Lucasfilm had been trying to explore Han Solo’s origins for almost 15 years. But even when the project that became Solo: A Star Wars Story was announced in 2015, it was still the victim of bad timing. Lucasfilm initially tapped Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directing duo behind 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie, to direct Solo. But behind-the-scenes troubles quickly pushed the project from an obligatory (yet promising) prequel into a salvage job. Longtime friend of Lucasfilm Ron Howard stepped in to steer the ship back on course, and while the end product skews as close to the original spirit of Star Wars as possible, it barely cleared the bar of its production costs, making it the first box office flop in Star Wars history.
