’ Box Office Reports

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard took to Twitter today to respond to a fan who asked about the disappointing opening-weekend box office for his latest film, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The film, a prequel that deals with the early days of Han Solo, was originally set to be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller of The Lego Movie but was handed off to Howard when Lord and Miller exited the project deep into production. The film was significantly reshot, and the version released in theaters this weekend has a distinctly Ron Howard feel to many elements.

When a fan asked whether they should rush out and see it to help the opening — which is coming in at around 70% of initial projections — Howard encouraged the fan to check the film’s hashtag for balanced feedback” and then see it in theaters.

He also admitted that the film did not meet its projections, but looked at the bright side: an $83 million estimated opening weekend is still a career-best for the filmmaker, whose previous 2006’s The Da Vinci Code, which opened with $77 million en route to a robust lifetime box office of $217 million domestically and almost $800 million with the international market counted.

Unfortunately for Solo, the international performance for the film has been fairly weak, so it will have to have long legs in North America in order to turn around what is currently a Justice League-style narrative around the film’s performance.

You can see Howard’s tweet below.

Solo: A Star Wars Story has a 71% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and 59% from audiences. Even our own staff are divided on the fim, with Emerald City Video and Tomato Tomato, a pair of podcasts to which ComicBook.com writers contribute, disagreeing.

What did you think of how Solo: A Star Wars Story essentially earns its title? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is in theaters now. If, indeed, part of the film’s underwhelming opening has been Star Wars Episode IX will be in theaters on December 20, 2019.