Despite its generally positive reviews and audience reaction, Lucasfilm’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was not the money maker that Disney and director Ron Howard had anticipated. Previous estimates have suggested the film could lose close to $50 million, making it the only film within the ‘Star Wars’ franchise to not end up profitable, based on box office receipts. While there have been many suggestions as to why ‘Solo’ underperformed, including poor marketing and audience fatigue, it’s clear that the ‘Star Wars’ spinoff films are not the guaranteed blockbusters that Disney assumed they were.
In the aftermath of “Solo” poor box office performance, it was reported that Disney was halting production on all Star Wars spinoffs, including James Mangold’s ‘Boba Fett’ film and the rumored ‘Obi-Wan’ movie, so they could do a postmortem and figure out just what went wrong. Of course, Disney replied and said that report was “inaccurate” and that there were “multiple” films in development.
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Attempting to figure this out from someone with direct knowledge, TMZ caught up with Ron Howard to ask him about the rumors that “Solo” contributed to Disney reassessing their film slate, moving forward.
As he says, while crossing the street in true TMZ interview fashion, “I don’t think it’s entirely accurate” in response to the possible suspended productions. “Everybody at Lucasfilm and Disney really care about the fans,” he continued. “I think it’s an ongoing process of discovering what it can be and what it can all add up to.”
“I like the fact that, personally, they take some chances, they take some risks and see how people respond to it,” Howard said.
While Howard previously said he “felt badly” about ‘Solo’s’ box office performance, he admits to TMZ that the movie “did really well for him” despite the “economic side was not what everyone was looking for”. The film was, actually, the highest performing film in Ron Howard’s career, and saw some of his best critical notices in a number of years, so despite the less than ideal box office take, it is still a film to be proud of.