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Why’d it Bomb? Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

posted 7 years ago by TMC-4 (20286)
14 replies | jump to latest

https://lebeauleblog.com/2018/06/08/whyd-it-bomb-solo-a-star-wars-story-2018/

6. No one is talking about it
Is it me or has there been little to no hype for this movie? I have hardly seen ANYONE talk about this movie. I haven’t even seen that many posts about it on Facebook. For some reason, people just haven’t been as interested in seeing this one as they have the others. Why? Well it might have something to do with the following reasons…

5. Who wanted a Han Solo movie anyway?
Sure, there might be fanfics of Han Solo’s origins out there, but was the general audience really that interested in how Han Solo got his start? Were they? But that probably only accounts for a small percentage of the audience. I mean the general audience didn’t seem like they would care about a prequel about what happened slightly before the events of the first movie yet Rogue One still made a billion dollars. So, while that might have been a reason, it probably didn’t have a huge effect. Speaking of Han, though—.

4. No one can see anyone else in the role
Alden Ehrenreich was hilarious in Hail, Caesar! and he was fine in Rules Don’t Apply. The latter movie had a lot of problems but he wasn’t really one of them. That being said, no matter who they got for the role, Harrison Ford is just too much of an iconic part of the character that I think it’s hard for many people to see anyone else as Solo. They could’ve cloned a Young Laurence Olivier and gotten him to play the role and people would just be too loyal to Harrison to give him a chance. But while those three things may have had a part in it, there are other reasons.

3. The Production Issues
Yeah, the production issues for this movie are well documented, especially the very last minute replacement of Lord and Miller with Ron Howard. And, while it doesn’t always kill a movie’s chances at the box office, production problems can definitely hurt it. Just ask Ishtar. Or Fantastic Four 2015. The stories of the movie’s struggle to get made might have turned people away from the movie, especially considering…

2. The New Star Wars Movies have been very divisive for fans
While critics have loved the previous three movies, fans haven’t been so keen on them. Force Awakens was criticized for being too similar to A New Hope. Rogue One, oddly enough, mostly seemed to get away scott free (though, I have to be honest, that’s been my least favorite of the three). The Last Jedi got a lot of hate from many, many fans of the franchise. The latter seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. That movie, in addition to the production issues, have seemed to have turned off fans who don’t like the new movies from giving this one a chance. The problem is, Star Wars has such a huge fanbase that it’s hard to really keep a lot of them satisfied because many of them already have an idea in their head of how the world of Star Wars works. Therefore, if anything strays from their vision, they aren’t going to be happy. But I think the biggest reason is…

1. Star Wars fatigue
It seems like Disney is trying to turn Star Wars into Marvel. It was getting a little tiring when a new Star Wars movie was released every year but at least TFA, Rogue One, and TLJ were all released within a year of each other, meaning that audiences were at least given a little time to breathe. Solo, on the other hand, came out within only 5 months of The Last Jedi. I think it’s just made not only fans but general audiences tire of the franchise. I mean, it’s not like it’s the first time more than one Star Wars project came out so close to each other. The Ewoks and Droids cartoons came out in 1985, which was the same year the TV movie Ewoks: The Battle of Endor came out. But the difference is those were just cash grabs that went straight to TV so most people besides children and devoted fans ignored them. Having two major movies in the franchise come out so close to each other just feels like it’s too much, too soon and has probably made not only fans but general audiences get bored with the franchise. Doesn’t help that, of the new movies it has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score.

So that’s why I believe the new Han Solo movie is underperforming at the box office. Of course it could be something for Disney to learn from. Next time they may realize that it’s better not to rush a Star Wars movie out but give audiences the chance to wait for it.

[–] TandyMan (11192) 7 years ago

As for 6, i'm friends with a bunch of Star Wars fanatics on facebook and these guys post about Star Wars every damn day, and they got nothing to say about this movie. They said it was good, go see it, when it came out. And that was the end of it. They'll defend it if it gets dumped on. But they're not raving about it, or complaining about it. Even they don't care.

[–] darkpast (8869) 7 years ago

Lucasfilm being dismissive of fan complaints

brush off most issues off as people being racist, sexist, manbabies and bots

good news they can not ignore issues any more

poor/ declining toy sales
declining home video sales
massive 2nd weekend decline of TLJ
China bombing
Solo bombing

Bob Iger will have meetings with KK, but will they fix issues before Episode IX ?

