Star Wars Solo FLOP and fan BOYCOTT: Will Disney FIRE Kathleen Kennedy?

Forget troubles in a galaxy far, far away.

Disney and Lucasfilm are facing a disastrous box office run by Solo A Star Wars Story. It is already clear it will be the worst-performing Star Wars movie in history by a large margin after just 10 days on release.

This comes hot on the heels of a major fan backlash after the divisive Last Jedi hit screens last December. 

Many fans have been baying for Kathleen Kennedy’s blood since Rian Johnson’s movie ignited a storm of protests, but now Disney may actually be forced to listen. 

Money talks and the Solo movie is already the most expensive in Star Wars history, after Kennedy’s dismissal of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller lead to wholesale reshoots.

It is estimated it needs to take more than $500million at the box office just to break even and it has only limped to $264million so far, with even more massive drops in attendance predicted in the coming weeks.

If this is partly due to concerted boycots by Star Wars fanbases, it will be impossible for Disney to ignore.

It is too easy to dismiss the fan reactions as the actions of an obsessive minority, fanatics in the worst sense of the word. But their views this time are echoed across major social media platforms and commentators.

Youtube video commentators have wracked up millions of views in the last week with analysis of the situation and the overwhelming support for the exit of Kathleen Kennedy.

The opinions and criticisms are also powerfully unified. It is overwhelming felt by many fans that the Kennedy vision for Star Wars disrespects the original legacy of the franchise and knowingly betrays the fan base by directly destroying the promises that were made when George Lucas sold the rights to Disney.   

During the sale announcement Kennedy said to Lucas on camera: “The main thing is to protect these characters and to make sure they continue to live in the way that you created them.”

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Youtube reviewer Jeremy Jahs has wracked up half a million views with his analysis of the situation.

He says: “The old crew being killed off to make way for the new crew doesn’t sound like the merger we were told it was. It essentially sounds like a hostile take-over. Which is a how a lot of people are interpreting these movies.”

He echoes the popular frustration that Disney has been too heavy handed forcing social issues into the franchise and the criticism that Rian Johnson tried (unsuccessfully and poorly) to inject Marvel humour into The Last Jedi.

Jahns explains why this is not an issue of conflicting political or social views among audiences but a fundamental betrayal of what made Star Wars so special, which was that it didn’t ever feel like our world or our society – and it was never supposed to.

He says the behaviour of ‘feminist’ activist droid L3-37 in Solo or that ill-judged prank call between Poe and Hux in The Last Jedi are jarring references to our own modern concerns.

Jahns argues: “It’s from our galaxy, our solar system, old world. It’s too on the nose. It takes the escapism out of Star Wars.”

If Star Wars really has lost its magic, what will Disney do about the main architet of this new vision? It seems almost impossible that Kenndy would go before the release of Episode 9 in 2019, but she will need a resounding box office, critical and fan triumph to silence all the voices calling for her departure.