Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover and Emilia Clarke star in the Han Solo origin film, which is pacing ahead of fellow stand-alone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in terms of key metrics, such as unaided awareness and first choice. In December 2016, Rogue One posted a three-day debut of $155.1 million.

When Rogue One first came on tracking three weeks before its release, projections showed the movie debuting to $130 million-plus domestically.

The tracking services are often conservative in their actual opening estimates; in the case of Solo, industry leader NRG shows the film debuting to $135 million. Analysts deciphering such data as first choice often come up with a higher number, as is the case for Howard's movie.

Solo chronicles a young Han Solo and his adventures with the Wookiee Chewbacca, as well as his first encounter with Lando Calrissian.