Star Wars: LucasFilm ‘wanted to DELAY Solo release date, Disney said NO’ – report

The movie, which has performed below expectations at the global box office, was always slated for a May 2018 release but many had wondered if it would be pushed back when directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by Ron Howard.

After Star Wars: Episode 9 was nudged back from May 2019 to December 2019, it didn’t seem too much of a stretch for the same to happen with Solo – but the release date did not budge.

Perhaps as a result, the marketing was late getting started, and ultimately eclipsed by Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2.

But did LucasFilm want to move the date all along – and did Disney say no? That’s what’s been claimed in a new report today.

Star Wars News Net claim to have heard that LucasFilm wanted Solo to come out in December; the same month that Episodes 7 and 8 as well as Rogue One hit screens.

But the site suggests that Disney “had enough of their previous films’ delays and put their foot down”.

Solo ultimately went on to gross far lower than fellow spin-off Rogue One, and is set to be the first Star Wars film since the Disney takeover to make a loss.

Yesterday it was reported that LucasFilm will now focus their energy only on Episode 9, and on the previously announced trilogies after that.

This means that previously-rumoured projects like the Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off and the Boba Fett prequel are, presumably, on indefinite hold.

It also leaves the characters of Solo in an interesting position. Although Qi’Ra (Emilia Clarke) is not referenced or mentioned at all in the movies set after Solo, she ended that movie on a very ambiguous note, with more stories clearly to tell.

As for Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian, there have been many cries from fans to see more of him too.

For now, Episode 9 is the next movie on the Star Wars slate – and it’s going into production this summer.

Notably it will not feature Carrie Fisher’s Leia, after she sadly passed away in late 2016.

Earlier this week her brother Todd said he did not know JJ Abrams’ plan to explain her character’s absence.