Star Wars news: Are Star Wars spin-off movies on hold after Solo flop?

Last week, sources with inside knowledge of the Star Wars situation told US-based website Collider that Lucasfilm has decided to halt plans for any more Star Wars spinoff movies.

Lucasfilm is instead focussing their efforts on Star Wars: Episode IX, and another trilogy of main Star Wars movies after.

The previously rumoured Obi-Wan origin movie was in active development, according to this same source.

However, those who were working on the film are no longer involved – suggesting the film (and all other spin-offs) could now be pulled.

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The Boba Fett spin-off movie even had a writer in the works – James Mangold, the filmmaker behind Logan.

And Josh Trank (Chronicle) was thought to be developing the movie but Trank was also removed from the project.

Are Star Wars spin-off movies on hold after Solo flop?

Solo garnered mixed-positive reviews but fell short of projected box office success.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story made $84.4 million during its opening weekend and grossed $192.8 million domestically (and $339.5 million worldwide) in four weeks.

This total is nothing to mock, but it is much lower than what the other Star Wars movies made.

Rogue One, the only other Star Wars spin-off, opened to $155 million and had grossed $424 million domestic by its own fourth week.

While the gap in profit may not seem exceptionally wide between the two spin-off movies, it is when you take into consideration the cost to make Solo.

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Industry experts say Solo: A Star Wars Story would need to make $500million just to break even, but it’s more likely the film will operate at a $50/100 million loss.

Solo was released at the same time as a slew of other summer blockbusters in May, competing directly with Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2.

Even if Solo had been a wild success, the spin-offs were still off to a rocky start.

Story issues led to reshoots on Rogue One with an entirely new director for the new scenes.

Solo itself had its own infamous issues with its original directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller fired in the midst of production.

Ron Howard was hired to direct Solo which resulted in expensive and extensive reshoots, even recasting the villain as Paul Bettany.

Whatever caused the flop, whether Star Wars fatigue, release date, or just general disappointment with the movie itself, the ramifications are being felt throughout the galaxy.

Lucasfilm has shifted its attention back to the contemporary trilogy, and fans are still excited for Episode IX despite the middling success of Solo.