History Trivia / Solo

** A first for the ''Star Wars'' franchise in that it actually lost money rather than simply having a gross that fell below projections like ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' or ''Film/TheLastJedi'' (and both films were still very profitable). ''Solo'' had a budget of $275 million, and would have needed to make around $600 million to break even. With an estimated final gross of $400 million worldwide and a domestic opening weekend of $84 million, it barely managed half the opening of ''Rogue One'', the previous anthology film, on a larger budget, making it by far the lowest-grossing live-action ''Star Wars'' film ever. ''Deadline'' conservatively estimated the loss at [[https://deadline.com/2019/04/box-office-bombs-2018-solo-a-star-wars-story-mortal-engines-wrinkle-in-time-robin-hood-nutcracker-1202591271/ $77 million.]] Releasing in such close proximity to megahits ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/Deadpool2'' probably didn't help its chances.

* WordOfGay: A journalist for ''The Huffington Post'' asked screenwriter Jon Kasdan if Lando Calrissian could be pansexual, and Kasdan replied, "I would say yes. [...] There's a fluidity to Donald's and Billy Dee's [portrayal of Lando's] sexuality. [...] He doesn't make any hard and fast rules." However, the interview was promptly [[QuoteMine Quote Mined]] as him confirming he intended Lando to be pansexual representation, rather than just him responding to a journalist's idle speculation. Donald Glover later agreed with the pansexual interpretation, saying that in a setting where someone might be in love with an alien blob, it seems a lot weirder to limit yourself to one gender.

** Original directors Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller were replaced mid-production. According to early reports, they were let go for making a screwball comedy in the vein of ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective'', though later sources claimed their genuine inspiration was fellow Disney property ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''. Ron Howard then took over as director and reshot most of what they'd done under his own direction, keeping what they had in mind, but also making sure that the film was in-line with the Original Trilogy.

** Creator/MichaelKWilliams' version of Dryden Vos was cut during reshoots after the change of directors, as Williams was not available during that time. Said role was taken over by Creator/PaulBettany, and was changed from a half-mountain lion hybrid to a full human.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The presence of Twi'leks in the background of the Super Bowl teaser seem to address complaints about the lack of familiar ''Star Wars'' aliens in the Sequel Trilogy and less so for ''Film/RogueOne'', the first anthology film. Further confirmed by the presence of a suit of the much-beloved Mandalorian armor in the background of the second trailer. The presence of Pykes in the movie has also been praised, not only because they are another group of familiar aliens, but also since they were restricted to animation and books prior to this movie. Furthermore, one of Enfys' Cloud Riders, Chussido, is clearly a Rodian, a very classic species from the franchise.
** After a bunch of people were upset about ''Film/RogueOne'' lacking any kind of opening crawl, this film splits the difference with a brief text intro in the same style as the "A long time ago" card, possibly setting the template for all future side films in the franchise. A number of people also like this take on the idea, since it helps establish the different, somewhat desperate atmosphere of the movie's start - there's no fanfare, no grandness, just the grim reality of life in the gutter of Corellia.
** [[spoiler:Maul igniting his lightsaber in front of Qi'ra]] was criticized by some for being perhaps a bit too obvious example of fanservice, not to mention looking a little bit silly. The author of the novelization confirmed that it was both 1) a straightforward case of IntimidationDemonstration, and 2) Qi'ra [[InternalReveal didn't actually know who he was before then]], ([[FridgeBrilliance which makes perfect sense]], since [[spoiler:Force users, at this time in the galaxy, are supposed to be extinct.]])
** After long-reviled changes to Han's confrontation with Greedo in ''A New Hope'' to lessen his initial AntiHero characterization -- one that still continues to this day with continued altering for the film's release on Disney Plus -- ''Solo'''s climax [[spoiler: has Han pragmatically shooting Beckett first before Beckett can even raise his blaster.]]

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/AldenEhrenreich looks and sounds almost nothing like a young Creator/HarrisonFord, he was cast based on the strength of his performance. Creator/RonHoward stated he had to be someone who could effectively channel the spirit of Han Solo, rather than just be a Harrison Ford impersonator.

