Forget Kylo Ren and the First Order, a galaxy much closer to home has been having some serious problems recently.
After the Han Solo movie performed shockingly badly there were claims that it was partly due to a boycott by fans furious about The Last Jedi. Numerous reports and rumours foloowed that Disney and Lucasfilm were being forced to reconsider various upcoming projects.
First there was a report in Deadline that the future Anthology Star Wars Story movies including Obi-wan and Boba Fett projects had been put on indefinite hold.
Then a more drastic rumour surfaced that Last Jedi director Rian Johnson could lose his spin-off trilogy.
A major article by US broadcaster ABC revealed an aofficial statement by Disney on the subject.
It said: “Lucasfilm sources on Thursday characterized as “inaccurate” a report that future Star Wars movies falling outside of the regular trilogy storyline (Episodes I to IX) have been put on hold in the wake of the box office under-performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
“Instead, Lucasfilm told ABC News there are still “multiple” Star Wars films currently in development that have not been officially announced.”
“Those projects are moving forward separate from an already-announced Star Wars trilogy being overseen by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and another series of movies from Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.”
It is worth noting that ABC is also owned by Lucasfilm parent company Disney.
While the statement sets the facts straight, it is also a clear indication that Disney has felt the need to address the swirling rumors which can only harm the integrity and strength of the entire Star Wars franchise moving forward.
Is Disney worried?
Solo: A Star Wars Story has taken $ 353million worldwide since its release. The previous Anthology movie, Rogiue One, took just over a billion.
Solo is also reported to be the most expensive Star wars movie ever, after the considerable reshoots ordered when the original directors were fired. At the current time, it is expected to be the first Star Wars movie to lose money, a concept that was previously unthinkable.
The Last Jedi cracked $ 1.3billion, far down on The Force Awakens $ 2billion.
Are the fans abandoning Star Wars and what will Disney do about it?
