The Star Wars franchise has got to be one of the biggest film franchises in the Hollywood history. It all started when George Lucas began the franchise by releasing three films, the first one was released in 1977, which actually started in the middle of the story hence it was entitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
It was then followed by two more films and so that’s how the pop culture phenomenon began. It is considered as one of the most successful science fiction films of all time, and because of that the prequel trilogy was followed between 1999 and 2005, however, it gained some mixed reviews from the fans. 10 years after the first two trilogies, they decided to continue making more Star Wars films, at first it was a major success, but this most recent one seems to be struggling in the box office, continue reading to find out more.
Solo: Major Flop At Box Office
Solo: A Star Wars stories feature a spinoff and a standalone film that was set even before the beginning of the very first one that was released in 1977, which features the story of Han Solo, which was originally portrayed by Harrison Ford and his best friend Chewbacca. The film casts Alden Ehrenreich, who is the actor playing the young Han Solo, together with Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover, Paul Bettany, and more.
The first two films of the recent anthology, which was The Force Awakens in 2015 and The Last Jedi in 2017, both did incredibly well on the box office, however, this new one didn’t seem to affect the fans that well. This is the very first time that a Star Wars film was considered to be a flop, especially considering the Memorial Day weekend.
It is expected to hit more than $80 million in three days but only got $103 million in four days, even if it must be over $130 or 150 million. This is such a big shock to everyone since the Star Wars franchise already has its own audience of all ages.
However, it was considered to be a disappointment by film and industry critics especially compared to the Avengers: Infinity War, which was by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that is also under Disney. Then again, it could still have the chance to recover since it is still in theaters. Experts said that one of the main reasons that could be the problem is that almost every corner of the story has been told, every film Disney will release will only come from one source, so instead of going forward, they are going in reverse, which may not be the best choice.
Disney on Star Wars Fate
It was a well-known fact that the main reason why there are new Star Wars films coming out since 2015 is that Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion. This actually happened in 2012 and everyone knows that it was George Lucas of Lucasfilm, who started it all for the Star Wars franchise and he owns 100 percent of it.
The deal then now gives Disney the sole rights for the film and Lucas gets $40 million from the deal. Lucas said that one of the reasons he chose to sell it is that he is planning to retire. He brought the Star Wars universe to the big screen for more than 35 years and it is time to be passed down to the future generation could actually witness it as well.
Disney CEO Robert Iger even mentioned how it was truly an honor for them to be able to acquire the Star Wars universe since it is one of the biggest brand in the industry and that it is a great opportunity for Disney to be able to continue giving the fans more and also gain more fans from the future generations. He even shared some of the plans such as putting Star Wars on cable TV and of course more films, which they have been doing.
Unfortunately, Disney has officially considered Solo: A Star Wars Story a flop, after not being able to make $130 million on a four-day Memorial Weekend. According to the Walt Disney Studio’s theatrical distribution president Dave Hollis, one of the reasons maybe the gap of their films since and the frequency of how many times people go to the cinemas in a few months should be considered as well.