The movies of Star Wars prove to be box office hits in most cases. However, there is one exception that fell short of expectations and caused issues during filming. George Lucas did not direct it but had an important tip.
Which film is it? In 2018, Solo: A Star Wars Story was released, which deals with the smuggler Han Solo. The film tells the story of events that take place 14 years before Episode 4, showing us a younger Solo.
Even back then, he was a rebellious character who joins a group of smugglers. There he also meets his later best buddy Chewbacca, who is already a proud 190 years old – you wouldn’t guess it.
George Lucas had nothing to do with the film initially, as he had sold the complete rights to his space saga to Disney in 2012. Thus, production began with directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord, who had previously directed the popular LEGO Movie.
However, problems soon arose: Miller and Lord were unexpectedly fired just weeks before the end of filming. Creative differences were cited as the reason. According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, especially producer Kathleen Kennedy (Jurassic Park) and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (Indiana Jones) were unhappy with how the film was progressing.
Instead of Miller and Lord, Hollywood veteran Ron Howard took over the direction. However, before he started working on the film, he reached out to George Lucas with a request.
Here you can find out how the film performs in the MeinMMO ranking.
The Philosophy of Star Wars
Who is Ron Howard? The director has been successfully working as a director in Hollywood since the early 80s. Over the years, he has directed films like A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, and Rush.
In Hollywood, he is known as a director who completes his projects diligently and cleanly, without causing major problems. Perhaps that is why Kathleen Kennedy chose him.
Moreover, Ron Howard and George Lucas have known each other since the 70s. In 1973, Howard starred as a young man in American Grafitti – George Lucas’s second feature film, which he made before Star Wars.
Howard knew he could ask his old friend for advice. In a conversation with Vulture, he recounted:
I once spoke to him (Lucas) early on when I was thinking about doing it. He wasn’t actively involved in the films, but he said, “Just don’t forget – it’s for 12-year-old boys.”
Ron Howard
What did the advice mean? Essentially, Lucas summarized the philosophy of Star Wars with that. The saga has always been a playful fairy tale aimed at children, while also entertaining adults at best. Despite the seriousness surrounding the rebellion against an empire, a certain lightness has always been present. That made the early films so successful and still popular today.
Howard took the advice to heart and got to work. He reviewed the already shot material and re-shot much of it. Thus, the film was completed. However, when it hit theaters, it was not the desired success despite all the effort.
How was the film received? Solo: A Star Wars Story was released on May 25, 2018, only a few months after Episode 8. Along with lukewarm reviews, which rate it at Rotten Tomatoes with 69%, Solo did not achieve the hoped-for success at the box office.
With a production budget of approximately 234 million euros, the film only made 335 million euros according to Box Office Mojo. While that sounds like a lot, it is not enough for success in Hollywood. There, the marketing costs must also be added to the actual production costs, typically at least the same amount again. Only when that amount is surpassed at the box office is a film considered successful.
The exact reason why Solo flopped cannot be definitively determined. Perhaps it was due to disappointed fans who lost faith in Disney after Episode 8. The regular news about the turbulent filming certainly didn’t help the film either.
Or Han Solo may not have been enough of a reason for some to go to the movies. What do you think about it? Did you see the film? Feel free to let us know in the comments. George Lucas, while the great mastermind behind Star Wars, initially did not believe that the film would be successful: George Lucas thought his most important film would be a flop
