The movie grabbed $ 14.1 million through Thursday evening previews, topping Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($ 13.2m) to score the best Memorial Day weekend debut ever.
But the audience verdict on it comes courtesy of CinemaScore.
Unlike audience rating systems on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, which can be voted-on by absolutely anybody, CinemaScore only surveys people that have definitely seen the movie.
And CinemaScore has confirmed today that Solo: A Star Wars Story has earned an A- grade, on the A+ to F scale.
It’s a decent score considering the reviews have been only lukewarm; clocking in at less than 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.
For comparison, the last three Star Wars movies – The Last Jedi, Rogue One and The Force Awakens – all achieved an A grade.
All three prequels – 1999’s The Phantom Menace, 2002’s Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Revenge of the Sith – got an A- as well.
A Disney spokesperson said yesterday of the promising Thursday night box office: “While preview grosses are typically not a great barometer of weekend play, the responses from audiences have been enthusiastic setting us up for a great run through the holiday weekend.”
Solo is expected to dethrone Deadpool 2 from the top of the US charts, but whether or not it can meet forecasts of $ 130-150 million for the whole weekend remains to be seen.
It should be a busy weekend at cinemas in any case – with Solo, Deadpool 2 and the still-popular Avengers: Infinity War providing lots of excitement for moviegoers.
Ron Howard, Solo’s director, recently confirmed that original Han Solo actor Harrison Ford is a fan of his effort.
“I had never heard Harrison [being] effusive about anything, and he was raving about it,” Howard told Variety.
“He said, ‘Alden nailed it. He made it his own.'”
Solo: A Star Wars Story is out now.
