It appears that Star Wars fatigue may be setting into the general public, and that might mean a change of plans for Disney's movie studios.
While the new Star Wars movies created since Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion years ago have typically been massive blockbusters, their most recent effort, Solo: A Star Wars Story, has seen disappointing results.
While the film still managed to pull a respectable $103 million domestically and $65 million over seas over the long weekend, it trails behind the previous Star Wars spin-off film, Rogue One. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Solo is currently on track to only gross a little above $400 million world wide, after costing $250 million to produce.
This marks the first flop (in the loosest possible sense of the word) Disney has truly experienced since purchasing the property, and they might be slowing down their release schedule as a result. Previous Star Wars films came out at a rate of 1 per year, usually premiering in December. Solo, however, premiered less than six months after The Last Jedi, which was a divisive film for the fans. Insiders also cite the release date as a potential issue, as audiences might opt to go see Deadpool 2 instead.
The next film docketed in the franchise is the JJ Abrams-directed Episode IX, which won't open until December of next year, so the public will have time to get excited about new Star Wars again. However, if Solo continues to under-perform, we might have to wait longer than expected for the next film in the franchise.