“Solo” Sinks on Weakest June Weekend Since 2015

Dropping a sizable 65 percent in its second weekend, the already hampered Solo fell even lower. With an estimated $29.2 million, Solo has yet to reach in 10 days what Rogue One did in three. And worldwide it's struggled to even get to half of what The Force Awakens did in its opening weekend. This is the lowest-grossing No. 1 movie in June since Spy debuted three years ago. But even that weekend had three movies earn more than $20 million. There's just no way to spin a movie this expensive from a franchise this huge doing so meh. It's probably going to make even less than Justice League. And just like Warner Bros., Disney is going to have to figure out the best course of action to get the series back on track.

Deadpool 2 stayed in its No. 2 position. It's now tracking about $30 million behind where the original did at this point in its run. It will almost certainly cross $300 million domestically, making it one of only three movies to do so in 2018. But it's going to finish about $50-70 million lower than its predecessor, which is never what you want from a sequel.

Adrift had the best debut of the three new releases. That's star Shailene Woodley's best debut that's not based on a Y.A. novel, but that's admittedly a small sample size. Avengers: Infinity War fell to fourth place, and it's now on pace to top both Jurassic World and Titanic. It just took longer than expected. Book Club added another $6.8 million, and it's got a chance at being the year's second-biggest comedy. (It currently sits behind both Game Night and Blockers.)

Outside the top 5:

• This Weekend's Indie Champ: American Animals, a co-distribution between the Orchard – the second-best indie studio in my opinion, behind the mighty A24 – and MoviePass. The heist movie averaged $35,157 on each of its four screens, which coincidentally included a New York theater that doesn't accept MoviePass.
• Neither Upgrade nor Action Point did particularly well, opening at No. 6 and No. 9, respectively. But the former's in better shape, since it cost around $5 million, while the Johnny Knoxville comedy cost close to $20 million.
• We've talked a lot about RBG, the documentary on Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Well now it's broken another record: it's the highest-grossing film from distributor Magnolia Pictures, topping the Oscar-nominated doc I Am Not Your Negro.

Next week:

Will Sandra Bullock be our comedy savior? No comedy this year has topped $70 million, but she's putting together a team for Ocean's 8, and it could be a smash. But I'm going to be a little conservative, and predict a $40 million opening. It will have to compete with the action thriller Hotel Artemis, which also has an all-star cast, and Hereditary. That acclaimed horror film has been breathlessly hyped since its debut at Sundance, but it remains to be seen if it will cross over with the regular horror fans who made franchises like The Purge and Insidious viable.