ST If (IF!) Episode IX has box office numbers like Solo...

Let's say Episode IX has a similar opening to Solo. It will surely be bigger... but let's say it's not much bigger. Opens to less than $150 million, and follows the Solo trajectory from there.

It's a big hypothetical, but treat it as a given.

The speculation... how would LFL and Disney respond to this? What would be their response?
- Cancel all Star Wars projects in production, besides ones already filmed, and re-evaluate everything?
- Have future spin-off's focus on fleshing out the ST and fixing its perceived mistakes?
- Cancel plans for making Star Wars into the same kind of thing as the MCU, and more of a rare treat, with something coming out once every 2 or 3 year instead?
- What exactly would they do?

 

They might keep going with any projects that are decently into production, maybe the next film and Game of Thrones people work. RJ's one might get shut down.

Also major shake up with in the management

I doubt they would stop dead

 

So, this has a nearly nil chance of happening. Just to be clear.

If it did, however, I expect that the movies would be put on hold for a time. Anything that's already in production won't be shut down; I expect that would be more expensive than letting it finish. However, I expect anything still in pre-production would be re-evaluated. For anything that was already in production, they'll probably wait to see how that performs before announcing or committing to anything for later. If that film was successful, they'd probably continue with that (whether its RJ's films or the D&D series) while considering what to do after or in addition. If it failed, then probably any films would go on hiatus for a bit while everything gets restructured. I expect any future Saga films wouldn't be coming for a very long time. They might give it a decade or more for demand to rebuild and they can bring them back as a return to form or whatnot.

Anything outside of the movies wouldn't be too impacted so long as they were still being successful.

 

Fewer films going forward and more of a focus on series for the Disney streaming service like the Favreau one in the works.

 

Okay, in this scenario, let's say Episode 9 makes slightly less than $1 billion, so like BvS still technically a financial success but massively underperforming. Lucasfilm's slate gets almost completely shuffled to re-evaluate what's gone wrong, Rian Johnson may not get his trilogy just because it'll be very hard to not draw a link between TLJ and Episode 9's box office performance.

 

I honestly don't think this will be the case and Disney/Lucasfilm have a year and a half to work on anything they believe needs fixing (and there's no doubt they will work on it).

That said, if IX does have a similar reception to Solo then of course they will re-evaluate everything. Any plans for more than one film per year (if that's even being considered) will be scrapped. If they truly believe this stems back to The Last Jedi then Rian Johnston's trilogy may be scrapped (unlikely) or re-worked to be safer (whatever they believe that to be) and the B&W series may be fast tracked to replace or give them more time to work on the RJ trilogy.

Spin offs will likely continue but they may focus more on popular characters they already have the classic actors for (Kenobi, Maul, Fett, etc) since they won't have to work on selling the audience new actors in the classic roles (a Glover Lando movie may be an exception since he's already been in a movie and audiences liked him). I can't see them spending money on spin-offs to try and fixed perceived mistakes in the ST

There would likely be some creative re-shuffling behind the scenes, but what form that would take I don't want to even speculate.

To be fair, the biggest blame for Solo is being put on the marketing, or lack thereof, especially when combined with a release date change for the franchise and some very big competition in the weeks before and after. They won't make that mistake again with Episode IX. TLJ did divide people but I do feel that's being over played in terms of its affects on Solo. BvS didn't hurt Suicide Squad or Wonder Woman, it hurt JL. Fans were divided over TLJ but, expect for a small hardcore group, BvS was rejected by fans and general audience alike. I can't think of any other movie (for a popular franchise) that as hated and rejected as much as BvS. Plus IX has had it's director change before production began, so there won't be that drama for IX and, as Rogue One and Solo proved, Lucasfilm are happy to spend the money to fix something properly rather than do it half hearted like WB did with JL (I honestly enjoyed the movie but you could tell it was ripped apart and stitched back together again).

 

The biggest thing that will have to figured out is "WHY?" I don't think there are too many people who actually think audiences are bored with Star Wars, so why will it have become so difficult to excite one of the largest fan bases on the planet about a new movie? While there are hundreds of opinions on the "WHY", I can only speculate it's because of the awful reception TLJ got from a large number of the fans. IMHO This was a major factor in the Solo low numbers. To be honest I think Solo might actually help IX, because I haven't heard much negative about the Solo movie, beyond having lower than expected box office numbers.

 

Oh look, another doom and gloom thread to bash the trilogy.

 

Star Wars films/projects need to be high quality and profitable. Being the biggest and baddest on the block isn't a concern to me.

 

That's not what this is at all. Re-read.

 

I think $1 billion is the bench mark anything under would be crazy to think about - surely with JJ on board to do some damage control it will be all sweet....

 

If Episode IX failed or underperformed, I think that would cost Kathleen Kennedy her job. But I don't believe Disney would cancel the currently planned projects; rather, I think they would exercise a little more oversight or control. They are most certainly not going to reboot anything. The reason I believe this is because Disney know they have created a good thing (Solo excluded), and would not want to throw out the baby with the bath water as it were. The Force Awakens was one of the biggest hits of all time, despite all the criticism of it - the majority of the moviegoing audience responded positively to the new characters. The Last Jedi was also a huge commercial and critical success - the most profitable film of 2017 - again, signifying approval of the direction they're taking. The failure of Episode IX would be seen as an exception, and they would try to improve on where it went wrong going forward. So, some adjustments here and there, not an overhaul.

 

Basically if Episode IX bombed, we would still get a Star Wars movie after that. Somehow, somewhere, what budget, who what all up in the air but I can't see Episode IX crashing being "Well! Time to wrap up Star Wars, everyone close the LFL office down!"

 

Expecting one billion dollars for every single Star Wars film isn't realistic, or healthy.

 

Well they seem to already be doing my first option even before we get to IX and the other spinoffs ("holding off", not cancelling, but still...)

 

I think SW would go into a 5 year hibernation (except TV) and they would come at it with a new vision then.

 

One underperforming and famously "divisive" film followed by not one but two massive flops? The second being the Long Awaited-Conclusion to the most Epically Epic Saga Ever to be Epic? Is this a serious question?

Disney would fire everyone at Lucasfilm down to the cleaning staff, and start over!

I doubt it will come to that, though.

 

Disney World would shut down. Go home mouse.

 

Q. I mean I know it won't happen, but.... what if the sky were to fall in tomorrow?

A. Like the dinosaurs, we would go extinct, and reappear in science fiction films of the next intelligent race as monstrous beasts that were raised from DNA out of the blood in fossilized mosquitoes.

 

The chance of this is almost zero, but let’s say it does happen. My guess is they will stop the once a year movie. They may also stop the standalones altogether.

 

I guess that would be one of the portents for the end of times. Kiss it all goodbye, people. It's all downhill after that.

 

My guess will be a very stout opening weekend followed by "who knows what". If the film is crowd pleasing enough and not "divisive" still the second week will rock also, if this happens they will do really well with the box office overall. However, if JJ doesn't deliver there will be a big drop and much angst.

 

Imo there is no way IX will do as bad as Solo..