Deadpool 2 knocks Solo back off the top spot worldwide

There are more box office woes befalling Solo: A Star Wars Story, as Deadpool 2 has regained its position at the top of the worldwide box office charts.

Though it was released 10 days before Solo, the sequel is now back up on top as the Han Solo origin story continues to financially disappoint Lucasfilm and Disney, according to figures in Variety.

Deadpool 2 earned $41.6 million over the weekend, assisted by its debut in Japan, while Solo earned $30.3 million, though it is also screening in fewer territories than its Marvel competitor.

However, there is a veiled glimmer of good news, in that its dropped less in its second week (54 percent) on release than Star Wars: The Last Jedi (67 percent) and Rogue One (65 percent).

It might be scant encouragement, however, as whichever way you slice it, Solo has roundly failed to perform as expected.

Thus far the movie has made $264 million worldwide, and is already showing signs of slowing down.

Due to reshoots, following the departure of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were replaced by Ron Howard, the cost of making the movie rocketed to a massive $250 million, much more than The Last Jedi, part of the official sequel trilogy.

Once huge marketing and advertising costs are added, Disney will likely have a bad feeling about whether it will break even, a previously unthinkable notion for a Star Wars movie.

Competition from the likes of Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War and, to an extent, a degree of Star Wars fatigue have been blamed for its performance.

How this bodes for the announced Boba Fett spin off movie, to be helmed by James Mangold, is not known as yet.

But it’s likely that the budget will be under considerably more scrutiny than previous Star Wars movies.

Read More
Cumberbatch ‘saves cyclist from attack’
Jennifer Garner in ultra-violent Peppermint trailer
Marvel deals with Venom trailer flub