'Solo: A Star Wars Story' director Ron Howard responds to the movie's disappointing box-office performance

REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

"Solo: A Star Wars Story" director Ron Howard.

• "Solo: A Star Wars Story" brought in an estimated $103 million against the $130 million that analysts were projecting it to make over the Memorial Day weekend, Deadline reported Monday.
• The film's director, Ron Howard, took to Twitter to respond to the film falling short of its three-day projection on Sunday, saying: "Didn't meet projections but amounts to a new personal best."

"Solo: A Star Wars Story" fell way short of its box-office projection over the Memorial Day weekend, but the film's director, Ron Howard, is taking the shortcoming in stride.

On Monday, Deadline reported that "Solo" would not meet the $130 million analysts were projecting it to make at the box office over the extended weekend. The "Star Wars" spin-off instead brought in an estimated $103 million in the four days since its release on May 26. 

Howard took to Twitter to respond to a fan question about the film's three-day projected haul on Sunday.

"Didn't meet projections but amounts to a new personal best. check #SoloAStarWarsStory for balanced feedback & then C it on a big screen!," Howard wrote, referring viewers to check out the Twitter hashtag for his film.

The $84.7 million that "Solo" brought in for its three-day opening did amount to a personal best opening weekend for Howard, surpassing the $77 million that "The Da Vinci Code" made over its three-day opening in 2006 (without adjusting for inflation), according to Box Office Mojo.

Howard took over the reins on "Solo" in June of last year, after Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy ousted the previous directors, Philip Lord and Christopher Miller, citing "different creative visions."

With extended reshoots under Howard, the film's production budget exceeded $250 million, Variety reported. To break even, the film would likely have to bring in somewhere north of $500 million globally, with marketing and other costs of release taken into account.