They already have the boys, they are trying to get girls into star wars.
*Solo A Star Wars Story Spoiler Discussion*
- Thread starter therealjondoe
- Start date
Damn this shit might flop.
Nope.
Sorry, bro.
I'm not buying this either.
Back in 2006, Kevin Feige had an INFINITELY more difficult task ahead of him than Kathleen Kennedy does now with the Star Wars brand.
Kevin Feige had to establish the MCU when it was bought by Disney after the success of 1st Ironman movie in 2008.
Kathleen Kennedy was handed an already existing, extremely successful and beloved franchise than she was given the reigns to continue to build on.
Feige had to work with other studios to establish the MCU. Like working with Universal Studios to use The Incredible Hulk and with Sony to use Spider-Man.
Kennedy didn't have to work with any other studios (except Disney) to incorporate characters or to establish the Star Wars universe. She just had to build on the established universe.
Feige then managed to incorporate multiethnic casts, increase the importance & visibility of women and craft a beautiful universe that we all LOVE.
Kennedy's "new" take on the Star Wars mythos has done nothing more than infuriate fans, add dubious sexuality to pre-existing characters and pander to SJW politics.
Saw it today. Thought it was pretty good and way better than I expected it to be. This is one I'll watch again, some others like Episodes 1 - 3 and Last Jedi, I refuse to sit through again.
please reread my previous post - you misunderstood or completely missed the points I made
It was a decent movie, not a classic, but I am not disappointed.
I had posted this in the IW gross thread
They THOROUGHLY FUCKED themselves when they scrapped the expanded universe?!?
IMO a guy like Timothy Zahn could be the Kevin feighe (sp) for the star wars movie verse.
Thing is they need to do the same thing marvel did .. Let those who love and embrace the star wars universe run it.
They THOROUGHLY FUCKED themselves when they scrapped the expanded universe?!?
IMO a guy like Timothy Zahn could be the Kevin feighe (sp) for the star wars movie verse.
Yeah, I always go by what the fuck I like(not critics or fans of the genre) and I really enjoyed this one. I really didn't think I would like it. But it's a backstory, so I had to check it out.
It was entertaining. I feel like Donald Glover had to spend a lot of time impersonating BDW voice and mannerisms. He did a decent job. I couldn't help but laugh when he went back for the big booty Robot.
As 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Flops, Are Movies About White Men Box Office Poison?
Scott Mendelson, CONTRIBUTOR
May 29, 201810:00 AM
Solo: A Star Wars Story may struggle to pass the $248 million opening weekend of The Force Awakens, and maybe (if things go south) the $220m debut frame of The Last Jedi. If it had cost less (I have no idea how much reshoots added to the budget, but I can’t imagine they intended to make a $250m+ Han Solo prequel) or performed better overseas (that’s the real trouble spot), this would be a different conversation. Plenty of big movies earned over/under $200m and went on to do $550m-$800m worldwide business. But Solo isn’t Spectre, Pirates 5 or Fast and Furious 6.
It is ironic that the first failure of the new Star Wars era is the one with a white guy in the starring role. Moreover, Solo: A Star Wars Story tanked harder overseas than in North America. We are comedically past the point where anyone should still believe the conventional wisdom about minority-led movies or female-led movies struggling overseas. While I’m not going to argue that overseas audiences are drawn to big movies starring women and minorities more than standard white guy “he’s the special” hero’s journeys, they sure don’t seem to find them repelling either.
Tomb Raider made $215 million overseas versus $56m domestic. Moonlight made more overseas than in North America. Wonder Woman made $409 million overseas, while Black Panther made $646m in foreign grosses, more than any other solo superhero flick save for Iron Man 3 ($805m) and (if it counts) Captain America: Civil War ($745m). Pixar’s Coco earned $805m worldwide, including a record $189m in China. Pixar hasn’t had a non-sequel hit starring a white guy since the 2009 masterpiece Up. It’s no accident that Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is getting the superhero spotlight in The Incredibles 2.
