Disney’s Bob Iger Talks the Future of Star Wars; Takes Blame for Solo’s Underperformance

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It’s so rare for a Star Wars movie to underperform in the box office, that everyone started questioning the future of the franchise when Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t make as much money when it came out. Now Disney CEO Bob Iger comes out and takes the blame for Solo underperforming and assures fans that the Star Wars train hasn’t stopped chugging.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Iger comments:

“I made the timing decision, and as I look back, I think the mistake that I made — I take the blame — was a little too much, too fast. You can expect some slowdown, but that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna make films. J.J. [Abrams] is busy making [Episode] IX. We have creative entities, including [Game of Thrones creators David] Benioff and [D.B.] Weiss, who are developing sagas of their own, which we haven’t been specific about. And we are just at the point where we’re gonna start making decisions about what comes next after J.J.’s. But I think we’re gonna be a little bit more careful about volume and timing. And the buck stops here on that.”

Originally, Lucasfilm had asked for the release date of Solo to be pushed back when they replaced directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but Disney was adamant to have the May release date kept since a lot of their projects have ended up delayed.

The early release ultimately ended up doing more harm for Solo than good. Marketing had a rough time trying to promote the film after it came out so close to The Last Jedi, and they only had two months to build on the hype. What’s more, it’s rumored that Disney didn’t prioritize the promotion of Solo at all since they were too busy trying to peddle Avengers: Infinity War.

At least we have confirmation that a lot of Star Wars films are still in development, it’s just the case of being careful with the release date. For now, it looks like Lucasfilm is going to be focusing on one project per medium—Episode IX for the films, Star Wars Resistance for animation, and Jon Favreau’s live-action series for TV.

Star Wars Episode IX is slated for a release on Dec. 20, 2019.