The first Star Wars movie opened 42 years ago today on May 25, 1977. That's when we first met Han Solo, as played by Harrison Ford. Over 40 years later, we finally got Han's backstory in Solo: A Star Wars Story, with the young scoundrel played by Alden Ehrenreich. Solo ended up a Star Wars scapegoat, since the box office wasn't quite what was expected for a franchise movie. Reviews were mixed, but the fans who loved it are staunch defenders for it. Those fans recently launched a campaign to continue the story, getting #MakeSolo2Happen trending. Solo director Ron Howard had a simple reaction, but co-screenwriter Jon Kasdan had more expansive thoughts:
Yeah, Solo was set several years before the first Star Wars movie and ended with potential for how to continue Han's story until reaching the point of Episode IV - A New Hope. Solo 2 could've filled that timeline easily -- and maybe still could?
Jonathan Kasdan worked on the Solo script that his father, longtime Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan, had started before joining the The Force Awakens writing team. Solo infamously hit a rough patch when initial directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left the film. One of the rumored issues behind-the-scenes was the directors encouraging a lot of improvisation away from the script. Ron Howard took over as director for the rest of filming, and reshoots.
The resulting film has a 70% fresh rating from 442 critics and a 64% audience score from nearly 41,000 RT users. Solo also has an A- CinemaScore from polled moviegoers, which is slightly down from the A that Rogue One, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi all received. But the A- ties all three prequels, and it's still better than the B- that The Clone Wars got in 2008, marking the lowest Star Wars CinemaScore.
Solo wasn't everyone's cup of blue milk, but it's clear the film still has a lot of fans out there, and they have "galvanized" Jon Kasdan. Maybe he's gearing up to make a new argument to Lucasfilm to give Solo 2 a chance -- either in theaters or (more likely?) on the new Disney+ streamer launching in November. Never tell him the odds!
Meanwhile, there's disagreement in the rest of the galaxy when it comes to the Star Wars movies that will hit the big screen. There's a petition against the Star Wars movie being made by the Game of Thrones showrunners, and some fans aren't excited about The Rise of Skywalker after The Last Jedi. But on the flip side, some fans are thrilled about the new Star Wars movies coming, especially The Rise of Skywalker as it ends the nine-film Skywalker Saga. Keep up with everything heading to theaters this year with our 2019 movie schedule.
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