While we claimed overseas resistance to big movies headlined by women and minorities, Dwayne Johnson has become a big-scale movie stars and the Johnson/Kevin HartJumanji sequel topped $950 million worldwide. Rampage, starring Johnson and Naomi Harris, earned $413m worldwide while Michael Fassbender’s Assassin’s Creed earned $240m. We pretended that China had issues with movies starring minorities or women, yet the last two Fast and Furious series topped $392m a pop. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and xXx: Return of Xander Cage topped $160m in China. Black Panther and John Boyega’s Pacific Rim: Uprising snagged $60m+ debuts.
Pacific Rim: Uprising wasn’t a hit ($288 million on a $150m budget), but the Universal/Comcast Corp. release is an interesting example. It exists because Pacific Rim earned $113m in China, and it was bioengineered to flourish in China, to the point of killing off a popular Japanese supporting character so that the Chinese female lead could flourish. And yet, Pacific Rim: Uprising’s leading man isn’t Scott Eastwood, but rather John Boyega. It wasn’t a hit, partially because it only earned $59m in North America, but it still snagged a $63.5m opening and $99m cume in China.
Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Force Awakensearned $2 billion worldwide with Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in the leading roles, while Rogue One (with Felicity Jones leading a crew of multicultural Rebels) topped $1b. Questionable backlash notwithstanding, The Last Jedi, which starring Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega Kelly Marie Tran and Laura Dern among others, earned $1.33b worldwide. It was only the Alden Ehrenreich-starring hero’s journey origin story, featuring Emilia Clarke as a “strong/independent” love interest, Woody Harrelson as the cynical mentor and Donald Glover as the cooler-than-you black sidekick, which tanked.
Did Solo: A Star Wars Story disappoint because it had a white male lead? Would that it were so simple! You can throw a whole bunch of recent “starring a white male lead” blockbuster releases at me without even dipping into comic book superheroes, like The Revenant, Dunkirk,Kong: Skull Island and Ready Player One. I will then offer Pan, Terminator Genisys and Exodus. Walt Disney has the year’s biggest domestic hit in Black Panther and the year’s biggest global flop in A Wrinkle in Time, both were films helmed by black directors and featuring majority-minority casts.
The last three Star Wars movies were huge partly because they were event movies for moviegoers not used to seeing themselves in lead roles as Jedi Knights and Rebel leaders. Force Awakens’s post-debut legs (and it remains the second-leggiest $100m+ Friday opener ever behind Wonder Woman) were partially fueled by its “surprise” reveal of Rey as the Jedi hero, which was hidden from the marketing and treated as a surprise. Force Awakens was an event movie, especially for those who yearned to see themselves as the main heroes in that galaxy far, far away.
I enjoyed Ron Howard’s Solo as an unassuming B-movie western/Indiana Jones riff, and I’m a longtime Ehrenreich fan from Beautiful Creatures five years ago. But unlike the last three Star Wars movies, it wasn’t an event for any demographics not already used to seeing themselves in the cockpit. It was Star Wars redone as a kind of “generic blockbuster: the movie” not unlike King Arthur: Legend of the Sword or John Carter. It looked, on the outside, like the kind of movie Disney’s rivals tend to make (Universal’s The Mummy reboot, Lionsgate’s upcoming Robin Hood reboot, etc.) to mimic the success of the MCU book superhero movies.
A big-budget action fantasy movie is no longer a default event movie, Jupiter Ascending or Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets can confirm. Since folks now stay home unless there is something they specifically want to see, a movie that isn’t an event is DOA. Due to its inessentiality to the Star Wars mythos and its throwback Mad Libs template (a cocky young white kid goes on an adventure and becomes the iconic character we know and love), Solo just wasn’t an event in the way that Last Jedi, Black Panther and Wonder Woman were.
