It came as quite the surprise back in June when it was announced that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had been fired by Solo: A Star Wars Story with around six weeks remaining of principal photography.
At the time, it was said that much of the footage they had shot was usable, but Ron Howard was brought in to complete the production, and oversee reshoots in order to bring the film back in line with the original script by Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon.
As with Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – where Tony Gilroy was brought in to supervise reshoots – it seems we’re never really going to know just how much of the film has been changed, but if a new report is to be believed, Howard has reshot “nearly all” of the movie.
According to Star Wars News Net’s The Resistance Broadcast, Howard has been responsible for reshooting at least 80% of the spinoff, which is said to have doubled the budget. We have no idea what that figure is, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens was reported to have cost $245 million, and Rogue One $200 million, which – if this report is true – means that Solo is likely to be one of the most expensive movies ever made.
A Star Wars movie is of course about as close to a guaranteed success at the box office as you can get, but given that Solo will open in the same month as Avengers: Infinity War and a week before Deadpool 2, it is certainly going to face some pressure.
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Han Solo stars Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as the famous smuggler, Donald Glover (Atlanta) as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson (War for the Planet of the Apes) as Beckett (Solo’s mentor), Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Thandie Newton (Westworld), Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War), Ian Kenny (Sing Street), and Warwick Davis (Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) in as-yet-unrevealed roles. It is set for release on May 25th 2018.
