STAR WARS STORIES
The unthinkable has happened: a Star Wars film has semi-flopped. Should Disney treat fans mean to keep them keen?
On vulture.com, an unnamed actor in Solo had words to share about Disney’s approach to Han’s naming ceremony. “They have to make [Solo] good after The Last Jedi didn’t make as much money,” he said, referring to Episode VIII’s ‘under-performance’ (if $1.3bn is an under-performance…). “If they want to keep making Star Wars movies, it has to be good.”
Oops. If Unnamed Actor was right, Lucasfilm has its work cut out. Previously a box-office banker, Star Wars struggled with Solo’s theatrical Kessel run, rendering the outlook cloudy for the prequels (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett) previously thought to be following. Rumours of producer Kathleen Kennedy’s exit have been added to the spice-mine mix; so, too, has talk of suspension on the ‘anthology’ films. Whether such talk is true, Lucasfilm’s next step has ‘crucial’ stamped all over it.
As for why Solo didn’t make the jump, reasons aren’t scarce. After Rogue One’s troubles, production shuffles can’t have helped: it’s harder to enjoy any ride when the moving parts look so precarious.
And the ‘f’ word? Like Luke on a Yoda workout, even fans who didn’t exhaust themselves whining about Canto Bight could be feeling fatigued. Pre-Force Awakens, we had three-year breaks between Star Wars films. After three films since 2015, post-awakening fans needed a rest: six months barely left time to digest Luke’s cape-drop.
As for old fans who grumble like cold wookiees when saga-diversifying characters are introduced: stuff ’em. Right now, the feeling that the spin-offs are over-servicing old fans is hurting. On paper, fan-service seems a safe bid; in practice, it’s anything but. There’s no future in pleasing the past, much less in needlessly filling in blanks, between the mandibles or otherwise.
After the shooting and the heavy breathing, our entry point into Star Wars was a young idealist dreaming of fresh horizons. It’s that spirit that needs re-bottling, not the old milk from the udder of nostalgia’s space cow.
Sure, Solo deserved a better box-office run. Alden Ehrenreich was terrific, and Maul augured well for the sequel we might now never see. Few of us actively begrudge seeing old favourites again, so long as they aren’t the whole picture. But it’s time for Star Wars’ Story-builders to regroup and make like Han at A New Hope’s climax: stop watching their backs and take risks for the future. KH