[–] TexasJack (12516) 7 years ago

#1 (and everything else is so far down the list that they scarcely matter): The Last Jedi completely and utterly destroyed the entire Star Wars universe.

[–] Alex (1504) 7 years ago

Exactly, there's no Star Wars fatigue, but there's Bad and Antagonizing movies that shit all over their fanbase fatigue for sure.

[–] SyphiliticHobbit (367) 7 years ago

Yup.

[–] OhHeyBro (362) 7 years ago

Wait what? The Force Awakens was the one that destroyed the Star Wars universe. I don't understand why you people are giving it a free pass.

I haven't seen The Last Jedi, so it very well may be worse than the Force Awakens and may have done even more damage to the universe, but don't forget that TFA came first and completely shat on everything that came before it. TLJ had the job of continuing on from that pile of shit, so why would you expect it to be respectful to the universe?

Anyway, TLJ still made a shitload of $$$, so the brainless fools obviously still went to see that, so I doubt that's the reason they didn't go see Solo. A few nerds hating on TLJ online does not equate to how people really felt in real life.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

... you will find tlj unbelieveably worse than tfa - and I HATED tfa.

[–] Keelai (35296) 7 years ago

It's a bad movie.

[–] Guitar King (4969) 7 years ago

1.The Force Awakens was a lazy rehash of A New Hope.

2.The Last Jedi was mediocre and not respectful of past characters and movies. The new characters are awful.

3.JJ Abrams called fans who disliked TLJ sexist.

4.Kathleen Kennedy publicly stated she doesn't need to cater to male fans.

5.Kathleen Kennedy was photographed in a shirt that read "The Force is Female."

6.Jon Kasdan trolled fans on twitter about Lando being pansexual.

7.A week before the movie's release, Donald Glover put out a race baiting music video.

8.Fed up fans accomplished a mass boycott.

[–] dlancer (2036) 7 years ago

1.Correct, which is why it was good. Changing things is where you get in trouble, like with the prequels and TLJ.
2.Also correct, but the new characters were not the problem. Rian Johnson was the problem.
3.JJ called politically-motivated fans, who criticized the whole franchise over one movie, sexist.
4.It's true, she doesn't. She should cater to all fans which Solo helps to do. She failed with TLJ because it sucked.
5.Sounds exactly like a shirt a Star Wars fangirl would wear, or rather, someone trying to look like a fangirl.
6.He was asked if Lando was pansexual. He didn't want to say no.
7.He was asked to be in a music video and said yes. The video went viral with a high percentage of likes.
8.Unfortunately, the boycott was hijacked by people like you who inject way too much politics into something that can be explained without stupid shit like what shirt someone was wearing or what comments people made, or what videos they appeared in that had nothing to do with TLJ or Solo.

1.TLJ was bad, and Solo was merely OK when it needed to be great being so close to TLJ.
2.They released it at a time during heavy box office competition, some having sequel hype.
3.Nobody asked for a Han Solo origin because his story wasn't as important, and proper casting would be impossible.
4.The firing of Lord and Miller for tonal issues brought a lot of internet criticism to the project.
5.Also, and I know you don't like to hear this, but overseas markets haven't been kind to new IPs involving white male leads. They typically need sequel hype to get a pass, and Solo doesn't quite count since it's not a popular franchise of its own. If you're not something like Spider-Man or Deadpool, you're gonna take a hit at the WW box office, even if you're Tom Cruise. Rey and Finn were marketing choices, and Disney is a money-making machine above everything else. If you remove KK's politics, everything remains the same.

[–] Guitar King (4969) 7 years ago

You have spoken like a typical noob.

[–] dlancer (2036) 7 years ago

Are you absolutely sure it was me who spoke in that manner? Really think about this, and try to articulate it instead of merely asserting it.

[–] kenburke (2385) 7 years ago

Of all your reasons, I suspect number one, "Star Wars fatigue", was the real reason.

[–] TMC-4 (20286) 7 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEM8eO9Du44

Yes, Solo is a box office bomb – the movie may have made more than its $250 million dollar estimated production budget, but it hasn’t made more than it’s entire cost – which could be as high as half a billion thanks to a heavy prints and advertising push.

And I hear from industry insiders that reshooting three quarters of a film can be expensive.

So why did a swashbuckling and not the worst in the series by far entry do so badly? The obvious answer is, given The Last Jedi came out in December of 2017, and with the opening weekend reaching less than half of the expected revenue, there just wasn’t enough excitement about this outing...