Star Wars: Does Anyone Really Need A Jabba The Hutt Spin-Off?
Ya ma da poonoo.
It was always inevitable that Disney would double-down on their Star Wars Anthology movies agenda after the success of Rogue One proved that fans would go and see non-Skywalker films. And it was even more inevitable that they'd focus on established stories once it became clear that fans would flock even when those stories were already half-told, so the news of the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise.
You know, despite the fact that it should be about a middle aged man in exile not being a Jedi...
Now it seems that LucasFilm have plans for even more expanded movies based on characters we've already met, rather than something more imaginative, as a number of possibilities are in early development. Almost inevitably, that list includes Boba Fett and Yoda spin-offs (which you could have bet on), but what's slightly more surprising is the suggetion that Jabba The Hutt might be getting one too.
The Hutt news came up in Variety‘s report of the Obi-Wan movie's development and it should have raised a few eyebrows. Mostly because it's absolutely unnecessary. To all intents and purposes, we're probably looking at a crime sci-fi looking at Jabba's criminal network - perhaps an inter-stellar Godfather clone - but there is absolutely nothing charismatic about the Hutt to make that a good idea.
Alternatively, of course, we could see a new low-level hero introduced who tries to tackle Hutt's network (or who joins up Goodfellas style and charts a rise through his ranks). What would be catastrophic is relying on Jabba to play the lead: nobody wants to see a morbidly obese slug sitting on a throne for 130 minutes and nobody wants a CGI-created leaner, younger Hutt swash-buckling across the galaxy. He's just not that kind of character.
Perhaps Jabba will just end up being a Han Solo stand-alone sequel, with the earlier meetings of the characters explored, but even that isn't the most exciting thing LucasFilm could be focusing on right now. Maybe just leave Jabba's untold stories to be revealed in Han Solo and the Boba Fett movie that will inevitably follow.
What do you think? Would you watch a Jabba The Hutt movie?