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What Went Wrong with 'Solo' and What Does It Mean for Star Wars?

The legacy of Star Wars has always been secure, but as of late, it hasn't been very convincing.

By Arvind PennathurPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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When Star WarsEpisode I: The Phantom Menace was announced, everyone became giddily excited at the prospect of a new adventure in the galaxy far, far away. However, when the movie released, fans were immensely disappointed at the lackluster acting, over the top drama, and of course, Jar-Jar Binks. Little did they know that such a display was to be the status quo for Star Wars for the next six years, as two more prequels came out that people were not very kind too. Naturally, people were disappointed that their beloved saga had been reduced to a melodramatic stage show in space. The fear that Star Wars would never recover would have surely been in people’s minds ten years later, as Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was announced. Yet, as we all know, the movie exceeded all expectations and gave the fans a glimpse at how Star Wars could live on and not let itself be defined by an era long past.

Come December 2017, however, and I wonder if people are doubting the franchise once more.

Solo: A Star Wars Story was unexpectedly underwhelming, to say the least. It brought in $85 million in its opening weekend, which, for a Star Wars movie, was definitely way below par. People have blamed the release of the movie coinciding with blockbusters like Deadpool 2 and Infinity War for this less than remarkable figure but while that may play into it, it cannot be the sole reason for the massive shortcoming. Why then has a Star Wars movie, an installment in arguably the most successful film franchise of all time, been so average at the box office? It’s simple; The Last Jedi, even seven months after release, is still messing things up.

Say what you will about The Last Jedi, but you cannot deny that it completely divided the Star Wars fandom. People have gone so far so as to swear off the franchise completely because of it, and some people are embracing it for taking risks and pushing the franchise in a bold, new direction. In my opinion, the three main things that people had a problem with are unresolved plot threads that started in The Force Awakens, characters not being faithful to how they were in the old movies, new characters being overpowered or just plain stupid, and finally, the message to 'leave the past behind' that Disney tried to "subliminally" tell the audience (by having Kylo repeatedly say it) and the over the top social commentary that they tried to incorporate into the story. Now while these have been pointed out numerous times by critics and fans alike after the initial release of the movie, if we take them and contextualize them with Solo, the lack of excitement around the movie starts to make sense.

People didn’t want to watch Solo for fear that it would completely butcher the character of Han Solo that we all knew and loved from the original trilogy. They were hesitant that Solo would contain nothing significant but another social justice narrative that didn’t amount to anything at the end of the day. The things that The Last Jedi did, in many fans’ eyes, stand as the new modus operandi for Disney with regards to franchise, and people just don’t want to accept what they’re doing because, in their eyes, it’s not the Star Wars that they grew up with. It’s the problem that The Last Jedi had that has made fans think twice before seeing this movie. Sure, the mishaps with the directors, the reshoots, the less than explosive marketing, and the fact that it released around the same time as two of the most successful superhero stories in recent years all played a part in it, but it would be folly to say that such reasons are the ONLY driving factor behind why Solo didn’t perform as it should have. Like it or not, The Last Jedi changed everything for Star Wars, possibly for a very, very long time.

The question now is, where does the franchise go from here?

Ever since the start of the sequel trilogy in 2015, Star Wars has gotten four new movies in the past three years. To put that into perspective, the original trilogy got one new movie every three years, making for three movies in six years. It is clear that Star Wars is trying to imitate the formula that made the Marvel Cinematic Universe so successful, by tying up movies together by fitting anthology films to plug events between Episode III and IV. This is problematic and does not translate into success, as while Iron Man, the first MCU movie was created, was made in a way that keeps the fact that it has to intertwine with other movies in mind. The original trilogy and the prequels were definitely not made with the mindset of having it tie in with other movies. Trying to plug in the gaps can result in boring and bland productions that don’t tell their own story, but are more concerned with making sure it fits within the timeline.

The future of Star Wars is cloudy and it is unclear in what direction the franchise will go in the wake of lukewarm reviews for Solo. In any case, fans will be hoping for some closure at the end of Episode IX to restore some of the faith that the franchise has been so good at keeping for so many years. Perhaps a different perspective will allow the creative minds at Disney to let this franchise soar to the heights it deserves to.

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About the Creator

Arvind Pennathur

I'm a graduate law student with a love for the quieter things in life. I write on a variety of topics, along with the occasional short story or poem. My perfect evening? Give me a rainy day, a cup of coffee, and a place to sit and write.

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