11 Reasons You're Wrong About Solo: A Star Wars Story
11. No, The Box-Office Doesn't Matter
Lucasfilm
It's apt that a film about a character who doesn't care about the odds would end up overcoming them with little fanfare, but it's no less frustrating.
Solo, for all its merits, flaws and quirks, has rather quickly been defined by its box-office haul - which, despite grossing over $160 million, is apparently enough to write it off entirely. While there's no denying that it's disappointing, when did the main focus of conversation for newly-released films instantly switch to how much money it managed to make, and not genuine criticism itself?
There's little doubt that Disney will be forced to re-assess their spin-off plans after Solo, but it shouldn't be dominating discourse as much as it currently is, and certainly not in some puerile attempt to silence those who left the theatre with a sense of enjoyment.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
