'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Memorial Day Weekend Box Office Numbers Are In

With Sunday estimates now being reported, Solo: A Star Wars Story's four-day opening weekend total is looking slightly better than it did after Saturday but is still well below expectations for a Star Wars movie.

Solo: A Star Wars Story will come in first during its opening weekend at the box office, but with a total gross far lower than expected. The film was once projected to earn $130-150 million over the holiday weekend. After its opening day, those expectations dipped to $114 million and then even lower to $101 million. Now it seems Solo: A Star Wars Story will open to $103 million from 4,381 locations.

Solo earned $35.6 million on Friday, including the $14.1 million earned in early previews on Thursday, which set a new preview night record for a Memorial Day weekend release. That wasn't enough to lift Solo to anywhere close to typical Star Wars expectations. Adjusted for inflation, Solo is the lowest opening for a Star Wars movie ever, even lower than the three prequel movies.

Compared to the first Star Wars standalone film, Solo's four-day box office total will trail the three-day opening weekend of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by more than $50 million. Rogue One opened to $155 million in December 2016.

Solo's disappointing box office performance will likely lead to a lot of industry discussion trying to diagnose what caused its disappointing returns, whether it was Star Wars franchise fatigue or if Disney miscalculated by releasing another Star Wars movie so soon after the last. Solo is Disney's fourth Star Wars movie in as many years and the tenth in the franchise overall. Its release comes just five months after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Last week's box office winner, Deadpool 2, will slide into second place in its second weekend. The film is expected to earn $53.5 million over the four-day weekend, bringing its box office total to $218.2 million.

In its fifth weekend, Avengers: Infinity War come in at third place. The film earned $20.1 million from 3,768 locations, bringing its box office total to $621.7 million, surpassing Star Wars: The Last Jedi to become the seventh-highest grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now playing in theaters. The Skywalker Saga continues in Star Wars: Episode IX, opening on December 20, 2019. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is said to be working on a new trilogy of Star Wars movies apart from the Skywalker Saga, and Game of Thrones creators DB Weiss and David Benioff are also said to be working on their trilogy of Star Wars movies.