Those allegedly boycotting Star Wars over The Last Jedi ironically stayed away from a chapter more suited to their interests. I am hesitant to give the vocal minority who didn’t just dislike The Last Jedi (that’s allowed) but viewed it as SJW propaganda (that’s evil) too much credit. To the extent that it had any effect, you had some folks ignoring Solo either because they loved The Last Jedi or because they hated The Last Jedi. I never thought a Han Solo prequel was a good idea, but even I didn’t see this perfect storm coming.
Not every film starring a young white male lead is doomed to struggle overseas (Kingsman: The Secret Service). Not every female-led or minority-centric biggie is going to kick butt here (Pacific Rim: Uprising) and abroad (Ghost in the Shell). Yet, there is enough evidence to suggest that it doesn’t hurt to have your movie centered on a racial minority or a woman (of any color). The key will still be making movies, of all sizes, that are demographically-specific event movies. It’s why It and Girls Trip were events, but King Arthur and The Mummy were not.
A King Arthur movie starring Chiwetel Ejiofor or Diego Luna would be an event in a way that a Charlie Hunnam King Arthur movie was not. Ditto a Leia Organa movie versus a Han Solo movie. We’ll see if this affects the Boba Fett movie, which may be the first Star Wars movie with a minority leading man. Even that alleged Obi-Wan Kenobi movie will have an actor (Ewan McGregor) who fans would like to see reprise the role. Yes, a Glover-as-Lando flick could be a demographically-specific event movie in a way that Solo was not.
In the end, Solo had little to offer that was fresh and had little to sell beyond being a movie that happened to be part of the Star Wars universe. But in 2018, an event movie featuring a generic white guy in the lead is that much less of an event movie, and merely being a big-budget fantasy spectacle isn’t enough. Giving certain demographics, a still too rare opportunity to root for heroes that look like them can help create demographically-specific event movies. Thus, from a certain point of view, white male movie stars may indeed be box office poison.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...movies-about-white-men-box-office-poison/amp/
Can anyone give me a time line on former Sith Lord we seen in this movie. I do watch the animated series and I seen him come back more than once but I can't remember where he ended up last and I don't know the time lines of exactly where this in comparison to that...
he dies in Star Wars Rebels... as the rebellion is almost organized
Solo occurs after ep 3 but before season 1 of Rebels
So does Solo: A Star Wars Story provide a great back story for Han Solo,one of Sci-Fi's iconic characters or is it just a highly watchable,space adventure....im leaning towards the latter.
With all the behind the scenes drama during this movies production ,i expected to walk into a jumbled mess,but for the most part i had a good time with this one.
Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian do their best to fill the huge iconic shoes of these legendary characters.They're not bad i would say lukewarm,im glad they really didnt try to impersonate,Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams.
Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra provided enough ambiguous charm,and i bought into her relationship with Solo.
Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett was great as Solo's semi mentor.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37: Lando's droid companion and navigator had a couple of standout,charming and humorous scenes.
Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos goes to the just enough mark with the villainy
The film is visually stunning,and loaded with interesting characters and creatures.
Other characters screen time,who i immediately liked was all too brief.
Solo's past is just slightly touched on here and there,i had to listen closely because i may have missed the quick remarks about his life.
Some of the things that shaped his life and influenced him are displayed,including his bond with Chewbacca.
The film meanders and stalls here and there and i started to feel it's 2 hour and 15 minute running time.
I enjoyed this film for what it was a great adventure with some Star Wars seasoning,serviceable,but definitely wasnt blown away by it.
If Producer Kathleen Kennedy and Disney are going to continue to make these individual Star Wars character films with just glancing shots at the core of the character,like a filler episode of Star Wars Rebels,i think fans are going to catch on quick,and look elsewhere for their Star Wars fix.
Scale of 1-10 a 7½
Did anyone else catch that Solo laughed and grabbed Lando after tracking him down,the same way Lando did when Han arrived at Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back?
With all the behind the scenes drama during this movies production ,i expected to walk into a jumbled mess,but for the most part i had a good time with this one.
Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian do their best to fill the huge iconic shoes of these legendary characters.They're not bad i would say lukewarm,im glad they really didnt try to impersonate,Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams.
Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra provided enough ambiguous charm,and i bought into her relationship with Solo.
Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett was great as Solo's semi mentor.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37: Lando's droid companion and navigator had a couple of standout,charming and humorous scenes.
Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos goes to the just enough mark with the villainy
The film is visually stunning,and loaded with interesting characters and creatures.
Other characters screen time,who i immediately liked was all too brief.
Solo's past is just slightly touched on here and there,i had to listen closely because i may have missed the quick remarks about his life.
Some of the things that shaped his life and influenced him are displayed,including his bond with Chewbacca.
The film meanders and stalls here and there and i started to feel it's 2 hour and 15 minute running time.
I enjoyed this film for what it was a great adventure with some Star Wars seasoning,serviceable,but definitely wasnt blown away by it.
If Producer Kathleen Kennedy and Disney are going to continue to make these individual Star Wars character films with just glancing shots at the core of the character,like a filler episode of Star Wars Rebels,i think fans are going to catch on quick,and look elsewhere for their Star Wars fix.
Scale of 1-10 a 7½
Did anyone else catch that Solo laughed and grabbed Lando after tracking him down,the same way Lando did when Han arrived at Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back?
That SW live-action show thats being planned is set supposedly between ESB and Return of the Jedi..
so is that Star Wars Galaxy's Edge attraction(and they actually could make a show out of that itself)at Disneyland/World
speaking of Zahn the only way they could redeem themselves in Ep 9 is if they bring in Thrawn as the new villain since it looks like neither him or Ezra died at the end of Rebels
I knew they would bring Darth Maul back
I agree with a change of character names this could easily be seen as a knock off of serenity/firefly.
I did and I loved it!
Why do people ignore the fact that the fast and the furious series was arguably one of the first multicultural properties to become a multi billion franchise? This series hit that milestone before any of the movies listed in this article.As 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Flops, Are Movies About White Men Box Office Poison?
Scott Mendelson, CONTRIBUTOR
May 29, 201810:00 AM
Solo: A Star Wars Story may struggle to pass the $248 million opening weekend of The Force Awakens, and maybe (if things go south) the $220m debut frame of The Last Jedi. If it had cost less (I have no idea how much reshoots added to the budget, but I can’t imagine they intended to make a $250m+ Han Solo prequel) or performed better overseas (that’s the real trouble spot), this would be a different conversation. Plenty of big movies earned over/under $200m and went on to do $550m-$800m worldwide business. But Solo isn’t Spectre, Pirates 5 or Fast and Furious 6.
It is ironic that the first failure of the new Star Wars era is the one with a white guy in the starring role. Moreover, Solo: A Star Wars Story tanked harder overseas than in North America. We are comedically past the point where anyone should still believe the conventional wisdom about minority-led movies or female-led movies struggling overseas. While I’m not going to argue that overseas audiences are drawn to big movies starring women and minorities more than standard white guy “he’s the special” hero’s journeys, they sure don’t seem to find them repelling either.
Tomb Raider made $215 million overseas versus $56m domestic. Moonlight made more overseas than in North America. Wonder Woman made $409 million overseas, while Black Panther made $646m in foreign grosses, more than any other solo superhero flick save for Iron Man 3 ($805m) and (if it counts) Captain America: Civil War ($745m). Pixar’s Coco earned $805m worldwide, including a record $189m in China. Pixar hasn’t had a non-sequel hit starring a white guy since the 2009 masterpiece Up. It’s no accident that Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is getting the superhero spotlight in The Incredibles 2.