** To emphasize the magnitude of this failure: its domestic gross ended up at $213 million, with its worldwide gross stopping at $392.8 million. Adjusted for inflation, the ''Star Wars: Special Edition'' 1997 re-releases in theaters grossed around $275 million. While the domestic take for ''Solo'' was actually the twelfth-highest for a film released in 2018, its exceptionally weak overseas performance -- for perspective, ''Film/Venom2018'', which earned a near-identical amount domestically, made $641 million outside of North America; ''Solo'' only made ''$179 million'' -- helped condemn it to box-office failure.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ThandiweNewton [[https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/thandiwe-newton-interview-reminiscence-star-wars-westworld was not happy about]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst her character's death]], since the shooting script [[NeverFoundTheBody left her character's loss ambiguous enough for a return]] and she felt it was a waste for ''Star Wars'' to kill its first theatrical Black woman lead. Co-writer Jonathan Kasdan also stated he felt in retrospect that Newton's performance was "too good" for such a small role.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Enough for [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/StarWars its own page]].

* FanNickname: "Pimp Trooper" for the Range Trooper, due to the fluffy and soft fur cape on its neck.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ThandiweNewton [[https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/thandiwe-newton-interview-reminiscence-star-wars-westworld was not happy about]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst her character's death]], since the shooting script [[NeverFoundTheBody left her character's loss ambiguous enough for a return]] and she felt it was a waste for ''Star Wars'' to kill its first theatrical Black woman lead.

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* QuoteSource: The film provides the quote source for TheTysonZone.

** An interesting case after the film's box-office disappointment: It was believed Disney was shutting down ''every'' upcoming film besides ''The Rise of Skywalker'' and doing a complete restructuring of their plans. While this was initially denied, [[https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/20/17882574/disney-ceo-bob-iger-star-wars-franchise-slowdown Disney CEO Bob Iger later clarified that there would be a 'slowdown' in the release dates of future Star Wars films]], indicating that they would no longer be sticking to the initially-planned release schedule for their spin-off franchise. A later report more directly said that the at-the-time current slate of spinoffs had been "flushed". The confirmation of the ''Obi-Wan Kenobi'' miniseries on Creator/DisneyPlus appears to indicate that the ''Star Wars Story'' label may be a StillbornFranchise.

* StillbornFranchise: Double whammy for intended ''Franchise/StarWars'' sub-franchises:
** The film had planned sequels in the pipeline (Alden Ehrenreich even signed on for three films), but when it became the first ''Star Wars'' film to ever ''lose'' money at the box office, they were seemingly cancelled.
** On top of that, the ''Star Wars Story'' label seems to have been abandoned after ''Solo'''s disastrous box office results. That being said, two of such planned films, one about Boba Fett and one about Obi-Wan Kenobi, were retooled into lower budget MiniSeries for Creator/DisneyPlus -- ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' and ''Series/ObiWanKenobi''.

** An interesting case after the film's box-office disappointment: It was believed Disney was shutting down ''every'' upcoming film besides ''The Rise of Skywalker'' and doing a complete restructuring of their plans. While this was initially denied, [[https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/20/17882574/disney-ceo-bob-iger-star-wars-franchise-slowdown Disney CEO Bob Iger later clarified that there would be a 'slowdown' in the release dates of future Star Wars films]], indicating that they would no longer be sticking to the initially-planned release schedule for their spin-off franchise. A later report more directly said that the at-the-time current slate of spinoffs had been "flushed.". The confirmation of the ''Obi-Wan Kenobi'' miniseries on Creator/DisneyPlus appears to indicate that the ''Star Wars Story'' label may be a StillbornFranchise.

** The film had planned sequels in the pipeline (Alden Ehrenreich even signed on for three films), but when it became the first ''Star Wars'' film to ever ''lose'' money at the box office, they were seemingly cancelled (though Donald Glover's Lando is set to return in a Creator/DisneyPlus series).

