I agree with many that Solo is better than Last Jedi -- which isn't saying much.
Bottom line for me is that Solo makes the
FIFTH prequel film to New Hope. Frankly, as an at-best casual Star Wars fan, I just do not care enough to watch more. Strategically, I think this is yet another area where Kennedy let herself get led astray. Too much emphasis on prequels. With Rogue One, she got lucky and got a great film but to give notice that she intends to green light scores of new prequel movies (with Boba Fett, Lando, Han and Ben Kenobi) reveals that she has no vision. Coming up with marginal stories set before New Hope just isn't going to cut it. Hardly anyone cares.
A lot has been made about how Solo was snakebite by scheduling (coming just months after Last Jedi) but what I'm not seeing commentators call out is that Solo came hard on the heels of Infinity Wars, which took folks to places they haven't been before (an action film where the bad guy wins outright). Hell, Solo came hard on the heels of Deadpool 2 that (while an inferior copy of the first) still had me laughing uncontrollably in at least one scene. Compared to these two films, Solo was just a whole bunch of average and below average. Did I enjoy it more than I thought I would? Yes. Do I care to see it again? Hell no.
I subscribe to Sick Boy's unifying theory of life. When you get old, you can't hack it anymore. And for the Kasden clan, I'm adding a 'family corollary' to the theory: when you get old and collaborate with family, what you got is not very good. I think I see now what happened during Solo's production. The Kasden's came up with this rambling misshapen mess and the Lego guys tried to bring the story telling pace into this century. The Kasden's freaked out and got Kennedy freaked out and she ran and hired Richie Cunningham -- who, like the good kid he is, stuck to the script. Now we see the results. The pacing was awful. There was too much dead air. Hell, I think Paul Bettany's character offered everyone snacks at one point. WTF????
[Minor spoilers ahead]There are some aspect of Solo that I suspect survived from the original shoot: the Han/Chewie shower scene and the Lando diaries scene. It would have been interesting to see a version of Solo with the Lego guy's footage. If nothing else, I'm sure the pace is a lot zippier.
Notably, Solo still did well with males (56% opening weekend?), and commentators are noting that there is no real competition for a couple of weeks. Accordingly, it will be interesting to see the US hold. I still think Kennedy gets canned -- she has failed strategically (destroying the international fanbase and alienating many) and tactically (see the carnage of fired directors). She has more slack than anyone I have seen in corporate America at that level. But since I posted last, Disney's ABC just had to can Roseanne Barr -- so I still question if Disney has the resolution to fire Kennedy now or in a year or two. I think Disney knows that they have to shut down Rian Johnson, so it'll be interesting to see.
From a licensing perspective, Star Wars and Rey are selling tons of consumer goods, even Dole
salad mix.
I defer to other's marketing expertise, but I suspect licensee's are NOT getting a good return on their investment. If the Disney licensing well starts to dry quickly, I think that will be another factor in the termination decision.