While we claimed overseas resistance to big movies headlined by women and minorities, Dwayne Johnson has become a big-scale movie stars and the Johnson/Kevin HartJumanji sequel topped $950 million worldwide. Rampage, starring Johnson and Naomi Harris, earned $413m worldwide while Michael Fassbender’s Assassin’s Creed earned $240m. We pretended that China had issues with movies starring minorities or women, yet the last two Fast and Furious series topped $392m a pop. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and xXx: Return of Xander Cage topped $160m in China. Black Panther and John Boyega’s Pacific Rim: Uprising snagged $60m+ debuts.
Pacific Rim: Uprising wasn’t a hit ($288 million on a $150m budget), but the Universal/Comcast Corp. release is an interesting example. It exists because Pacific Rim earned $113m in China, and it was bioengineered to flourish in China, to the point of killing off a popular Japanese supporting character so that the Chinese female lead could flourish. And yet, Pacific Rim: Uprising’s leading man isn’t Scott Eastwood, but rather John Boyega. It wasn’t a hit, partially because it only earned $59m in North America, but it still snagged a $63.5m opening and $99m cume in China.
Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Force Awakensearned $2 billion worldwide with Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in the leading roles, while Rogue One (with Felicity Jones leading a crew of multicultural Rebels) topped $1b. Questionable backlash notwithstanding, The Last Jedi, which starring Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega Kelly Marie Tran and Laura Dern among others, earned $1.33b worldwide. It was only the Alden Ehrenreich-starring hero’s journey origin story, featuring Emilia Clarke as a “strong/independent” love interest, Woody Harrelson as the cynical mentor and Donald Glover as the cooler-than-you black sidekick, which tanked.
Did Solo: A Star Wars Story disappoint because it had a white male lead? Would that it were so simple! You can throw a whole bunch of recent “starring a white male lead” blockbuster releases at me without even dipping into comic book superheroes, like The Revenant, Dunkirk,Kong: Skull Island and Ready Player One. I will then offer Pan, Terminator Genisys and Exodus. Walt Disney has the year’s biggest domestic hit in Black Panther and the year’s biggest global flop in A Wrinkle in Time, both were films helmed by black directors and featuring majority-minority casts.
The last three Star Wars movies were huge partly because they were event movies for moviegoers not used to seeing themselves in lead roles as Jedi Knights and Rebel leaders. Force Awakens’s post-debut legs (and it remains the second-leggiest $100m+ Friday opener ever behind Wonder Woman) were partially fueled by its “surprise” reveal of Rey as the Jedi hero, which was hidden from the marketing and treated as a surprise. Force Awakens was an event movie, especially for those who yearned to see themselves as the main heroes in that galaxy far, far away.
I enjoyed Ron Howard’s Solo as an unassuming B-movie western/Indiana Jones riff, and I’m a longtime Ehrenreich fan from Beautiful Creatures five years ago. But unlike the last three Star Wars movies, it wasn’t an event for any demographics not already used to seeing themselves in the cockpit. It was Star Wars redone as a kind of “generic blockbuster: the movie” not unlike King Arthur: Legend of the Sword or John Carter. It looked, on the outside, like the kind of movie Disney’s rivals tend to make (Universal’s The Mummy reboot, Lionsgate’s upcoming Robin Hood reboot, etc.) to mimic the success of the MCU book superhero movies.
A big-budget action fantasy movie is no longer a default event movie, Jupiter Ascending or Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets can confirm. Since folks now stay home unless there is something they specifically want to see, a movie that isn’t an event is DOA. Due to its inessentiality to the Star Wars mythos and its throwback Mad Libs template (a cocky young white kid goes on an adventure and becomes the iconic character we know and love), Solo just wasn’t an event in the way that Last Jedi, Black Panther and Wonder Woman were.
Those allegedly boycotting Star Wars over The Last Jedi ironically stayed away from a chapter more suited to their interests. I am hesitant to give the vocal minority who didn’t just dislike The Last Jedi (that’s allowed) but viewed it as SJW propaganda (that’s evil) too much credit. To the extent that it had any effect, you had some folks ignoring Solo either because they loved The Last Jedi or because they hated The Last Jedi. I never thought a Han Solo prequel was a good idea, but even I didn’t see this perfect storm coming.
