Star Wars: Why Solo FAILED At The Box Office

There are some who will say that Solo wasn't even supposed to have the same sort of impact that the mainline Star Wars movies did. It's a Star Wars Story film - an offshoot that was supposed to sit alongside the Skywalker Saga but not compete in terms of heft or scale or financial draw - so it was always to be considered a bit of a free shot for LucasFilm.

But then Rogue One happened and changed all expectations by making a fortune. And though it's wrong to consider that some sort of benchmark, it's going to hang in the air rather unfortunately when it comes to the final reckoning for Solo. But even without Rogue One's performance, the opening weekend figures for Solo have been... underwhelming, to say the least.

Whisper it, but the film is being called a failure - a "disaster" even - whose stuttering launch COULD impact how Star Wars launches are strategised (though, in reality, Disney can swallow up these comparative missteps).

It might not be the most disastrous blockbuster movie performance ever (and it may change somewhat over the next two weeks with limited competition), but in terms of a Star Wars film's usual performance, it looks disastrous. And even more importantly, against EXPECTATIONS and projections (which Ron Howard himself admitted weren't met), it did not get to where it should have.

But the question right now is WHY it failed as it has and it's possible to map out exactly some of the contributing factors...

8. The Under-Cooked Marketing

Hyping a blockbuster is not as easy as it might look: even with a brand as established as the MCU, Disney ploughed hundreds of millions into making sure Infinity War's marketing campaign dominated. In the final weeks before release, you couldn't get moved for TV spots and new interviews, in fact.

Even The Last Jedi was aggressively marketed and that had the added draw of already being the second part in a trilogy. But captive audience counts for nothing in marketing terms and Disney once again made sure it was the most talked about movie of its release season.

In stark contrast, Solo's first trailer landed in February, merely 3 months before release (The Last Jedi's was revealed EIGHT months ahead) and it felt very much like the release date crept up. Midnight screenings that had been packed to bursting for Disney's last two big tentpoles were malnourished by comparison and there was not the same aggressive publicity trail at all.

Just as studios know that splashing the cash on marketing works, they have to acknowledge that skimping will compromise on a film's drawing power.