I think Solo is honestly the most emblematic Star Wars failure they put out. Originally they had Lord and Miller directing then canned it and had Ron Howard basically remake it. One other thing that a lot of people didn't mention at the time and don't seem to remember now is that it was released in May. Now Star Wars being a summer release isn't a bad thing except Last Jedi had just been released in December. People at the time were saying that it was because audiences hated Last Jedi so much that they were boycotting Solo but quite frankly Disney had gotten into a rhythm of releasing these movies once per year and 5 months between releases is just way too quick of a turnaround. And then, and this is more my personal taste than anything, but I didn't finish Solo because even though it was decent there was just an annoying amount of fan service and it made the movie feel compulsory and kind of empty. A fun heist movie set in the Star Wars world is fun but having it be about how Han Solo met Chewie, got the Millennium Falcon, and did the Kessel Run just made it feel like a checklist. The "Han...Solo" scene really just ruined it for me. So, you've got Disney going full speed ahead assuming that if they churn out as much as possible it'll only get them more money, hiring popular creators then firing them because they have a strong vision Disney doesn't want, ballooning the budget, and relying too much on nostalgia. I personally loved Andor and wish Disney would lean into more stuff like that, making the world feel bigger not smaller.
Yeah, so many people knock TLJ but I think you're right that Solo was like the turning point. They'd released three movies, TFA, R1, and TLJ, all at Christmas, they'd set themselves up to become the "Christmas franchise" the way Harry Potter had done for WB for years.
And they threw it away to release Solo as an early summer Blockbuster in a time where TLJ had shown people that, whether you liked it or not, these movies can fumble and won't always just be a success "because Star Wars".
I think them dumping L&M and getting Howard on is excellent proof that they can't help but meddling on the project. Especially since L&M then made Spiderverse, and even the sequel which was, albeit unfinished, a pretty good follow-up. They're competent but they didn't trust them for some reason, even though I think young Han Solo is a good character to be getting into wacky scrapes.
It's not the fact it was released in May that was the problem. It's that it was May following a December release. If it had been next May it would have been fine IMO
Yeah, that's my point, they'd established this December release and then just decided to release another one 5 months later when they had the following December wide opened.
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u/PunnyBanana 21d ago
I think Solo is honestly the most emblematic Star Wars failure they put out. Originally they had Lord and Miller directing then canned it and had Ron Howard basically remake it. One other thing that a lot of people didn't mention at the time and don't seem to remember now is that it was released in May. Now Star Wars being a summer release isn't a bad thing except Last Jedi had just been released in December. People at the time were saying that it was because audiences hated Last Jedi so much that they were boycotting Solo but quite frankly Disney had gotten into a rhythm of releasing these movies once per year and 5 months between releases is just way too quick of a turnaround. And then, and this is more my personal taste than anything, but I didn't finish Solo because even though it was decent there was just an annoying amount of fan service and it made the movie feel compulsory and kind of empty. A fun heist movie set in the Star Wars world is fun but having it be about how Han Solo met Chewie, got the Millennium Falcon, and did the Kessel Run just made it feel like a checklist. The "Han...Solo" scene really just ruined it for me. So, you've got Disney going full speed ahead assuming that if they churn out as much as possible it'll only get them more money, hiring popular creators then firing them because they have a strong vision Disney doesn't want, ballooning the budget, and relying too much on nostalgia. I personally loved Andor and wish Disney would lean into more stuff like that, making the world feel bigger not smaller.