The secondStar Warsspin-off,Solo, which released earlier this year, certainly had a jarring enough ending to set up an exciting sequel down the road. Unfortunately, one of the movie’s two writers,Jon Kasdan, has stated that it may be unlikely for us to receiveSolo 2anytime in the near future.
To celebrate the digital release ofSolothis week, Jon Kasdan released a number of interesting facts and notes aboutSoloon his Twitter. The final entry on his list answered a question that many people have been asking:Will we ever receive a Solo sequel? Here is what Kasdan had to say on the matter.
“To be honest, I think the challenge has more to do with theforeign box officethan the U.S. Personally, I think there are great Star Wars movies to be made that don’t need to cost quite so much. Hopefully that will be the trend in years to come, and maybe, just maybe, that trend will allow us, one way or another, to tell more stories with Alden [Ehrenreich], Joonas [Suotamo], Emilia [Clarke], and Donald [Glover]. With those actors and [Ron Howard], I would jump at the opportunity. Given the way Hollywood, and the culture at large, seem to run from anything labeled a disappointment, the odds seem like they’re against it happening anytime soon. But, I suppose, Han wouldn’t have it any other way.”
While there was a large number ofStar Warsfans who enjoyedSolowhen it released earlier this year, there was an even larger number ofStar Warsfans who didn’t see the movie at all. Now at the end of its box office run,Solohasn’t even managed to rake in $400 million, which iswildly disappointingfor aStar Warsmovie.Solohas taken its place as the lowest grossing live-actionStar Warsmovie ever made, a mantle that was previously held byReturn of the Jedisince 1983, which only earned $475 million.
As Kasdan brought up,Solodidn’t even do well overseas, which is typically the saving grace for blockbuster movies that aren’t always a big hit in the United States, likeRampage, which earned over three times more in foreign countries than it did domestically. Unfortunately, the foreign market was even harsher onSolothan the United States, bringing in only $179 million compared to the $213 million earned domestically.
Solo’s disappointment at the box office would be admissible if it was a fairly cheap movie to make. Unfortunately,Solo’s extensive reshoots brought its budget up to a massive $250 million, making it the most expensiveStar Warsmovie ever produced. With this budget in mind, there is no question thatSolowas an absolute flop at the box office, which is a large sign to Disney and Lucasfilm that this series is not worth their time or money.
ThoughSolomay have been a fun movie, it does not seem likely that we will see a sequel come from it, or even see theLandospin-off that Kathleen Kennedy was teasing before the movie’s release.Jon Kasdan’s comments on the possibility of a sequel only confirm how unlikely a secondSolomovie is. Hopefully Lucasfilm will start to put out moreStar Warsmovies in the future that don’t cost over $200 million so that we can see more stories from the galaxy far far away without the movie demanding to earn over $1 billion at the box office.
