Disney and Lucasfilm are moving away from the Star Wars Story spinoff movies, but are they learning the wrong lesson? The Anthologies idea has been around almost as long as the sequel trilogy, with standalone Star Wars movies for Han Solo, Boba Fett and more first reported in early 2013. Two films deep, however, it looks like that plan is being - at the very least - encased in carbonite; the planned Star Wars Stories are being put on hold, with the studio now focusing on Star Wars 9 and the next trilogy (presumably Rian Johnson's).

Much of the blame for the shift away from Star Wars Stories is being placed on Solo: A Star Wars Story. The franchise's first box office failure, its production was mired by conflicting opinions on what it should be to the point that directors were changed and a high percentage of the movie was reshot. However, while the resulting budget increase - Solo cost around more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens - that can't take away from the box office being so low. Its opening was below Justice League's, and the drop off even more severe. It seems that the interest in exploring the original trilogy's past is not there.

However, this may not be the right lesson for Disney to learn. The production issues on both movies (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had a less public director imbalance) and Solo's financial struggles are certainly concerns and indicate some producing changes are needed, but the current failure of the enterprise may be that they simply picked the wrong stories to tell.

Rogue One Had A Story, Solo Didn't

Rogue One and Solo A Star Wars Story

Rogue One unequivocally worked. Despite no recognizable characters beyond a barely-in-it Darth Vader, it grossed over $1 billion worldwide and reviews were positive on a par to the main episodes. Even with oft-discussed reshoots that changed much of the third act and cut most of the prime trailer footage, the film has received mostly good press since release. The fact it was buoyed by the positivity coming off The Force Awakens is certainly a factor, sure, Rogue One is still, by nearly all metrics, a good film.

Crucially, though, it's also a story immediately worth telling. The Rebels' first victory against the Empire, the band who stole the Death Star plans, and how Princess Leia escaped with them has been on Star Wars fans' minds since the first movie's opening crawl, and indeed was retold many times in the pre-Disney Legends. Rogue One was a key piece of Star Wars history that connected directly to the main episodes yet had characters and themes that existed in isolation from them.

Contrast to Solo, which told us that the word "solo" means "solo". The film's goal is abstract and self-explanatory - how did Han become who he is - and so lacks the same information hook. There's plenty of things that must have happened in his past, yet do any of them warrant genuine curiosity? That question has double the weight given how Disney were never quite sure where to go with it; the biggest "reveal" that got the project green-lit was how where the Solo name came from, and behind-the-scenes concept art reveal an ever-changing story. That the Kasdans and Ron Howard delivered a worthy story in the end - Alden Ehrenreich's battle with idealism is a worthy precursor to Harrison Ford's stoic entrance in the original trilogy - is certainly impressive, but did little to redeem the pitch to many audiences.

We have two idealistically opposed films here, and only one appeared to be the future.

Page 2 of 2: Lucasfilm Had The Wrong Star Wars Story Plan

The Star Wars Story Plan Was Wrong

If you look at the projects that were often rumored, they're very much in the Solo camp: films where the sell is simply seeing more of a character. Fans may have been clamoring for Millie Bobby Brown, but a Young Leia film would be more of Solo, as would the long-desired Obi-Wan Kenobi. One of the most advanced projects was Boba Fett, a character with a strong legacy thanks to merchandise that leaves minimal interest of what lies behind the mask; something the prequels did to mixed results. The same goes for oft-rumored Yoda and Jabba the Hutt: a crime movie could work but the question of why start with a character who's done after the opening act of an otherwise unrelated film is strange. All of these movies fit a clear brand desire, but none instinctively have a quality hook.

However, a film about the early Rebellion struggling with peaceful resistance (that includes Leia)? A Tatooine crime western that sees Obi-Wan brush up with Jabba? Or an amoral bounty hunter cabal involving Boba Fett? Immediately, they all have a purpose before even trying to connect them into any greater narrative. The focus on character over placement may come from the fact we tend to hear about these projects in the early stage when they're little more than a handful of ideas, but the fact that what could have been an ensemble movie about a gang of criminals attempting to break from the underworld during the Empire's height was neglected for the linear character focus of Solo suggests not. The dominant thinking seemed to be "make a movie about someone people like and we'll fill in the blanks later", rather than "make a movie audiences actually will want to see, then figure out which brand ambassador to feature".

There's a confusing of how non-episodic Star Wars storytelling works here. While it's fun to joke that the Expanded Universe was about giving every background character from the original trilogy an epic backstory and key importance, this was actually more a by-product of expansive writing, short story anthologies, database books and Wookieepedia collation. In reality, the Legends world is populated by strong, uniquely angled tales that, while often being too reverential the original movies at points (see how the only OG hero to bite it over forty years was Chewbacca), could stand on their own. There were character-pitched stories, but what stood tall were the more nuanced adventures.

The same logic must be applied to all Star Wars material going forward, from comics to books to games (note that the majority of classic Star Wars video games introduce new protagonists and settings), and the best stand out for being more than building around a popular character. As Star Wars fandom and general audience moviegoing habits currently exist, mere recognition isn't enough. There needs to be a purpose.

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The Star Wars Story banner is not lesser, it just needs to be film-forward. Rogue One worked because it belonged. Solo has many problems - and being a bad film was not one of them - that come from an unclear angle to its conception. Lucasfilm focused on the Star Wars. They should have been thinking more about the "Story".

Next: What Star Wars Movies Are Coming Out?

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