Star Wars: The Last Jedi is Being Blamed For Solo's Box Office Flop

Disney/Lucasfilm

Solo: A Star Wars Story failed to meet box office expectations on its opening weekend, and now some fans are blaming the controversial Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The Ron Howard-directed Star Wars standalone film holds the record for the highest preview night ever for a Memorial Weekend release but it became the franchise's lowest live-action opening, which was previously projected to rake in as much as $130 million to $150 million over the Memorial Day weekend. The film only made $101 million.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis addressed the film's disappointing performance. "We are all over it, and will spend a lot of time digging into why things happened the way they did," he explained.

Disney doesn't believe that oversaturation of the franchise is the reason why Solo: A Star Wars Story performed behind expectations.

"We have a year and a half before Episode IX comes out. We've had so much success," Hollis explained. "The previous three Star Wars films did $4 billion worth of business at the box office, so it doesn't feel like saturation is necessarily an issue, but we are still answering all of the questions."

Solo: A Star Wars Story was released shortly after Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2 came out, so that might have affected its disappointing box office performance. Though it seems that the marketing for Solo just didn't stick to many fans. The production issues and the director change may have also contributed to its box office failure.

The Last Jedi received the lowest audience score on Rotten Tomatoes for any Star Wars film, with only 46%, and now some fans who were disappointed with The Last Jedi are calling for a boycott on Solo, claiming that Johnson's sequel ruined the franchise.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now showing in theaters.

Read more:Solo: A Star Wars Story's Big Cameo Appearance Even Wasn't Named In The Film's Script