‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Pacing Behind ‘Justice League’ at the Box Office

Justice League is outperforming Solo: A Star Wars Story through the film’s first weeks at the domestic box office — but that may not last.

If you track their daily box office, Justice League has come out ahead of Solo for every day in its first week except for Monday (a holiday in the U.S. for Solo, with a surge in ticket sales that day). After six days, Justice League had made $122 million at the domestic box office, versus Solo’s $115 million.

Solo struggled in its opening weekend, perhaps in part due to proximity to the releases of mega-blockbusters Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2. The movie is expected to enjoy a strong second weekend at the box office, following a week of buzz and with no new major films hitting theaters.

And that is where Solo has room to improve: Justice League‘s second weekend earned a little over $41 million, a 56% decline from its opening. Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s weekend projections are in the neighborhood of $60 million, which would give it a leg up.

Of course, Solo was originally projected to open at around $50 million more than it actually made last weekend, so Disney is likely not counting that cash just yet.

They are also unlikely to be consoled by any comparisons, positive or not, to Justice League, which is widely seen as an embarrassing failure for Warner Bros.

Justice League‘s box office performance has been the subject of much wailing and gnashing of teeth since it hit theaters back in November, including some tweaks to the Warner Bros. organizational structure seemingly aimed at assuring that the expensive and high-profile DC movies perform better in the future.

This comparison is interesting not to pit the two films “against” each other, but to compare and contrast the performance of two major tentpole films that underperformed and divided fans. It also speaks to Solo specifically because Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the franchises’s most recent “Episode” movie, earned more in its first week at the box office than Justice League made during its first month.

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.