Not every film starring a young white male lead is doomed to struggle overseas (Kingsman: The Secret Service). Not every female-led or minority-centric biggie is going to kick butt here (Pacific Rim: Uprising) and abroad (Ghost in the Shell). Yet, there is enough evidence to suggest that it doesn’t hurt to have your movie centered on a racial minority or a woman (of any color). The key will still be making movies, of all sizes, that are demographically-specific event movies. It’s why It and Girls Trip were events, but King Arthur and The Mummy were not.
A King Arthur movie starring Chiwetel Ejiofor or Diego Luna would be an event in a way that a Charlie Hunnam King Arthur movie was not. Ditto a Leia Organa movie versus a Han Solo movie. We’ll see if this affects the Boba Fett movie, which may be the first Star Wars movie with a minority leading man. Even that alleged Obi-Wan Kenobi movie will have an actor (Ewan McGregor) who fans would like to see reprise the role. Yes, a Glover-as-Lando flick could be a demographically-specific event movie in a way that Solo was not.
In the end, Solo had little to offer that was fresh and had little to sell beyond being a movie that happened to be part of the Star Wars universe. But in 2018, an event movie featuring a generic white guy in the lead is that much less of an event movie, and merely being a big-budget fantasy spectacle isn’t enough. Giving certain demographics, a still too rare opportunity to root for heroes that look like them can help create demographically-specific event movies. Thus, from a certain point of view, white male movie stars may indeed be box office poison.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...movies-about-white-men-box-office-poison/amp/
Yo! I guess that someone needs to show them....and do a "cosmic version" of the F&F movies then.
Good stuff in the final 30 - 40 seconds.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this was the best of the new wave star wars flicks...
solo
TFA
the major shit after TFA
rogue one
but solo was everything that movies and in particular what the OG star wars flick represented...shit probably was tainted by rogue one and the other shit that came after that
solo
TFA
the major shit after TFA
rogue one
but solo was everything that movies and in particular what the OG star wars flick represented...shit probably was tainted by rogue one and the other shit that came after that
Solo was great but they crammed damn near every important life event into one film.
Gets his name
Joins Empire
Meets Chewie
Kessel Run
Gets his blaster
Wins Falcon from Lando
Becomes scoundrel
It definitely was the best of the Disney era Star Wars films though.
Gets his name
Joins Empire
Meets Chewie
Kessel Run
Gets his blaster
Wins Falcon from Lando
Becomes scoundrel
It definitely was the best of the Disney era Star Wars films though.
DAHITMAN
Rising Star
Star Wars: Solo Writer Blames Disney for Box Office Failure
Solo: A Star Wars Story co-writer Lawrence Kasdan blames Disney for the film's failure at the box office. Premiering last summer, the second Star Wars anthology film became the franchise's first commercial bomb, bringing in just $392.9 million worldwide. Solo's performance was exacerbated by the fact the production budget became ridiculously inflated due to extensive reshoots that took place when Ron Howard replaced Phil Lord & Chris Miller as directors. With the movie coming nowhere close to expectations, Lucasfilm essentially ended the Star Wars Story line, allegedly repurposing the Obi-Wan spinoff into a Disney+ series.
Coupled with the intense Last Jedi backlash from only a few months before, Solo's lackluster showing was seen by some as proof audiences were tiring of Star Wars and franchise fatigue was settling in. But with the #MakeSolo2 hashtag going viral earlier this year, it's clear the spinoff has a sizable fan base that enjoyed what it had to offer. Instead of fan boycotts, a more likely culprit for Solo's box office is studio mishandling, which included a weak marketing campaign. Kasdan seems to agree with that assessment.
