The first of the Star Wars Anthology movies earned over a billion dollars at the box office, and it looked like the success of Rogue One had created an entirely new revenue stream for Disney and Lucasfilm, who were now set to alternate the spinoffs with new installments in the main saga to give fans a movie on an annual basis.
However, the second attempt ended up becoming the lowest-grossing live-action entry in the franchise yet, one that ended up losing the studio money following a turbulent production process. A Han Solo origin story always felt a little unnecessary, and a large number of fans had no interest whatsoever in seeing anyone other than Harrison Ford play the iconic character. As a result, Solo: A Star Wars Story was just… there.
The box office returns were much lower than anticipated, the critical consensus was positive if not overly enthusiastic, and the Anthology idea was ultimately dropped completely. Solo has taken on something of a second life as a cult favorite, but if people didn’t turn up in big enough numbers for the first movie, then there’s very little chance they’ll be able to will a sequel into existence.
Star Alden Ehrenreich hasn’t appeared in a feature film since, and in a recent interview, he refused to accept that his time as part of the Star Wars universe could be labeled as either a failure or a disappointment, saying:
“That movie, it didn’t do as well as other Star Wars movies, but it still did well for a movie. And so it was kind of this medium thing. But that’s not newsworthy. Even at high-level journalism, there’s an intense pressure, sometimes, it feels like, to catastrophize or celebrate, and I think that’s really f**king dangerous, especially when it pertains to the stuff that really matters, like the state of the world. An article headline that says, ‘Things are complicated, and there are good sides and bad sides’, isn’t getting the emotional response. And I just think we really have to take a step back, and give a lot more thought to the way our emotions are being run by the stories we’re getting inundated with.”
Th 30 year-old seems to be sticking to his guns, although the money men at Disney might argue with his claims after Solo: A Star Wars Story reportedly lost the Mouse House as much as $50 million after failing to even crack $400 million globally, which is unheard of for any live-action Star Wars project.
