After the relative box office disappointment of Solo: A Star Wars Story (a disappointment by Star Wars standards, that is), fans wondered whether the reason for the downturn was the short time between Solo and the previous Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, released just months apart. There was talk of the beginning of audience fatigue thanks to the sheer number of movies.
It seems Lucasfilm have had their own similar fears, as according to Collider, future Star Wars spinoffs are currently on hold at the studio. Lucasfilm have decided to put plans for more A Star Wars Story films on hold and instead focus their attention on Episode IX and what the next trilogy of films will be after that.
Sources tell Collider that the previously rumoured Obi-Wan movie was in active development, but those working on the film are no longer involved. Logan filmmaker James Mangold was also reportedly in talks to direct a Boba Fett movie, but that was before Solo‘s less-than-ideal box office return.
This is the latest set back for the Star Wars ‘anthology’ movies that have had issues from the beginning. Initially, Josh Trank (Chronicle) was developing a Boba Fett movie at the same time that Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) was prepping Rogue One. But Trank was removed from his project and Lucasfilm lost one of its planned films.
Story issues then caused mass Rogue One reshoots that totally reworked the third act, with Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy) having to oversee the new scenes. All that is before the now-infamous firing of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller on Solo, who were dismissed during production which led to Ron Howard coming in to replace them and reshoot a number of scenes.
So, what we know right now is that Lucasfilm is focusing on J.J. Abrams‘ Episode IX, and the new trilogy to come after that from Rian Johnson. There’s also a new series of films in the pipeline to be written by Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, so it’s not like the studio is suddenly short on Star Wars projects.
But it does mean that, barring any quick turnaround, we won’t be seeing any standalone spinoffs for sometime. Whether this will combat the potential audience fatigue that was brewing is debatable, but with the amount of films to come, maybe Lucasfilm don’t see that as a problem. Until we hear anything else, Star Wars will focus on their trilogies for the immediate future.
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