At this point, we all know that Solo did not beat the odds, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Solo: A Star Wars Story is a film that went through a lot of very public issues. We’ve had countless stories on the shift from Phil Lord and Chris Miller as directors to Ron Howard, but despite that, Lucasfilm managed to create a relatively solid film.

But, of course, two weekends into its run, it seems unlikely this one will break even. So, what’s the problem? Interestingly enough, we’ll be having a roundtable discussion later this week where we ask that very question, but until then, you can get the opinion of an industry analyst (because, I guess he knows a bit more than me).

In a report written up by Doug Creutz, media analyst at Cowen, he knocks off a lot of the alleged culprits from fans and film reporters like us. Included in this are the aforementioned production issues, the recent release of another Star Wars film just five months prior, and even the hate some fans have towards Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

RELATED – This Past Weekend Pretty Much Confirms That Solo Was A Bomb

“If the franchise was able to survive Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones,” he wrote, “we have a hard time believing Last Jedi could have done that much damage.”

There is another culprit folks point to: Star Wars fatigue. As Creutz states, the film’s financial shortcomings “has occasioned some concern that audiences may be suffering from Star Wars fatigue. We think this is probably not the case, and that Solo’s biggest problem was an uncharacteristically (for Disney) poor marketing campaign.”

What is it about the marketing that fell short? One big part is that it came out only 108 days before the film’s released — compared to the 247 days Rogue One had its first teaser released before the film street date. That’s plenty of time for potential viewers to familiarize themselves with the content. Additionally, he believes the trailers did not focus enough on selling Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo. In comparison, he points to the first trailer for Rogue One, which was almost completely focused on selling Jyn Erso as the heroine of the flick.

“The first teaser for Solo,” he noted, “came out just 108 days out from release. The teaser, by our count, only had about 10 seconds of screen time where Ehrenreich’s face was clearly in the picture — not, in our opinion, nearly enough.”

In one final note, Creutz notes that he thinks Episode IX will do well at the box office, and will probably even exceed The Last Jedi, despite some fans’ dislike of the movie.

What do you think of Creutz’s analysis? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Deadline