Han Solo Cups Pulled By Arizona Theater

The Arizona movie theater chain that sent the Star Wars fandom into a frenzy might be in hot water [...]

The Arizona movie theater chain that sent the Star Wars fandom into a frenzy might be in hot water with Lucasfilm.

Shortly after someone online revealed pictures of the 2018 Loyalty Cup featuring Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Harkins Theaters pulled the cup and replaced it with an 85th Anniversary version that doesn't include characters from the year's upcoming movie releases.

There were rumblings that Harkins might have been in trouble with Lucasfilm over the image, or they were worried about possible repercussions.

Many outlets wondered if this was the first official reveal of Ehrenreich as the protagonist in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but the company that designed the cup did not have access to any official assets from Lucasfilm. Insteady, they hired artist Landon Armstrong to create the image.

Armstrong used an image of Harrison Ford's costume from The Empire Strikes Back, taken from Star Wars Battlefront, and composited it with Ehrenreich's face from the promo image in the Millennium Falcon.

But the cup is no longer being offered, instead being replaced with design that showcases the chain's milestone anniversary instead of featuring Han Solo, Chewbacca, the Millennium Falcon, and others popular characters.

So what happened?

Given how protective Lucasfilm is of its brand, they might not have enjoyed their own official reveal of Ehrenreich as the famous smuggler being undercut by a local chain's unauthorized image. Of course Harkins didn't publicize the image outside of their promotional cups, but once the Internet caught wind of it the picture started spreading like wildfire.

Or perhaps Harkins didn't want to risk receiving Lucasfilm's ire and the potential ramifications of the image.

Either way, Harkins likely had produced many, many cups for the upcoming year to sell at their 26 locations in Arizona, as well as their seven locations in California, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma. Paying for the design, ordering the cups, trashing the cups, then creating brand new ones was likely not a cheap endeavor.

But then again, in comparison to a lawsuit from Disney and Lucasfilm, it might be the best course of action.

We've reached out for comment from Harkins to clarify the reasons for the new cup.

Solo: A Star Wars Story premieres in theaters on May 25.

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