Theater chains are announcing tickets for Solo: A Star Wars Story will go on sale this Friday, May 4th. The spinoff is only a few weeks away from reaching theaters as it completes its long and winding road to the big screen. Many are aware by now Solo was plagued by infamous production difficulties, as Oscar-winner Ron Howard took over directing duties from the fired Phil Lord and Chris Miller four months into filming. Fortunately, things have settled down nicely under Howard’s watch, and Lucasfilm has spent the past few months building excitement with their marketing campaign.

While it remains to be seen if Solo is a tentpole of high quality, many Star Wars fans already know they’re going to see Solo on opening weekend. The only thing they had to wait for was for tickets to become available, and it looks like that day is right around the corner.

Tweets from various theater chains (via SWNN) state Solo tickets hit the market on May 4th. That date wasn’t chosen as random, as several know it to be Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you). Outside of an announcement of new film projects, this is the best way for fans to celebrate the holiday.


Early box office projections for Solo indicate it will debut in the range of $150 million during its opening weekend, which is in the same ballpark as Rogue One. Those estimates came out shortly before the final theatrical trailer and bevy of TV spots, so it’s likely the actuals could be a little higher. The hype for Solo hasn’t reached the levels of something like The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi, but the promotional materials have done a great job of selling the film as a throwback space adventure with fun characters. In particular, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian have emerged as stars in TV spots, and people are even beginning to warm to to Alden Ehrenreich’s Han. Thankfully, no overt red flags have been raised in marketing, which bodes well for the movie’s commercial prospects.

Solo probably won’t break any records during its run, but it should still be a success for Disney and Lucasfilm. Some predictions have it ending up in the neighborhood of $400 million domestically, and when the internationally grosses are added to that, Solo will have turned a healthy profit. Over the past three years, Star Wars has dominated weak competition in December and January, but returning back to its traditional summer home looks to have no ill effect. Solo will face some high-profile challengers during its time in theaters, and still come out in great shape.

KEY RELEASE DATES
Solo: A Star Wars Story release date: May 25, 2018
Star Wars 9 / Star Wars: Episode IX release date: Dec 20, 2019