Is The Last Jedi’ Putting Unfair Pressure On ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’? Check out this great article on Forbes.com and decide!
One of the weirder scenarios over the course of the last month, specifically pertaining to Walt Disney’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi (which is about to end its first month as 2017’s biggest global grosser, give or take a day or two), is how it positions the next Star Wars movie. No, I’m not talking about Star Wars Episode IX, as I’ll argue that the apparent close-ended nature of this first trilogy will mitigate much viewer displeasure over Rian Johnson’s divisive sequel. Even if folks weren’t crazy about The Last Jedi, most will still show up to see how the Rey/Kylo/Finn/Poe story comes to an end. But it does leave the NEXT Star Wars movie, namely Solo: A Star Wars Story, in an odd position.
Even with a likely final gross of $640-$660 million domestic and $1.3 billion+ worldwide (it was at $1.205b as of Sunday night) that will put it past Iron Man 3 and Frozen to be among the top-five domestic and top-ten global grossers of all time, there is a narrative arguing that A) the film should have been even bigger and B) the film’s mixed fan reaction is partially to blame for the lower grosses. It’s no secret that I wasn’t expecting Last Jedi to come anywhere near the $937 million domestic/$2.068b worldwide gross of The Force Awakens and viewed the likely finish line as somewhere between $1.3-$1.6b worldwide. But I was also admittedly shocked at the divisive fan response. Sure, some of it was anti-SJW trolling, but plenty of folks legitimately didn’t care for the movie.
With a tumultuous production history (Phil Lord and Chris Miller being replaced by Ron Howard), the copious reshoots (which, for better or worse, now seemingly involve Howard reshooting most of the movie) and somewhat questionable appeal of a Han Solo origin story, Solo: A Star Wars Story hasn’t exactly been looked at as Lucasfilm’s shining star. Opening the film in May, just weeks after Avengers: Infinity War (and a week before Deadpool 2) won’t help either. Had The Last Jedi been as well received by the fans (or at least the fans shouting loudest on the Internet) as it was by critics and (I would argue) the bulk of general moviegoers, then Solo would have been something of a freebie even if the reshoots have driven the budget beyond the realm of sanity. But the reaction to The Last Jedi complicates things.
Click here to keep reading at Forbes.com
