15 Movies You Thought Were Doomed (But Weren't)

3. Solo: A Star Wars Story

After the latest Star Wars spin-off movie had been shooting with Phil Lord and Chris Miller for around five months, it was announced that the pair had been fired from the production amid "creative differences", with Ron Howard being appointed to replace them.

It later emeged that producer Kathleen Kennedy had become weary of Lord and Miller's improv-heavy directing style, which caused the project to run behind schedule, with crew overtime costs causing the budget to soar. Co-writer Lawrence Kasdan was also unhappy that Lord and Miller allowed the cast to deviate from the exact written words of his script.

Kennedy made an executive decision to have Howard reshoot 70% of the movie in eight-and-a-half weeks with his more efficient style. While Howard got to work, the wave of negative PR reached a fever pitch.

In addition, it was revealed that original editor Chris Dickens had been dismissed, an acting coach was hired for Alden Ehrenreich mid-production amid fears he wasn't nailing the essence of Han Solo, and primary antagonist Dryden Vos was both recast and significantly reworked late in the day.

Lord and Miller ended up with an executive producer credit on the film, and as Solo's release approached, fans were worried that the end product would be a prequel-level trainwreck.

While Solo is by no means a great film, it ultimately turned out far better than most surely anticipated, scoring broadly positive reviews for Ehrenreich's surprisingly solid performance and Howard's veteran filmmaking chops in particular.

Though it disappointed at the box office, especially with reshoots bloating the budget out to $250 million, it'll end up profitable once it hits home video.

It shouldn't be a major mark of pride all things considered for Lucasfilm, but given the clear potential for Solo to veer spectacularly off the rails, all involved did a fine job righting the ship.