When Ron Howard took over directorial duties of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," replacing original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, he knew the task at hand was enormous. After all, the "Star Wars" brand is as important, if not more so, for Disney than their cherished Marvelbrand. The trouble that was brewing between Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and Lord/Miller was of obvious major concern, especially coming off the heels of the fanboy backlash that happened with "The Last Jedi." Howard had to steer the ship back in the right direction and have fans that were turned off by Rian Johnson's Episode 8 come back onboard. Suffice to say, the underwhelming box-office clearly showed that not to be the case and "Solo," a film that no doubt had major flaws on-screen, was not saved by Howard.
Now Howard is expressing disappointment that the film he directed failed to deliver at the box-office.
“I’m proud of #SoloAStarWarsStory and the cast & crew worked hard to give fans a fun new addition,” he tweeted when a fan asked if the backlash that stemmed from “The last Jedi” was partially to blame for the tepid numbers of "Solo" at the box-office. “As a director, I feel badly when people who I believe (& exit polls show) will very likely enjoy a movie… don’t see it on a big screen w/great sound.”
Howard's tweet should not be seen without merit. The continuous cycle of news and rumors that had to do with the problematic production of "Solo" was a death sentence for the film's success.
Expectations were being tampered the minute Lord and Miller got fired and talk of Alden Ehrenreich needing an acting coach surfaced. Howard was handed the near-impossible task to take over Lord and Miller's work, they were fired near the end of production, and not only shoot newly written scenes but re-shoot plenty of already existing ones as well. The end result amounted to “Solo” making just $176 million domestically thus far and on its way to making half of what the other SW "spinoff," "Rogue One" accumulated at the box-office. One feels bad for the cast and crew that surely worked very hard for the film to be a success but only so much can go wrong during a film's production for it to work out in the end and "Solo," well, it might just take the cake as the most problematic shoot of the decade.