10 Hated Movie Performances That Were Secretly Genius

Six years on, and it's still incredibly weird how Disney took all the wrong lessons from the failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Rather than acknowledge the possibility that Star Wars fans were less interested in the MCU-ification of the franchise and were fatigued by the prospect of bi-annual releases (as opposed to the one film per year model that had served Disney well before that point), Disney seemed to take the Solo movie's box office shortcomings as meaning that roles shouldn't be recast. This decision has resulted in spooky CGI recreations of characters in shows like The Mandalorian, when really it should've led to Lucasfilm making more considered choices when selecting which films to greenlight and how much of it we really need.

Solo: A Star Wars Story should not exist, but it is absolutely the best movie that could've been made under the circumstances it faced, which ranged from a change in directors, to the pressure of making an interconnected series of spin-offs. Ron Howard's film certainly stumbles, but when it hits its stride, it's a charming, atmospheric space-Western that does a great job of unpacking what made Han Solo who he was when he walked into the Mos Eisley Cantina all those years ago.

Essential to the success of this part of the film is Alden Ehrenreich, who not only had to contend with indignant fan scrutiny when his casting was announced, but also rumours published in the Hollywood trades that claimed his performance alarmed Lucasfilm to the point of requiring additional coaching. While a coach was enlisted for a brief period during production, this was not due to any aspect of Ehrenreich's performance failing to satisfy producers, as the actor clarified in an interview with Esquire in the run-up to its release. Still, it very much feels like there was an attempt to use Ehrenreich as a scapegoat for Solo's disappointment, despite his performance accomplishing the task of navigating the fine line between impression and innovation when stepping into a role once inhabited by a legendary actor.

Despite the odds, Solo ended up being a way better film than the sum of its parts, and Ehrenreich's performance was fundamental to that - a message that Disney fatally misunderstood for far too long.