The new spin off in the Star Wars saga, ‘Solo A Star Wars Story’ is a huge disappointment at the box office given the last 3 films in the franchise have been billion dollar films.
While Disney had intentionally left the ending of the film open ended, leaving enough room for prequels and sequels, this proposition looks a distant thought as even the fans didn’t turn up for Solo.
© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
So what possibly went wrong here, let’s take a look.
1. Timing of release
Only 5 months since Rian Johnson’s ‘Star Wars The Last Jedi’ had released and Disney puts another Star Wars film on the plate. It’s too much to expect from fans to turn up in such a short span.
© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Also, Disney releases in the past 2 years has been dismal during the same time – ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Men Tell No Tales’ (also called ‘Salazar’s Revenge’) which released on May 27, 2016 and May 26, 2017 respectively.
2. Change of Directors over Creative Differences
The film started with the directorial team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller until Disney handed over the baton to Ron Howard citing creative differences. This change caused 70% reshooting of the film and the end product was nowhere close to the recent films.
© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
3. Competition
In the summer season of blockbusters like ‘Avengers: Infinity Wars’ and ‘Deadpool 2’, Solo never stood a chance. With ‘Jurassic World – Fallen Kingdom’, ‘Incredibles 2’ and ‘Ant Man and The Wasp’ releasing in few weeks across June and July, the film was sure to run out of steam.
4. Star Wars Fatigue
With fans being divided over ‘Star Wars The Last Jedi’, it was no surprise that fans would eventually skip Solo. Also, Solo offered nothing new and was just another heist drama set in a galaxy far away.
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Even the fate of ‘Star Wars Episode IX’ hangs loose.
5. China Collections
Star Wars franchise do not have a greater following and acceptance at the Chinese box office and it showed in the total collections. With Chinese audience contributing a huge chunk of box office collections worldwide, an opening of USD 10.1 million for ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ very much tells the tale.
© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
While the force was stronger with ‘Star Wars The Last Jedi’, it also has to be seen what lies in future for the franchise.
P.S. – With the release of ‘Star Wars The Last Jedi’, Disney (happy with Rian Johnson’s work) entrusted him with a new Star Wars trilogy set in a different time altogether.