Before Solo flopped at the box office, Lucasfilm planned to release more Star Wars movies in May.
Prior to being acquired by Disney, the studio traditionally slotted the Star Wars movies in May. The first six installments of the Skywalker saga premiered during the lucrative summer movie season. That changed when Disney released Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December 2015.
The Star Wars spinoff Rogue One released one year later around the same time, finding great commercial success in that window. Episode 8 was planned for a May release, but that was changed as the movie has the same conditions as its predecessor.
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Solo Could’ve Gotten Star Wars Back On Track
But with Solo, they stayed on track for its May 2018 bow – even when it endured severe production woes and Ron Howard replaced Phil Lord & Chris Miller as director. As it turns out, this was part of a strategy to return Star Wars to its old May dates for the foreseeable future, as we can see the book The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker:
“Solo: A Star Wars Story had been intended to be the first of many Star Wars films to return to the franchise’s traditional late-May release date.”
But then the movie flopped, grossing only $329.9 million worldwide while the movies in the December slot all grossed $1 billion worldwide or more. That also changed the way spinoffs were handled, as every single one that was on production got put on hold. All upcoming Star Wars movies from 2022-2026 are scheduled to release in December instead.
What do you guys think? Are you happy with the December release dates for Star Wars? Or do you still prefer the May ones? Let’s discuss everything in the comment down below.
