Star Wars. The name invokes so much in so many people: it takes them back to their first visit to the cinema, to the first time they understood what movies could do, to the first toys they played with. For businesses and corporations, it makes them think something else, money. Ever since the first release in 1977, Star Wars has always had its trouble with people thinking it was made of money. One only needs to look at Return of the Jedi being secretly filmed under the title of Blue Harvest to see how far back this trend goes. Since Disney has taken over the franchise, Star Wars has brought in obscene amounts of money with its movie releases, every single one justifying why Disney paid over four billion dollars for the brand. All except one.
Solo is the elephant (or should that be ortolan?) in the room. The film, plagued by production problems again and again, took far less money than any other Star Wars film under Disney. Recently, there has been a lot of news saying that a sequel is highly unlikely, mainly due to the underwhelming achievement. It is not in Disney’s best interest financially to back another movie as fans clearly don’t want more. Even before this recent news, many fans have to make their voices heard, crying out for a sequel. So, with such support, why did the film not meet expectations when it was released?
Star Wars is not Marvel. Marvel create a vast amount of films, having three or four movie releases every year, which isn’t counting the work that goes on the television side with Agents of Shield, Daredevil, etc. Every film does well, it draws people in. That’s not to say it does Star Wars well every time, it doesn’t. (For its big releases, well, there’s a reason End Game is the highest grossing movie of all time).But we are used to seeing a range of movies from Marvel every year, knowing it will build up to the culmination of a huge film release in the form of Avengers.
Star Wars is not Marvel. We are used to waiting three years between movies, three years to pause, reflect and predict on what may be coming next; it’s actually half the fun of it. Disney believed that this was too long, that a film every single year would work. And it did. Three huge successes. But again, this was not enough and instead of a year, which wasn’t even long enough for writers of the new movies to listen to feedback from the previous ones, Solo was released a mere five months after The Last Jedi. The old saying, you can have too much of a good thing, comes to mind. Fans will always say they want more, that more movies, more content is better, but is that really the case?
Back in the nineties, a Star Wars book release would be an event. A book every six months to a year was a big deal back then, one (as a fan) you could really get excited about, it was something to celebrate. It is the same with the films, fans like the build-up. To oversaturate the movies does not work. Added to this, was all the upheaval from The Last Jedi, fans were cautious, and Solo took the brunt being released so soon after. Star Wars cannot be rushed.
Talk to most fans and they will tell you that the time to release Star Wars is in May. It worked in 1977, 1980, 1983 – all the way up to 2005 with the release of Revenge of the Sith. It is the traditional date for Star Wars. Some fans were very vocal about this slot being shifter to Christmas for The Force Awakens, yet it didn’t stop the film being an overwhelming success. Since then, every film has been released at Christmas except Solo. This is another reason why the film didn’t perform as it should. Those dates above, the last May release was in 2005. Tradition is important, I’m not saying it’s not, but ten years is a long time and one that has brought about a number of changes to the way we live. May is now the time most people go away for a few days, if not a week, particularly here in the UK. The weather is far better than it is in the summer months of July and August and holidays are slightly cheaper. It is far more difficult to get the family together to go see Star Wars. Because at the end of the day, Star Wars brings families together. Releasing the films at Christmas, it makes it far easier for everyone to come together and make Star Wars the event it is. The only Star Wars film I have not seen with my entire family is Solo, because at May time, my parents and brother were all off on their holidays. It is a small detail but an important one.
And finally, the most important reason Solo didn’t do well, Alden Ehrenreich. Someone new coming in to play one of the most beloved characters of the saga, someone replacing one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood. This was never going to be an easy sell and Ehrenreich was not Harrison Ford. He had his own take on the character and to see him in the trailer trying to be Solo, it put off a lot of people. They didn’t want someone new playing their childhood hero. With this negativity to the main character, it cast much negativity on the entire production.
