Lucasfilm's second nonepisodic spin-off Star Wars movie Solo: A Star Wars Story is expected to chronicle the misadventures that led to smuggler Han Solo's friendship with Wookie Clone War veteran Chewbacca and their subsequent ownership of the Correlian freighter known as the Millenium Falcon. Starring Alden Ehrenreich as the charismatic rogue with Donald Glover as his friend and fellow scoundrel Lando Calrissian, Solo is to be the first of the new batch of Star Wars movies not to be released during the holiday season, scheduled instead to open in theatres May 25th, 2018. Following in the wake of J. J. Abrams, Gareth Edwards, and Rian Johnson, Solo is directed by... Ron Howard.
According to SWNN's The Resistance Broadcast unnamed sources close to the production of the movie have claimed that the veteran Hollywood director has reshot at least 80% of the movie, putting into question whether any of the footage filmed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will even be used in the final product, and by extension whether or not the duo will even get directors credit at all. Considering the slow pace of production, deviations from Lawrence and Jon Kasdan's script, and strained relationships with the cast and crew, it is no surprise that Lord and Miller were fired from the Solo movie. Whatever element Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had hoped the directing duo would bring to the project was, in hindsight, ill-advised at best. Maybe the duo should have accepted the opportunity to direct Ghostbusters III when it was offered to them back in 2014, and saved Lucasfilm, Sony, and audiences a lot of money.
Be rest assured that considering his friendship with Star Wars creator George Lucas and his established career as an award-winning director of movies such as Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon, Backdraft and The Da Vinci Code, Ron Howards vision for Solo will be above and beyond whatever misguided escapades Lord and Miller had in mind. Maybe, in the wake of a successful release we could see other big name directors attached to future Star Wars movies, possibly even the most coveted director of them all; Stephen Speilberg.
