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.

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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.

Read also: 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' struggles to take off in opening weekend

Rounding out the top 10 were:

Upgrade ($4.7 million)

Life of the Party ($3.5 million)

Breaking In ($2.8 million)

Action Point ($2.4 million)

Overboard ($1.9 million)