While at the Austin Film Festival (hat tip Syfy), Kasdan discussed his history working in the Star Wars franchise. After being roped in to scripting The Force Awakens with J.J. Abrams, the iconic screenwriter went to work on Solo with his son, Jonathan. The elder Kasdan had this to say:
It goes without saying Solo was the most poorly managed of Disney's Star Wars films to date. Obviously, something like its infamous director issues should never happen, but the studio didn't do the project any favors as it tried to get back on track. Reportedly, Disney stubbornly stuck to Solo's scheduled May 2018 release date, rather than approving Lucasfilm's request to delay it to December (when the other four Star Wars movies on this slate debuted). The Mouse House also refused to give Solo "preferential treatment" in promotion so it didn't interfere with Avengers: Infinity War advertising. That was a perfect storm of circumstances that doomed Solo. Instead of being the big draw of the holiday season, it opened in the shadow of box office hits Infinity War and Deadpool 2, proving even something as massive as Star Wars is vulnerable to tough competition.
Fortunately, Disney appears to have learned the right lessons from Solo's failure. They're making December the permanent home for Star Wars, as they've secured pre-Christmas release dates for untitled films in December 2022, 2024, and 2026. The studio also isn't going to rush new Star Wars content out (Solo premiered five months after The Last Jedi), giving all of their upcoming projects substantial room to breathe so they feel like proper cinematic events. Ideally, what happened with Solo will be a one-time fluke. The Rise of Skywalker is already breaking ticket sales records, so Star Wars is in great position to rebound.
- BY CHRIS AGAR
- – ON OCT 28, 2019
- IN MOVIE NEWS
Solo: A Star Wars Story co-writer Lawrence Kasdan blames Disney for the film's failure at the box office. Premiering last summer, the second Star Wars anthology film became the franchise's first commercial bomb, bringing in just $392.9 million worldwide. Solo's performance was exacerbated by the fact the production budget became ridiculously inflated due to extensive reshoots that took place when Ron Howard replaced Phil Lord & Chris Miller as directors. With the movie coming nowhere close to expectations, Lucasfilm essentially ended the Star Wars Story line, allegedly repurposing the Obi-Wan spinoff into a Disney+ series.
Coupled with the intense Last Jedi backlash from only a few months before, Solo's lackluster showing was seen by some as proof audiences were tiring of Star Wars and franchise fatigue was settling in. But with the #MakeSolo2 hashtag going viral earlier this year, it's clear the spinoff has a sizable fan base that enjoyed what it had to offer. Instead of fan boycotts, a more likely culprit for Solo's box office is studio mishandling, which included a weak marketing campaign. Kasdan seems to agree with that assessment.
While at the Austin Film Festival (hat tip Syfy), Kasdan discussed his history working in the Star Wars franchise. After being roped in to scripting The Force Awakens with J.J. Abrams, the iconic screenwriter went to work on Solo with his son, Jonathan. The elder Kasdan had this to say:
It goes without saying Solo was the most poorly managed of Disney's Star Wars films to date. Obviously, something like its infamous director issues should never happen, but the studio didn't do the project any favors as it tried to get back on track. Reportedly, Disney stubbornly stuck to Solo's scheduled May 2018 release date, rather than approving Lucasfilm's request to delay it to December (when the other four Star Wars movies on this slate debuted). The Mouse House also refused to give Solo "preferential treatment" in promotion so it didn't interfere with Avengers: Infinity War advertising. That was a perfect storm of circumstances that doomed Solo. Instead of being the big draw of the holiday season, it opened in the shadow of box office hits Infinity War and Deadpool 2, proving even something as massive as Star Wars is vulnerable to tough competition.
Fortunately, Disney appears to have learned the right lessons from Solo's failure. They're making December the permanent home for Star Wars, as they've secured pre-Christmas release dates for untitled films in December 2022, 2024, and 2026. The studio also isn't going to rush new Star Wars content out (Solo premiered five months after The Last Jedi), giving all of their upcoming projects substantial room to breathe so they feel like proper cinematic events. Ideally, what happened with Solo will be a one-time fluke. The Rise of Skywalker is already breaking ticket sales records, so Star Wars is in great position to rebound.
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