10 Upcoming Movies That Could Bomb At The Box Office

So it looks like we have our first major box office bomb of 2018 and to the shock of many, it was a Star Wars movie.

After being beset by behind-the-scenes issues that culminated with Ron Howard re-shooting an estimated 70% of the project, driving the budget up to $300m in the process, Solo: A Star Wars Story opened to half as much money at the box office as the studio was predicting and now faces a real struggle to break even, never mind turn a profit.

Of course, this is all part and parcel of blockbuster season where every year a raft of big-budget studio blockbusters descend upon theaters with alarming regularity around the globe, targeting virtually the exact same audience. There are always casualties along the way as the market cannibalizes itself - it just wasn't expected to happen to the seemingly-unstoppable Star Wars franchise.

With the competition heating up as we approach the height of summer at the multiplex, there are plenty of upcoming movies that could just as easily suffer the same fate as Solo. There are very few safe bets these days outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and not everything gets to be a hit, but some blockbusters are flirting much closer to disaster than others.

While the general consensus is that Shane Black has yet to direct a bad movie (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys are currently rated at 85%, 80% and 92% on Rotten Tomatoes respectively), The Predator represents an altogether different challenge for the godfather of the buddy movie.

For one, it sees the filmmaker stepping far outside his established wheelhouse of bickering partners and labyrinthine crime tales to deliver an ensemble-based suburban sci-fi with an intergalactic antagonist. In fact, the first teaser trailer revealed that Black has moved so far out of his comfort zone that the movie isn't even set at Christmas!

As well as the personal challenge, there is a great deal of studio pressure on The Predator. With a rumored budget of at least $150m, the project is almost twice as expensive as the three previous movies combined. And let's just all pretend the Alien vs Predator abominations don't exist, as its much better that way.

R-rated blockbusters have been doing pretty well at the box office recently, so there is definitely room for The Predator to succeed, especially with it releasing in a relatively barren September. However, the franchise is nowhere near as popular as it once was and the reaction to the first footage was tepid to say the least. If the marketing doesn't pick up some serious steam in the next few months then the movie could have a hard time drawing in more casual audiences.