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Han Solo sequels – well, at the end of last month, I called it. And now, it’s been proved I’m right. Check out my vlog below.
Previously on DVDfever:
May 28th:
Han Solo sequels… have they been cancelled? Reportedly, Alden Ehrenreich has signed up to three potential Han Solo sequels. Well, I think he can put away his dreams of most wars against the stars for good. Why?
Fox will have wanted Avengers: Infinity War-style numbers for this movie for its opening weekend, and they’re not getting them. That film cost approx $316-400m to make, and grossed $248m in its opening weekend in the US, and $650m worldwide.
Solo cost $250-300m to make, and can’t even domestically top $100m in its opening weekend, as it’s stalled with $83m in the US, and $148m total worldwide. Whether it stays in the IMAX screens for a second weekend remains to be seen, since last year’s The Mummy reboot was taken out of those, to be replaced with the previous week’s big movie, Wonder Woman.
At least, if Deadpool 2 – which sailed to a $125m domestic gross and $301m worldwide, based on a mere $110 budget – takes over for another weekend, then Fox won’t mind so much as they’ll still be raking in the cash from that one, but either way, from June 6th, Han Solo will be crushed by a T-Rex for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
For comparison with the other prequel, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, that one took $155 in the US in its opening weekend, against a $200m budget.
A shame for fans, then, that Disney have had to take a bath on this one. It had the same budget as Justice League, and took $83m in 3 days compared to JL’s $94m. Not great also, but JL gets widely criticised for not raking in the cash.
Even in the UK, Solo only took £6m on its opening weekend, while Deadpool 2 trousered £13.2m, and Infinity War took £30m!
Bear in mind that a film needs to gross 2-3 times its budget to break even, once you take marketing into account, but even if this one does, just breaking even means no-one will bother coughing up the green to see No.2.
Check out our review of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.