It’s a bit of an understatement to say that, despite the overall box office success of the sequel trilogy and the strong performance of Disney+ shows like “The Mandalorian” and “Andor,” Disney has had a rough go of it since purchasing Lucasfilm from original creator George Lucas over a decade ago. While “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” cleared a billion dollars at the box office and jumpstarted the spin-off movies, “Solo” quickly and dramatically pumped the brakes on those plans when it crashed and burned among audiences and critics. After all sorts of PR talk about learning their lessons from the film, it seemed the best course of action would be to either develop any further spin-offs as streaming shows (like “The Book of Boba Fett”) or simply cancel them altogether.
But apparently, the powers that be are feeling mighty bullish “Lando” will succeed where “Solo” did not, as they’re now willing to risk yet another potential high-profile flop by releasing a movie about Lando Calrissian (which was once meant to include star Billy Dee Williams in his classic role) in theaters worldwide. This news follows the last major update we received, which indicated that Glover would also add co-writing duties along with his brother in addition to starring. Importantly, Variety notes that while “no developing or negotiating with the Glover brothers is taking place” as a result of the strikes, all parties involved will begin development as soon as the ink on a new WGA and SAG-AFTRA deal is dry.
I’m not 100% sure this is the right course to take, especially with the theatrical future of “Star Wars” so unclear at this present moment in time.
