Solo: A Star Wars Storyis on track to easily take the top spot at the box office this weekend, but the latest Lucasfilm offering might not have the juice Hollywood has come to expect from aStar Warsfilm.Soloearned an estimated $35.6 million on Friday, including $14.1 million from the record-breaking Thursday grosses, which puts the film on track for a predicted weekend tally around $114 million. Early predictions put solo on track for an opening in the higher $130-150 million range, closer to the numbers for the first Star Wars standaloneRogue One, but should the current predictions hold, Solo would become the fifth-highest Memorial Day opening of all time.
Directed byRon Howard,SolointroducesAlden Ehrenreichas the young space scoundrel, alongsideDonald Gloveras young Lando Calrissian, andJoonas Suotamoas young Chewbacca. Lucasfilm’s first anthology filmRogue One opened with $155 million in December 2016, but it didn’t face nearly as fierce of competition thatSolodoes (Deadpool 2just came out last week, andInfinity Waris still holding strong).Soloalso arrives just five months afterThe Last Jedi, compared to the full year betweenRogue OneandThe Force Awakens.
Last week’s champ,Deadpool 2, is on track to take the No. 2 spot and pulled in an estimated $12 million on Friday from 4,349 theaters, bringing the film’s two-week domestic gross to $176.8 million. The sequel sees the return ofRyan Reynolds' sassy, murderous mutant alongside newcomersJosh Brolinas Cable andZazie Beetzas Domino. The film arrived in theaters last weekend to the tune of $125.5 million, and should projections hold,Deadpool 2is on track to pass $220 million domestic over the holiday weekend.
Coming in third at the Friday box office,Avengers: Infinity Warseemingly can’t be stopped. Marvel’s record-shattering superhero epic is still commanding strong business in its fourth week with an estimated $4.2 million on Friday night, and is on track to hold on to the No. 3 spot for the weekend.JoeandAnthony Russo’s high-stakes sequel crossed $600 million domestic earlier in the week, and is looking to finish the weekend around $625 million with another projected $21 million from 3,768 theaters. Worldwide, the film is inching towards a staggering $2 billion cume.
Paramount’sBook Clubis slated to land in fourth for the weekend, earning an estimated $2.7 million from 2,810 screens for a projected $12 million over the holiday weekend. The comedy starsJane Fonda,Mary Steenburgen,Candace Bergen, andDiane Keaton, and opened to healthy $22 million in its first week.
Fifth at the Friday box office is Warner Bros.’Life of the Party, which earned another $1.3 million from 2,937 sites in its third frame. The Mother’s Day opener starsMelissa McCarthyas a divorced mom who goes back to school at her daughter’s college, and earned more than $33 million in its first two weeks.
$35,631,000
Deadpool 2
$12,100,000
$176,807,352
Avengers: Infinity War
$4,255,000
$609,449,638
$2,715,000
$25,099,516
Life of the Party
$1,360,000
$35,347,348
