Solo "bombs", so what happens next?

A Star Wars movie failing to turn a box office profit is a bomb, no matter how you spin it. Solo is going to have to work very hard just to break even.

Much like TLJ had a very bad impact down the road, this will too. Star Wars used to be something special but now it is just another cinematic universe, and not even one of the better ones financially. Disney is not going to be able to bully theaters quite so much next December when E9 comes out. They may have to give back some percentage points of ticket sales versus what they did for E8.

--- Double Post Merged, May 28, 2018, Original Post Date: May 28, 2018 ---

I agree. I remember the mid-90's when Batman Forever did poorly and Batman and Robin completely bombed and we heard about how audiences had "superhero fatigue." It was frustrating and it set the superhero movie genre back years.

There was no superhero fatigue, just a natural audience reaction to putrid movies.

--- Double Post Merged, May 28, 2018 ---

Gimme a break. There is nothing in the OT which slaps you in the face politically anywhere near as much as the whole Canto Bight scenes.

--- Double Post Merged, May 28, 2018 ---

Right now Disney is very worried that this movie represents the post-Skywalker-saga norm. They are probably worried about E9's box office, but especially worried that once E9 wraps up, Star Wars will be a movie franchise which will struggle to hit $300 million domestic.

 

Definitely a disappointment. But I have a feeling they were ready for it, what with the bad press from as far back as last summer, as well as the general feeling amongst most fans about "why Solo???"

Having said that, they certainly need to get the house in order. It's been too chaotic. As you said, the pressure to get these films up and going in quick order has meant that, in some ways, they haven't treated the property with the care that we all expected them to when they purchased it. When JJ asked to release the Force Awakens in 2016, they should have listened to him. Han Solo, when met with a blasé reaction from the fans... that should have told them "wrong direction." Making a film about various characters, aka MCU isn't what people are looking for.

Further, get away from the saga. Sure, episode IX starts filming next month, but after that leave it alone. Or, if you ever do another saga, move it forward another few decades so you don't have the baggage and expectations associated with Mark and co.

Excellent point. Another "bomb", an epic one at that, was Cutthroat Island in the early 1990s. Total lifetime gross? $10million. Yeah, total. Solo would have to come in at something like $40 million lifetime gross, based on comparative budgets, to be equally bad.

 

This reminds me of those "describe a movie horribly" things. You cherrypicked what you wanted to make a longline that described what you wanted. You could just as easily describe the OT as right leaning by saying its about "A young farmer finds religion, goes on a journey and uses his faith to bring down an oppressive regime."

Also there is nothing inherently right or left about authoritative regimes. In fact I'd argue that the worst in modern history have all been left-Marxist/Communist regimes, the Stalins, Castros and so on. But the point is that nothing in the OT or the PT was so blatantly George spouting his beliefs that it takes you out of the movie. Gone are the days of using allegory and metaphor. Movies shouldn't alienate entire groups of people just because they happen to disagree on politics. Politics and messages in movies should be used to make people think not to tell them how to think.

 

Solo is good movie, and it needs 700mln to make any symbolic profit jet new analyse points it will at best get 600mln,and maybe even just 500.

Star Wars franchise is like a mighty plane with powerful engines that experienced stall by a mistake of a pilot.

 

Same here.

I dont really care how much millons or billons SW movies, or others movies that I like, make in the box office, that is something to studios and companies to concern about it, I just enjoy the movies, or in some cases dont. It seems that most of people are more interessed in the numbers of the box office than the movie itself.
If Disney, after the "bomb" of Solo, decides to release one SW movie every 3 or 4 years for me its ok. They've been doing a great job so far with the franchise.

 

Interesting video about this tragic numbers.

 

I've decided that I don't care whether "Solo" bombed or not. I'm not benefiting financially from Lucasfilm's decisions and filmaking. Some are claiming that it hasn't. Don't ask me how that person came to this conclusion, but I don't know. But I do know that I love the movie, I intend to see it again and I look forward to its DVD release.

What really annoys me that people continue to judge the quality of a film, based upon its box office performance. Are a lot of people really that shallow? I've seen a good number of films that bombed at the box office and I ended up enjoying. And I've seen a good number of box office hits that I disliked (like the ST films). The only people who should be concerned with the film's box office performance is Kathleen Kennedy and Disney. I refuse to be concerned.​

 

Word of mouth could help Solo for next weekend? Maybe yes, but also many people will reserve them money to next blockbusters like I2 and JW2, the next 2 weeks, with no big movies, it´s a chance for Solo will release ``again´´.

