‘Solo’ running on empty but still top at North American theaters

“S olo: A Star Wars Story” clung to the top spot in North American theaters this weekend but again fell below expectations, taking in $29.4 million, just over a third its opening-weekend receipts, said box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. That left the movie well behind two recent predecessors in the popular sci-fi franchise: 2016’s “Rogue One” made $64 million in its second weekend while last year’s “The Last Jedi” did even better, at $72 million.

Some film analysts blame “Star Wars” fatigue. Even by the standards of today’s sequel/prequel-heavy Hollywood, the franchise from Disney-owned Lucasfilm has been prolific. Starring Alden Ehrenreich as a younger version of the swashbuckling space pilot, “Solo” has amassed a cumulative global total of $264 million, pushing it into 15th place for 2018. A strong second with $23.2 million was Fox’s “Deadpool 2,” the 11th installment in the X-Men series, starring Ryan Reynolds as the fast-talking “Merc with the Mouth.”

In third spot was a new release, “Adrift” from STX Films, at $11.6 million. The movie stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin in the true-life story of a young couple whose sailboat is slammed by a hurricane in mid-ocean, leaving Claflin badly injured, the boat in ruins and Woodley having to find the way back without navigation or communication tools. In its sixth week out, Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” took $10.6 million for fourth place.

The film, starring Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch and Scarlett Johansson, has grossed $643 million domestically and is the fourth biggest global release of all time, with $1.97 billion. In fifth place domestically was Paramount’s rom-com “Book Club,” which made $7 million. It stars Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen as aging friends whose decision to read the steamy “Fifty Shades” trilogy ends up stimulating more than just their intellects.