By the fall of 2005,Star Wars: Revenge of the Sithfinished its tourin theatres and the world assumedStar Warsforever concluded its theatrical presence. To the surprise and delight of many, six years later, Lucasfilm was sold toDisneyfor $4.05 billion. The engine was reignited. Disney promptly promised newStar Warsand moreStar Warsand so muchStar Warsthat fans were compelled to surgically extend their jaws to ram it all down. A new trilogy was hastily announced coupled with “anthology” stories every year in-between. All of this would launch as early as the winter of 2015, ten years after what was presumed the final credit roll.Solo: A Star Wars Storyis the most notorious of this batch. For various reasons,Solohad the tragic fate of being a scapegoat for agitatedStar Warsfans, who shred it like carrion birds over roadkill.
Prior to handing over hiscolossal franchise to Disney, George Lucas intended to make an origin story for Han Solo. He considered whether to include a young Han in the Battle of Kashyyyk scene inRevenge of the Sithbut excised the idea. He then planned a Han Solo TV show calledStar Wars: Underworld, whichwould feature Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and the Millennium Falcon, but dropped that idea. In 2012, he hired Lawrence Kasdan to write a screenplay for a stand-alone movie about the young Solo but decided to sell his hand at Lucasfilm before it could be completed. The impetus of the idea caught on with Disney. The script Kasdan was writing passed to his son Jonathan to become 2018’sSolo: A Star Wars Story. The events of Solo’s production and release were a curious clash of studio intention versus director vision, followed by seething fan contempt and troll hate-mongering.
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“Mis-Direction”
2014’sThe Lego Moviewas a smashingcomedy success with a vision and tone unlike anything seen in a children’s movie, which was primarily made for product placement. Its creators, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were at the peak of their careers. The duo was eagerly tapped by Disney to directSolo. They began filming in January of 2017 with a target release of May the following year.
Lord and Miller believed they were making a comedy film. They allowed for improvisation by the actors on set, and they were firm in their directorial decisions with regards to the number of shots they captured for scenes. In a comedy, once you got the right take, it would be exhausting to recreate the energy over and over.
Lawrence Kasdandirectly opposed their styleand wanted them to stick to the script. To him,Solowas only to have a splash of comedy. Kathleen Kennedy gave him access to the set and permitted him to give input and comments to the directors on their work. This became another source of contention for Lord and Miller against Disney. Were they the directors, or was Kasdan? By June of 2017, to their dismay, they were fired from the project. It was a contest of vision versus studio, with the studio coming out on top. Two days after the duo was let go,Ron Howard was hiredto complete the production. He not only had the daunting task of completing what Lord and Miller started but had to reshoot seventy percent of the film, all within a breakneck period of eight-and-a-half weeks.
The Politics of it All
In May of 2018, the reputation of theStar Warsfranchise was in a sorry statewhenSolo: A Star Wars Storywas released in theatres.RogueOne was a hit, but fans were intensely divided byStar Wars:The Last Jedi, which released in the winter of 2017, five months beforeSolo. They rejected the themes and the character portrayals of theLast Jediso much that they had lost confidence in the overall vision laid out by Disney.
It was also paired with a feeling of too much too fast. TheForce Awakenscame out in 2015, followed byRogue Onein 2016, and thenLast Jedithe year after that. Yearly releases, which were originally hailed with enthusiasm, became the fatal flaw in Disney’s corporate schematics. BySolo,franchise burnout was a real threat to the future ofStar Wars.Solowas a box office bomb. It earned a hair under $400 million on a budget of $300 million. Its fate caused a divergence in the Force, as Disney halted all plans forStar Warsanthologies and alternative content…for a time.
A Vision of What If…
HadSolosucceeded, the yearlyStar Warscircuit would have included aBoba Fett stand-alone, anObi-Wan Kenobi stand-alone, and much more. All of these would either already be out by now or scheduled for near release.Solowas the maiden voyage of the Star Wars Cinematic Universe.Rise of Skywalkerwas winter of 2019, which would have put one of the aforementioned titles this past Christmas, and the other the forthcoming.
In a way,Solo’sfailure wasDisney+’ssuccess.The Mandalorianlaunchedthe month beforeRise of Skywalkerand has expanded to include characters from all over the Galaxy, a trait that the anthology films were supposed to carry. Instead of on the silver screen, Boba Fett and Obi-Wan will live again on the small screen. Enough time has passed since the controversy ofLast Jediand the financial wreck ofSolofor Disney to resume their anthology stories, with Patty Jenkins upcomingRogue Squadronset to release in 2023. Disney+ is also slated for awhole slew of streaming showsspanning the next five or so years, some spawning offTheMandalorian, others coming directly from the anthologies of the first batch,likeStar Wars: Andor.
Solodoes not hold the same necessity as the main films forStar Warsfans. It offers nothing new to impact the Saga. Nor does it succeedRogue Oneas a celebrated anthology piece. As a standalone feature film, however, it does have a decent story, it contains acouple of intriguing characters, and it offers some entertaining action for the price of admission. Years since its release, the true fans ofSolo: A Star Wars Storycan enjoy it peaceably and without all the contention. Like any subjective knee-jerk reaction, time cools all raging infernos.
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