Lucasfilm Puts Future 'A Star Wars Story' Films on Hold

Lucasfilm is making some major changes in the wake of the disappointing box office performance of [...]

Lucasfilm is making some major changes in the wake of the disappointing box office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story, as news comes that future anthology-style movies are being put on hold.

A new report from Collider states Lucasfilm is instead focusing on the release of Star Wars: Episode IX and whatever trilogy of movies will follow after, and that some of the spinoff stories in development are no longer in the cards.

The report states the rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff from director Stephen Daldry was in active development, but the people who were working on that movie are no longer involved.

It could be the same case for the long-rumored Boba Fett spinoff, which was recently announced to be in development with Logan director James Mangold.

The news is likely going to come with speculation that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy is in the hot seat after Solo: A Star Wars Story fell far short of expectations. The film made just $84.4 million stateside in its opening weekend at the box office, the lowest in the Disney era of Star Wars movies.

While both main entries in the saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, both entered the record books with their opening weekends and total box office grosses, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story also opened to an impressive $155 million. That total is nearly twice that of Solo's, and Rogue One also made nearly $100 million more in its fourth week at the domestic box office than Solo has made worldwide.

Solo currently sits with $339.5 million total, while Rogue One had made $424 stateside in just its fourth week. In essence, Solo has done OK by blockbuster standards, but for a Star Wars movie? It's nothing less than a disappointment.

Solo is also the only Star Wars movie to come out in the month of May under Disney, and is coming just five months after the last movie with a truncated promotional period that failed to generate the buzz of previous films.

Each Star Wars production thus far has experienced its fair share of troubles, especially the spinoff movies. Rogue One experienced significant reshoots under Tony Gilroy, who did not share a credit with original director Gareth Edwards. Josh Trank was originally set to direct the Boba Fett spinoff movie, but was let go from the project after the fiasco of the Fantastic Four reboot. And original Solo directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired halfway through production, replaced by Ron Howard.

The Force Awakens underwent extensive reshoots as well, while The Last Jedi's production didn't suffer any major hiccups. It is, however, among the most divisive Star Wars movies and prompted significant backlash from fans.

It remains to be seen what will happen with Lucasfilm moving forward, as the only official movie on the docket is Star Wars: Episode IX, set to begin production under J.J. Abrams this summer.

Whether Kathleen Kennedy remains in charge, or if Rian Johnson's announced trilogy is still on track, or the series from the Game of Thrones producers get released, all remains to be seen. Those last two projects continue to remain in development, separate from the anthology films, according to the report.

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