Mark Hamill is worried Solo: A Star Wars Story is coming too close on the heels of The Last Jedi. For a long time, it seemed that after George Lucas completed work on the Star Wars prequel trilogy that there would be no further movies from the franchise. That all changed in 2012 when it was announced Lucas had sold the franchise to Disney for $4 billion, and that a new slate of Star Wars movies was incoming.
Being Star Wars, there was never any doubt the new movies would be financially successful, and while The Last Jedi met with a mixed reception from fans, on the whole, they've been critically well received too. In addition to making direct sequels to the original movies, Disney announced standalone adventures that would allow them to explore other stories. Rogue One told the story of how the rebel alliance stole the Death Star plans, and the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story will explore the early days of everyone's favorite smuggler.
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Solo: A Star Wars Story arrives in May, a mere 5 months after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Now in a new interview with CinemaBlend, Mark Hamill has voiced concerns about Disney's pacing with the release schedule for the franchise.
I will say they should pace themselves because you don't want to over-saturate it. I said to Disney, 'Really? Five months after we come out comes [Solo: A Star Wars Story]? Can't you at least wait until Christmas?' But they've got things booked - they're doing Marvel and their own movies, so that's beyond my [purview.]
The actor is, however, a fan of the idea of standalone movies like Solo being able to break away from the formula of the numbered entries and play around a little.
Well, there shouldn't be [a limit to the storytelling], as it's a canvas that's so infinite. With the standalone films, they can all have their own identity. Rogue One can be gritty and like a war film... I'm assuming, I don't know, but I would assume that Solo will be more comedic-ly oriented because he's a rogue, a scoundrel, and a gambler, and a womanizer and all those things. So I think the advantage of the standalone films is that they don't have to follow the formula of a trilogy, so they can establish their premise, get it on, get it done and get out leaving the audience wanting more. So there's infinite possibilities.
While the actor has a point about Disney potentially oversaturating fans, it seems unlikely the compressed release schedule will hurt Solo's box office in any significant way. While reactions to the trailer for the new adventure have been positive, it's hard to ignore the movie has been somewhat overshadowed by its troubled production.
Original directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller were fired when initial filming was nearing completion, with Ron Howard quickly stepping up to reshoot most of their footage. This, of course, has significantly raised the movie's budget, and it will need to gross a very healthy number before it breaks even. That said, in spite of the production woes, fans seem excited for Solo: A Star Wars Story, so hopefully the scars of its behind-the-scenes battles aren't visible in the final version.
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Source: CinemaBlend