** The film had planned sequels in the pipeline (Alden Ehrenreich even signed on for three films), but when it became the first ''Star Wars'' film to ever ''lose'' money at the box office, they were seemingly cancelled (though Donald Glover’s Lando is set to return in a Creator/DisneyPlus series).
** On top of that, the ''Star Wars Story'' label seems to have been abandoned after ''Solo'''s disastrous box office results (unless the upcoming ''Obi-Wan Kenobi'' Creator/DisneyPlus miniseries keeps it going).

* HostilityOnTheSet: When it was announced that Phil Lord and Chris Miller had been fired, applause broke out and continued for some time. Creator/AldenEhrenreich in particular had been exasperated by their attempt to make things LighterAndSofter, since he hadn't expected that when he took the part and didn't feel he did comedy well, notwithstanding that there's still a fair amount of funny in the movie.

* WordOfGay: A journalist for ''The Huffington Post'' quoted screenwriter Jon Kasdan as saying, "There's a fluidity to [Donald's and Billy Dee's] portrayal of sexuality. [...] He doesn't make any hard and fast rules." Donald Glover agreed, saying that in a setting where someone might be in love with an alien blob, it seems a lot weirder to limit yourself to one gender.

* WagTheDirector: [[spoiler:Creator/SamWitwer]] vehemently disapproved of [[spoiler:Creator/PeterSerafinowicz's original voice performance for Maul]] at the end of this film, as he felt that [[spoiler:it was unrecognizable from Maul's portrayal in both the animated shows and ''Phantom Menace''. As such, he insisted on being the one to voice Maul to cater to ''The Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels'' fans, rather than have a portrayal of Maul that alienated both hardcore and casual fans of the franchise.]]

* WagTheDirector: Creator/SamWitwer vehemently disapproved of Creator/PeterSerafinowicz's original voice performance for Maul at the end of this film, as he felt that it was unrecognizable from Maul's portrayal in both the animated shows and ''Phantom Menace''. As such, he insisted on being the one to voice Maul to cater to ''The Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels'' fans, rather than have a portrayal of Maul that alienated both hardcore and casual fans of the franchise.

** [[spoiler:While Creator/RayPark reprises his role as Maul, his voice-over is done by Sam Witwer, who portrayed the character on ''The Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels'', instead of Peter Serafinowicz, who did the character's voice in ''The Phantom Menace''. Serafinowicz reportedly recorded the lines but was replaced without his knowledge.]]

** [[spoiler: Despite recording his lines for the film, Peter Serafinowicz was replaced by Sam Witwer.]]

* WagTheDirector: Creator/SamWitwer vehemently disapproved of Peter Serafinowicz's original voice performance for Maul at the end of this film, as he felt that it was unrecognizable from Maul's portrayal in both the animated shows and ''Phantom Menace''. As such, he insisted on being the one to voice Maul to cater to ''The Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels'' fans, rather than have a portrayal of Maul that alienated both hardcore and casual fans of the franchise.

** To stick the lightsaber even deeper, ''Solo'' isn't even the lowest grossing ''Star Wars'' movie. That dubious honor goes to ''[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsMovie Clone Wars]]'' animated film, which only earned $69 million compared to ''Solo''[='=]s $393 million. And yet, ''The Clone Wars'' is saved because it was produced on budget of just $8.5 million compared to ''Solo''[='=]s $275 million and is part of the better received [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars TV series]] (of which the film is actually a few episodes edited together), so it was still very profitable.

* WagTheDirector: Creator/SamWitwer vehemently disapproved of Peter Serafinowicz's original voice performance for Maul at the end of this film, as he felt that it was unrecognizable from Maul's portrayal in both the animated shows and ''Phantom Menace''. As such, he insisted on being the one to voice Maul to cater to ''Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels'' fans, rather than have a portrayal of Maul that alienated both hardcore and casual fans of the franchise.

** A first for the ''Star Wars'' franchise in that it actually lost money rather than simply having a gross that fell below projections like ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' or ''Film/TheLastJedi'' (and both films were still very profitable). ''Solo'' had a budget of $275 million, and would have needed to make around $600 million to break even. With an estimated final gross of $400 million worldwide and a domestic opening weekend of $84 million, it barely managed half the opening of ''Rogue One'', the previous anthology film, on a larger budget, making it by far the lowest-grossing live-action ''Star Wars'' film ever. ''Deadline'' conservatively estimated the loss at [[https://deadline.com/2019/04/box-office-bombs-2018-solo-a-star-wars-story-mortal-engines-wrinkle-in-time-robin-hood-nutcracker-1202591271/ $77 million.]]

