In 2012 Disney bought Lucasfilm, acquiring the rights to make new 'Star Wars' films. Since then, four films have premiered: two continuing from the saga ('Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens', and 'Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi'), and two spinoffs ('Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' and 'Solo: A Star Wars Story').
In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, the general director of Disney, Bob Iger, spoke on the rapidity with which these films were released, declaring: "I made the timing decision, and as I look back, I think the mistake that I made - I take the blame - was a little too much, too fast. You can expect some slowdown, but that doesn't mean we're not going to make films." This overcharged release of films over the past three years, although gaining frequently positive feedback from fans (as was the case with 'Rogue One'), if pursued at its current rate, would have saturated the franchise.
The film that took the full brunt of suffering as a result of this rapid outpouring of films, acting as a wake-up call to Disney, was 'Han Salo'. In fact it is estimated that the film took losses of between 50 and 80 million dollars, making it the first box office loss in the entire franchise. After this battering in sales, strong rumors began to circulate around Lucasfilm and a potential decision to halt all further plans for spinoff films, although without changing plans for the main saga episodes.
The Future of 'Star Wars'
Although the future of the spinoffs is up in the air, an additional trilogy, written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (showrunners of 'Game of Thrones') is going ahead as planned. Furthermore, 'Star Wars' is also continuing with plans for the live action television series, written and directed by Jon Favreau, in addition to the animation series 'Star Wars Resistance' which will be release in autumn on Disney Channel XD. In Iger's own words: "J.J. [Abrams] is busy making IX. We have creative entities, including Benioff and Weiss, who are developing sagas of their own, which we haven't been specific about. And we are just at the point where we're going to start making decisions about what comes next after J.J.'s. But I think we're going to be a little bit more careful about volume and timing. And the buck stops here on that."
