May the flop be with you, Han Solo
LOS ANGELES: With Solo: A Star Wars Story proving an intergalactic dud on its opening weekend, analysts have been pondering whether Lucasfilm’s enviable licence to print money might just have expired.
The latest prequel in the iconic space franchise opened over the Memorial Day weekend in the United States and Canada on just US$103mil (RM410mil), worryingly short of predictions of a US$150mil (RM597mil) debut.
The news abroad was arguably worse, leaving Oscar-winning veteran filmmaker Ron Howard’s contribution to the Star Wars universe barely halfway toward the predicted US$300mil (RM1.1bil) opening global take.
“By any other movie’s standards, this would be a home run,” comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.
“In the world of Star Wars, where expectations are so high, it’s being called a disappointment.”
Solo, starring 28-year-old Alden Ehrenreich in the title role, charts the adventure-filled past of smuggler Han Solo – made famous in four Star Wars movies by Harrison Ford.
The second of three planned spinoffs from Disney-owned Lucasfilm, it follows Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the second highest grossing movie worldwide in 2016.
It has endured a journey to screen as treacherous as a picnic on a windy day in the Tatooine desert, with directing duo Phil Lord and
Chris Miller sacked by Lucasfilm over “creative differences”.
Another change that may have put pressure on the reported US$250mil (RM995mil) budget was the withdrawal of Michael K. Williams, who had been tapped to
play the main villain but had to pass the part on to Paul Bettany due to a scheduling conflict.
“Solo had to endure a year’s worth of bad press,” Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com, said.
“Speculation ran rampant after stories relating to why Lucasfilm switched gears and changed directors near the end of production, reportedly resulting in 70% of the film being reshot.”
But Howard is generally credited with having done a decent job at short notice, and the problem for analysts isn’t necessarily the quality of what ended up on screen.
Han Solo’s origin story, Robbins argued, turned off fans because it didn’t connect directly to the overarching mythos of the main saga, whereas Rogue One dovetails directly onto 1977’s A New Hope.
“Many people had made up their minds about this movie months before it came out,” Robbins said.
“Despite the durability of the brand name, the film couldn’t overcome the negative headlines and fan outcries that have gestated since Disney took over the franchise.”
Another potent factor might well have been “Star Wars fatigue,” say analysts, 40 years into a series that kept respectable three-year gaps between episodes in the original and prequel trilogies.
Robbins and Dergarabedian both referred to Solo’s stuttering start as a bump in the road.
“Lucasfilm is still in a good position when it comes to the franchise’s long-term future, but this no doubt serves as a teachable moment that even the most invincible of movie properties must be paced and cared for appropriately,” said Robbins. — AFP