10 'Next Big Thing' Movies That Completely Flopped

2. Solo: A Star Wars Story

Han Solo A Star Wars Story Alden Ehrenreich
Lucasfilm

When Disney bought Star Wars, there was the expectation that no new movie could fail. Sure, spinning the series off away from the main episodes to individual stories set in a galaxy far, far away was a risk, but when Rogue One made over a billion dollars at the box office, it didn't feel like one.

It came as a surprise, then, when the next movie in this Stars Wars Story spin-off franchise made less than $400 million and was seen as a total disaster by Disney and Lucasfilm. In fact, it tanked so hard that it killed the whole idea of future spin-offs focussing on individual characters. The allegedly in-development Boba Fett and Obi Wan Kenobi flicks were both canned, and Disney shifted gears entirely to focus on a new slate of movies and their TV offerings.

Solo single-handedly changed the course of Star Wars history, which is all it'll be remembered for in the future.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.