There are major movie franchises, and then there’s Star Wars. The galaxy far, far away helped to raise multiple generations, and it's showing no signs of slowing down thanks to the various live-action shows happening at Disney+. It’s been fascinating to see how fan opinions of various projects change over the years, including the standalone films like Solo: A Star Wars Story, which has the distinction of being the franchise’s first box office disappointment. And the movie’s star Alden Ehrenreich recently reacted to his Star Wars flick getting more love in the years since its release.
Solo had a rough journey to theaters, as there was immediate fan backlash over the role being played by anyone other than Harrison Ford. And after the movie’s original directors were fired, Ron Howard was brought in to complete the project and ensure it was released on time. Unfortunately Solo struggled critically and at the box office, although calls for a sequel have gotten louder recently. Alden Ehrenreich spoke to Yahoo! about the way the public’s opinion about his Star Wars flick has shifted, saying:
You definitely have those things happening on the internet over the last few years. And it feels like a shift. But it also always kind of felt like that to me on the ground. It felt like other stuff, more press stuff. But the actual feedback that I always got was really great. And I just love talking to a kid who saw it, some little boy or little girl who's so excited. That’s the best.
Talk about a good attitude. I can only imagine how disappointing it was for Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, and the rest of the gang when Solo failed to live up to expectations, resulting in sequel plans being scrapped. But he’s still touched when he meets those who liked the movie, especially young fans who are excited to meet Han Solo IRL. Give us a sequel, Disney!
Alden Ehrenreich shared his feelings about Solo: A Star Wars Story while promoting his role in Elizabeth Banks’ new comedy Cocaine Bear. Eventually the conversation turned to his time in the galaxy far, far away, which he’s likely quite used to at this point. And fans will no doubt be excited that Ehrenreich noticed how many people are defending Solo nowadays, especially when compared to its initial debut in theaters.
The ending of Solo: A Star Wars Story definitely set up a sequel, with a few narrative threads left for fans to theorize about. The last we saw the title character, he had officially won the Millennium Falcon from Lando, and was heading to Tatooine alongside Chewie to make a deal with Jabba the Hutt. But perhaps more intriguing was the reveal that Maul was the boss of Crimson Dawn, with Qi’ra communicating with him and instructed to meet him on Dathomir. Unfortunately, we never got to watch this all play out, although Qi’ra story was expanded via the comics.
While there’s plenty of Star Wars content coming for fans, the franchise’s future in theaters remains up in the air. After The Rise of Skywalker completed the Skywalker Saga, there haven’t been any concrete plans for the next project coming to theaters. A number of movies were announced and scrapped, while others remain in the earliest stages of development. It seems like Taika Waititi’s movie might be the first to bring the genre back to theaters, but it’s all still very up in the air.
You can see Alden Ehrenreich’s Cocaine Bear in theaters now. Be sure to check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