 

I think any future Stand Alone movies aren't in any trouble even if happens where Solo becomes the weakest SW movie at BO. Rogue One still did very well. Now had Rogue One did poorly, then we can say that Stand Alone movies may be in trouble.

If anything, I think they will think twice about releasing another stand alone movie 3 weeks after a 10 year highly anticipated movie (even though they got money from that) much less releasing a Stand Alone a week after another highly anticipated movie.

 

I see where you're coming from but, concern from a fan's perspective when a movie doesn't perform satisfactorily financially, is in regard to what does that mean for the future? Sure, there will undoubtedly always be SW movies but, for instance, after seeing Solo, which I enjoyed, I was certain that we would see a sequel and would welcome that. Now, having seen the opening financials, a sequel is less certain and, depending upon how Solo performs over the coming weeks, may well not happen. That's certainly a reason, to me at least, why people are concerned with box office figures. Of course, there is that element who use that to beat on a movie they don't like and feel like they have a point to prove but you're right, box office success or failure is not a real measurement of quality.

 

We'll see how Solo does over the next few weeks. If it grows some legs it'll be fine as long as it breaks even. However, Disney isn't going to spend $250M on a Boba Fett film.

Lucasfilm's biggest problem is in foreign markets. None of these films are doing as well as Marvel and other properties. I'm not sure there's a solution.

 

Couldn't agree more. It amazes me how many members of this forum work at Disney and LFL and know what they are worried about and how they are feeling well enough to speak for them.

There is always hope for a sequel. Lets not forget how many Friday 13th and Halloween sequels there are! lol

 

I don't think it's gonna grow legs (unless there is a serious word-of-mouth campaign that results in a ground swell among Hard Core fans to see it). I still think it will ultimately break even (I can't imagine a Star Wars movie actually losing money). It's not going to do R1 numbers though (even though it's as good a story)

 

We'll see... this doesn't mean much, but pretty much all my Star Wars friends weren't seeing the film this past weekend. They're all gonna see it, but they weren't worried about spoilers and were going to see it later this week. The word of mouth ratings for Solo are solid and there's nothing new coming to theaters for a couple of weeks. All eyes will be on how much it drops next weekend.

 

Did any of them say why they weren't seeing it the first week? It's not unheard of for a movie to surge after opening weekend (see "There's Something About Mary").

 

"We have a lot of work to do in trying to understand this. We are all over it and will spend a lot of time digging into why things happened the way they did in various markets. We have a year and a half before Episode IX comes out."

Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis, May 25.2018.


full article.
https://screenrant.com/disney-solo-box-office-opening-response/

 

I wrote and predicted this as early as beginning of 2015 before the first movie was out and when first rumor appeared. And nope I don't have the force, but I knew how many longtime/collector fans (not all, but but a big amount of them) would react to certain outcomes.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that TLJ is a major factor is SOLO's low box office numbers. TLJ just pissed off too many people to the point that they are angry and want to protest or they just aren't interested in Star Wars anymore.

My personal opinion on TLJ is that although it was a visually stunning film with some excellent acting, it was a terrible story. I didn't like it first time I saw it and I've watched it a few times since and to be honest I find it gets worse each time I see it.

However I just don't get why fans don't give SOLO a chance as it's a brilliant fun filled adventure, not the best Star Wars film but by no means the worst, it's such a shame for this film that it has to take the hit for TLJ.

As for what happens next, well if SOLO doesn't pick up then they surely Lucasfilm have to start listening to the fans and I just hope they recognise that this isn't necessarily the fault of this film.

 

a little more magic, mystery and superhero action instead of blaster, pyrates and space duels could help. We internationals are not storming cinemas for this.

 

bit late to do much about episode 9 now & really they shouldn't need these box office numbers to tell them they need to manage the property better, they have basically fired 4 directors(if you include trank) and we've only had 4 films come out..... that should be enough to tell them they arn't spending enough time planning these films and the people making decisions are out of their depth.

--- Double Post Merged, May 28, 2018, Original Post Date: May 28, 2018 ---

honestly you could tel their was going to be problems the moment they hired Abrams, a director famous for not planning out answers to the questions his stories pose, and making him rush the script for episode 7.

For me everything goes back to that, if thats how they are going to rush episode 7, then the people-in charge had the wrong priorities.

Personly I count it lucky that I think 3 out of the 4 films have been enjoyable. Considering how badly Lucasfilm is been managed it could of been much worse.