Solo: A Star Wars Story underperformed in a big way for Disney and Lucasfilm and while we've heard reports that the studio is scrapping all future spinoff movies, The Hollywood Reporter has now cleared things up. As of right now, it's said that they're simply reassessing the situation and that they will now look at making them differently and marketing them in new ways (one of the biggest hurdles faces by Solo was the fact Lucasfilm didn't start promoting the movie until the Super Bowl in February).
"They haven’t slowed down development," an insider tells the trade, "but they are licking their wounds." Another adds: "It doesn’t mean those spinoffs don't happen. It just means they’re trying to figure out how to make, and market, them differently." In the case of Boba Fett, James Mangold and Simon Kinberg remain attached but the plan is to now reconfigure the project, potentially slashing the budget after Solo proved big name characters don't necessarily guarantee big box office returns.
Unfortunately, things with the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie are "even less clear." While Stephen Daldry had been in negotiations to direct, both the studio and his agency have no comment on the project. The trade also points out that Ewan McGregor was expected to reprise the role of the Jedi Master. It's also said that any hopes for a Solo sequel or a series of "Star Wars Underworld" style movies focusing on characters like Darth Maul and Lando Calrissian are pretty much gone after that spinoff's performance.
"They were developing anything and everything," says one exec. "It was a case of them stuffing so much sausage and not try to break the casing. In light of the reaction to Last Jedi and the performance of Solo, they are now just going to look at what’s coming in and seeing how good it is, before dating anything. It’s all pretty understandable." For now then, we'll have to wait and see...
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