Despite Alden Ehrenreich having
reportedly signed a three picture deal with Disney and Lucasfilm to star as a young Han Solo beyond
Solo: A Star Wars Story, director Ron Howard has revealed there are "no concrete plans" for future movies featuring the galaxy's most beloved smuggler.
Speaking to Fandango, Howard clarified Ehrenreich's statement, adding any sort of multi-picture deal is merely to lock up commitment from the actors should the movie prove to be successful. Ultimately, any future installments starring Ehrenreich as Han Solo will be determined by fans and moviegoers, ie box office results.
"I think the fans are going to define all of that. I mean I think that Lucasfilm and Disney in casting actors, and particularly younger actors, want to see what happens and build upon that. Certainly, they want the commitment from the young actors, but there are no concrete plans. I think there's been a lot of creative energy and now marketing energy going behind this movie."
Howard admitted that
Solo - like
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - was initially designed to be a single spinoff movie that further explores the universe. But in this day and age of trilogies and connected universes, Lucasfilm has the potential to build upon
Solo, especially given the popularity of its supporting cast.
"I think these are exactly what they're meant to be, or what they're designed to be. They're single movies exploring the galaxy; but of course, as a company, I think they're going to be very interested to see how people respond to it and take it from there. This whole thing is kind of a cool, ambitious exploration of what the galaxy and the Star Wars sensibility can continue to mean to fans."
It's important to remember that just because Ehrenreich has signed on for three pictures, doesn't mean a future movie featuring him as Han Solo will focus on the smuggler's adventures. He could very well shift to a supporting role in a movie about another character, such as the rumored Boba Fett movie. Or, if Lando proves popular enough, maybe he gets his own film. The point is, Lucasfilm has the option to create a sort of soft-rebooted prequel universe starring all of these actors as younger versions as the characters we all know and love.
If Disney is basing future sequels to
Solo: A Star Wars Movie off of box office success, things are looking pretty good. It was recently revealed that
Solo's presale tickets on Fandango
have doubled that of Marvel's
Black Panther, the latter which went on to make $1.3 billion worldwide.
Do you plan on seeing
Solo: A Star Wars Story when it opens in theaters on May 25?