{"id":2002458,"date":"2025-09-06T18:55:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2002458"},"modified":"2025-09-06T18:55:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:55:15","slug":"the-forgotten-disney-decision-that-completely-doomed-star-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-forgotten-disney-decision-that-completely-doomed-star-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Forgotten Disney Decision That Completely Doomed Star Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Among fans disappointed by Star Wars, there is often the same, morbid question: where did it all go wrong? It\u2019s easy to say things went downhill when Disney bought the franchise rights from George Lucas, or maybe even further, like when Lucas released one subpar prequel after another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">None of those things was the cause. There was still hope. Star Wars only truly became doomed (as C3PO might say) after Disney fired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from directing <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>Solo Was Supposed To Be A Different Movie<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When Lord and Miller were announced as directors, it raised more than a few Star Wars fans\u2019 eyebrows. That\u2019s because the pair were primarily known as the witty geniuses behind animated films such as <em>Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs<\/em> and <em>The Lego Movie<\/em>. Since we\u2019d never had a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/ent\/best-star-wars-memes.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Star Wars movie;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Star Wars movie<\/a> explicitly designed as a comedy, it was a surprise when Disney hired these two funny guys to bring Han Solo\u2019s origin story to life.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Lord and Miller\u2019s <em>Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Eventually, the most predictable thing ever happened: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/disney\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Disney;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Disney<\/a> fired Lord and Miller over \u201ccreative differences\u201d they had with others on the project, including legendary <em>The Empire Strikes Back<\/em> director Lawrence Kasdan. He had written an appropriately serious script for <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story<\/em> and reportedly didn\u2019t like the funny and improvisational direction these two directors were taking the movie. Lord and Miller were replaced by Ron Howard, who was seen as a safe director to finish production of Han\u2019s first \u201csolo\u201d cinematic outing.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>Solo Bombs While Lord And Miller Become Game Changers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While I don\u2019t have the Force, I do have the power of hindsight, and it\u2019s easy to see Disney\u2019s unsurprising decision as one that effectively doomed the Star Wars franchise. <em>Solo<\/em>, despite being a fairly solid movie, ended up bombing (at least, relative to its bloated budget) at the box office. Meanwhile, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller went on to write and produce the Spider-Verse movies, making a small fortune (both in money and cultural collateral) for Sony.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Chewbacca and Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo in &lt;em&gt;Solo: A Star Wars Story&lt;\/em&gt;.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/KkxrCYn_BCbZrLwOwC8uCQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/giant_freakin_robot_articles_628\/909771d3fdc5217f6c290cff4f0deb27\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Chewbacca and Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo in <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Sony\u2019s superhero movies mostly have a negative reputation thanks to the awful quality of films like <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/morbius\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Morbius;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Morbius<\/a><\/em>, <em>Kraven<\/em>, and <em>Madame Web<\/em>. But the Spider-Verse movies have been a major hit, and fans are counting down the minutes until we get to see the third film in Miles Morales\u2019 epic animated trilogy. To me, this proves one thing: Lord and Miller had the chance to turn Star Wars around after backlash against <em>The Last Jedi<\/em>, and Disney firing the duo effectively doomed the studio\u2019s most beloved franchise.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>Solo Could Have Turned It All Around<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It\u2019s generally accepted that one of the reasons <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story<\/em> failed is that many fans were still annoyed by <em>The Last Jedi<\/em>, which made major changes to Luke Skywalker\u2019s character that even <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/mark-hamill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Mark Hamill;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Mark Hamill<\/a> hated. That controversial sequel had come out only five months earlier and left a bad taste in fans\u2019 mouths, souring the <em>Solo<\/em> box office. Given how successful Lord and Miller were at getting fans to show up for the Spider-Verse movies after Sony squandered its superhero street cred, I can\u2019t help but think their version of <em>Solo<\/em> could have brought disgruntled Star Wars fans back to the movie theater.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Donald Glover as Lando in &lt;em&gt;Solo: A Star Wars Story&lt;\/em&gt;.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/E_XSebsvZzIIDA_0M99YzQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/giant_freakin_robot_articles_628\/f594fd53835891e94124b192be815ff3\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Donald Glover as Lando in <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>Solo<\/em> failed in part because, after <em>The Last Jedi<\/em>, many fans worried that Star Wars had lost its old magic. With Lord and Miller\u2019s help, Disney could have released a funny Star Wars film that engaged <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/category\/ent\/scifi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:sci-fi;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">sci-fi<\/a> fans as much as <em>Into the Spider-Verse<\/em> engaged superhero fans. If the comedic duo\u2019s <em>Solo<\/em> had been successful and had great word-of-mouth buzz, Disney would likely have continued making the other character-centric films they had been planning (like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi movies) rather than later turning them into disappointing Disney+ series.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>Solo Was The End Of Star Wars\u2026 Unless<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The failure of <em>Solo<\/em> was the beginning of the end: it showed that Star Wars could fail at the box office, proved how many fans were hating the sequels, and exiled many exciting film projects to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/streaming\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:streaming;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">streaming<\/a> hell of Disney+. Disney had a chance to let two of Hollywood\u2019s most reliable creators make a fresh and innovative film, the kind that the franchise had never seen before. Instead, Disney fired the two, and they went on to provide Sony with the Spider-Verse movies that became critical and commercial hits.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"The Falcon attempts to avoid being swallowed in &lt;em&gt;Solo: A Star Wars Story&lt;\/em&gt;.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/9gC7Jv0FP2fS_pjucomOVA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/giant_freakin_robot_articles_628\/b11100324f72833f1f6624bb15c8f6ff\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>The Falcon attempts to avoid being swallowed in <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Disney fired its most revolutionary creators when Star Wars most needed to change things up. We haven\u2019t had a new film in the franchise since 2019, so it\u2019s fair to say that Disney was wrong to play it safe with <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story <\/em>and other franchise films. Unless they\u2019re willing to embrace their inner <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/han-solo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Han Solo;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Han Solo<\/a> and take bigger creative risks going forward, this franchise might disappear into a black hole of complete and utter fan disinterest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Among fans disappointed by Star Wars, there is often the same, morbid question: where did it all go wrong? It\u2019s easy to say things went downhill when Disney bought the franchise rights from George Lucas, or maybe even further, like when Lucas released one subpar prequel after another. None of those things was the cause. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2002459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[23301,364388,350449,352758,23300],"class_list":["post-2002458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-disney","tag-han-solo","tag-phil-lord","tag-spider-verse","tag-star-wars"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Forgotten-Disney-Decision-That-Completely-Doomed-Star-Wars.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2002458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2002459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2002458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2002458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2002458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}