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'Solo,' the latest 'Star Wars' spinoff, was a box office disappointment. What went wrong?

Daniel Arkin

In the end, the Force was not with Han Solo.

“Solo: A Star Wars Story,” a would-be summer blockbuster about the early days of the character originally played by Harrison Ford, tanked at the box office over Memorial Day weekend. The movie grossed $103 million domestically for the four-day holiday — a respectable sum for your average flick, but abysmal for the "Star Wars" franchise.

How abysmal? Well, Disney’s first "Star Wars" reboot, “The Force Awakens,” opened to a record-breaking $248 million three years ago. “Rogue One,” the first feature-length spin-off, debuted at $115 million in North America two years ago.

Here’s a look at what might have gone wrong:

  • Franchise fatigue. Disney has released a new "Star Wars" movie every year for the last three years. “The Last Jedi” landed in multiplexes just five months ago. Moviegoers might need a break from Skywalker and company. But the real test of fatigue will come next year: “Star Wars: Episode IX” opens in December 2019.
  • Stiff competition. “Solo” debuted in a “hyper-competitive marketplace,” said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. A pair of recent superhero hits, “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Deadpool 2,” are still enjoying successful runs in theaters, stealing millions of eyeballs and plenty of cultural oxygen.
  • No urgency. Disney pumps out two kinds of "Star Wars" movies these days. There's the saga films, like "The Last Jedi," that serve as direct sequels to the original trilogy. And then there's the "anthology movies," like "Solo," that are essentially standalones. In other words: "Solo" might have seemed ... inessential. 
  • Behind-the-scenes drama. The production was reportedly troubled. The original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were fired in the middle of shooting and replaced by Ron Howard. "Star Wars" die-hards, obsessed with every behind-the-scenes rumor, might have been wary from the start. 

The movie was also a dud overseas, grossing $65 million internationally over the weekend — including a meager $10.1 million in China, the second-largest box office on the planet.