There are of course a whole host of reasons why Solo didn’t do well, but these three seem to be very important factors. For one thing, they show that Solo as a film, as a story, was not necessarily the reason for the movie not doing well. It also shows that these mistakes (and I only apply this word to the first two reasons) are easy to rectify. So why should Disney consider a Solo sequel?
Let’s begin with the last reason Solo didn’t do well; Alden Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich is not Harrison Ford; he was never going to be. However, no one was ever going to be. Ford is a world-renowned actor that has been so many influential characters, from Han Solo to Indiana Jones, from Deckard to Richard Kimble. No one can replace that. Ehrenreich doesn’t try to replace that, he doesn’t try to be Harrison Ford, he becomes Han Solo. With any sort of change, there is a time of readjustment, as people get use to something. That is exactly what fans needed with Ehrenreich, time. That thing that Disney didn’t want to give fans between movies; it’s why it is needed. Because once the film has been viewed, once the idea that Ehrenreich is a young Han Solo, most fans come round, happily, to the idea that this works. To have had that readjustment time, means that a further release of the Solo story is not met with hesitation and negativity, but with acceptance and positivity.
To follow on from this, with Ehrenreich playing Solo, it also means fans get someone else back, Chewbacca. It has been a year since we lost Peter Mayhew, the man that gave Chewie life, yet his work, his efforts still live on. Mayhew got to train Joonas Suotamo to be Chewie and he has done an incredible job. With the Skywalker Saga over, Mayhew’s legacy also stops. I’m sure many fans, like myself, would love to see Han and Chewie back together. It’s not Mayhew and Ford, but these characters are so much bigger than that, and each of these actors have been able to aid and pass on the torch to the new generation of actors, to carry on the story.
One of my favourite trilogy of books from Legends are the Han Solo books from A C Crispin. Crispin did an incredible job of telling the story of Han Solo before A New Hope and it’s no surprise that the film Solo follows some very similar beats. Yet the best book of the trilogy was the middle book, The Hutt Gambit. Crispin delved into Han and Lando’s relationship as well as Han’s relationship with Jabba the Hutt. The ending of Solo, would also suggest that a second movie would also head in this sort of direction, that the really interesting pieces to Han’s life (before meeting an old man and a farm boy) would be found in this part. This would be the film that would really draw fans, wanting to see how that relationship between Han and Jabba had developed.
Finally, and linking to the previous point, the ending of Solo. Darth Maul, fan favourite and also the biggest surprise of Solo. No one knew it was coming. Of course, that’s what made his entrance so spectacular, yet also meant that fans didn’t go see it as they didn’t know there would be such a twist. The second film would only expand further on Maul and his story, one that has been left vastly open by the end of The Clone Wars. Knowing he is in the film will surely drive fans, whether original or prequel, The Clone Wars or Rebels, to see a sequel.
Scratching the surface, it’s all I’ve been able to do here. There is a mountain of reasons why a Solo sequel should be made and would be profitable to Disney. What I present here on my tip thoughts on the subject. We live in a world where failure is frowned upon, rather than viewing it as the opportunity to learn from it. There were a lot of mistakes that surrounded Solo, yet what came out as a final product was superb and didn’t deserve the negativity that it received. I hope Disney reconsiders their stance on a sequel, with a platform like Disney Plus, it would seem like such an obvious place to release this, if they did not want to try the cinematic release again. We had a wonderful family pairing of the Kasdan’s in the first Solo, why not try it again but with the Howard’s directing?
Ron Howard brought Solo together in what seemed like an impossible situation and Bryce? You only need to listen to her during episode 1 of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian on Disney Plus, to know that she needs to be more involved in Star Wars. This pair could surely do incredible things together (and maybe some nods to The Mandalorian in the process). But maybe this is all wishful thinking. While fans continue to cry out for a sequel, if you need a Solo fix then I do heartily recommend the A C Crispin books, you might be surprised what mirrors can be drawn to Solo the film….
