Did Disney Kill Star Wars?
by EG
The disappointing performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story suggests, at best, that films in the Star Wars franchise are no longer guaranteed blockbusters. At worst, the film's lukewarm reception might indicate that Disney's plan to pump out a new Star Wars movie every year is already wearing out fans' enthusiasm.
Lucasfilm and Disney are facing a moment of reckoning.
Over Memorial Day weekend, they were jolted when Solo: A Star Wars Story battled hard to hit $103 million domestically and bombed overseas with $65 million. The film badly trailed the launch of fellow stand-alone pic Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which debuted to $155 million domestically in 2016 on its way to topping $1.056 billion globally. At its current rate, Solo may not gross much more than $400 million in all after costing at least $250 million to produce before marketing.
Solo's initial performance marks a rare loss for Disney. Moreover, it is forcing the studio to re-examine its strategy for the iconic Star Wars franchise, which Disney took over when it bought Lucasfilm for more than $4 billion in 2012. Most box-office analysts say the main problem is the fact that Solo debuted just five months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit the big screen, resulting in a clear-cut case of audience fatigue with the Star Wars extended universe.
While the studio isn't abandoning its plan to release one Star Wars feature per year, insiders concede Disney and Lucasfilm aren't likely to release two Star Wars movies so close together again, regardless of whether they are anthology films, like Solo, which tells of Han Solo's beginnings, or part of the official episodes, like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its follow-up, The Last Jedi. (Some fans complained about Last Jedi, which could have dampened enthusiasm for Solo.)
On top of that, Disney would surely prefer a year-end launching pad going forward, rather than a summer bow. Force Awakens, Rogue One and Last Jedi all opened in mid-December and had no direct competition. Each did blockbuster business and were the biggest films of their respective years (2015, 2016 and 2017).
In contrast, Solo opened only one week after Fox's Deadpool 2 bowed to $125.5 million domestically. Deadpool 2 earned $55 million over the four-day Memorial Day holiday frame — money that might have gone to Solo. The Star Wars stand-alone also unfurled in the wake of fellow Disney/Marvel monster blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, which has amassed $621.7 million domestically and $1.9 billion worldwide.
"There's a question of frequency, and how many times people will go to the movies. Is this too much and too soon for a third time in a five-week period?" says Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis, suggesting Solo's underwhelming start may have been affected by those two preceding movies.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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