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ThandiweNewton [[https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/thandiwe-newton-interview-reminiscence-star-wars-westworld was not happy about]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst her character's early death]], since the shooting script [[NeverFoundTheBody left her character's loss ambiguous enough for a return]] and she felt it was a waste for ''Star Wars'' to kill its first theatrical Black woman lead.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ThandwineNewton was [[https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-solo-val-death-actress NOT]] happy about her character's early death, having been mislead into believing she'd be a main character and felt it was a wasted opportunity to not have a leading woman of color.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ThandwineNewton was [[https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-solo-val-death-actress NOT]] happy about her character's early death having been mislead into believing she’d be a main character and felt it was a wasted opportunity to not have a leading woman of color.

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/AldenEhrenreich looks and sounds almost nothing like a young Creator/HarrisonFord, he was cast based on the strength of his performance. Ron Howard stated he had to be someone who could effectively channel the spirit of Han Solo, rather than just be a Harrison Ford impersonator.

** Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge themselves jointly came up with the idea that L3 and Lando would have [[UnresolvedSexualTension unresolved feelings]] for one another. Jon Kasdan loved it and added L3 and Qi'ra's conversation in the cockpit of the ''Falcon'' together to expand on Glover and Waller-Bridge's idea.

** Creator/HarrisonFord was delighted with Alden Ehrenreich's performance, saying he "couldn't be happier." Creator/RonHoward later revealed in fact that when visiting the set, Ford [[Main/SoProudOfYou put a hand on Ehrenreich’s shoulder and said “Great job kid.”]]

* CreativeDifferences: Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller cited this trope when they left the project, though other reports suggested that they were outright fired. In any case, the source of conflict was apparently over how much of the movie they were improvising, as that did not sit well with Lawrence Kasdan (who prefers that his scripts are fully adhered to) and producer Creator/KathleenKennedy. Ironically, Kasdan was the one to suggest that the duo direct the movie in the first place.
* CreatorBacklash: Thandwine Newton was NOT happy about her character’s early death having been mislead into believing she’d be a main character and felt it was a wasted opportunity to not have a leading woman of color https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-solo-val-death-actress

* TroubledProduction: ''Solo'' has the dubious honor of being the first ''Star Wars'' movie since the original trilogy to have things go haywire. Directors Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller left production after four months of shooting due to conflicts with the studio (they wanted a more comedic production and pushed for more improvising, something that did not sit well with Lucasfilm), and replacement Creator/RonHoward decided to not just complete what remained, but also reshoot Lord & Miller's footage until he got sole credit -- with 80 percent of the finished product being his work -- ballooning the budget and forcing Dryden Vos to be recast. It even hurt marketing, as there wasn't enough footage for a trailer until three months prior to release.[[note]]For reference, ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' had its first public trailer released a full 6 months before its release date, whilst the teaser for ''The Force Awakens'' debuted over a year before its release.[[/note]]

* AscendedFanon: ''Solo'' officially canonizes a popular fan theory about Han Solo's famous Kessel Run. For years, seemingly every ''Franchise/StarWars'' fan had their own favorite explanation for why Han bragged about making the Kessel Run "in less than twelve parsecs" in ''Film/ANewHope'', since a parsec is a unit of ''distance'' rather than time. Some believed that it was an intentional error, meant to demonstrate that [[SmallNameBigEgo Han was just talking out of his ass]]; others believed that he was surreptitiously testing Luke and Obi-Wan's knowledge of space travel, and wanted to see if they would correct him; others believed that he was bragging about the ''Millennium Falcon'''s navigational capabilities, referring to the specific ''route'' that he took through the Kessel system. The last explanation was incorporated into the film as a major plot point: Han once took a particularly dangerous shortcut through the Maw Cluster while smuggling valuable cargo from Kessel, allowing him to complete the run in a much shorter distance than normal.