Awww, man! I like the anthology films. Would it kill Disney/LFL to take some responsibility that they royally effed up Solo? Or was it really easier just to say that anthology films don't make money (they do) and that SW fatigue is the cause (it's not).
I actually think it's neither. I don't think it's an issue of Star Wars fatigue as much as it is a combination of self-competition (seriously, Marvel is just cranking stuff out at a breakneck pace), and -- more importantly -- some mismanagement at the executive level. This is where legitimate criticisms of Kathleen Kennedy come in from a business perspective. It's not the displeasure of some fans with Rian Johnson's film, but rather that there were some pretty serious production SNAFUs in the making of the -- so far -- only two anthology films, and some behind-the-scenes stuff with Ep. IX. Kennedy initially tapped several directors who are not established big-budget directors. Josh Trank, Rian Johnson, Lord & Miller. Colin Trevorrow had Jurassic World, and Gareth Edwards had Godzilla under their respective belts, but that was it for big budget. Trank had a big-budget failure, Lord & Miller had done comedies, and Johnson had literally nothing big budget.
As much as I decry LFL not taking risks with their story subjects, they
definitely took risks with their project leaders. Trank flamed out early on. Lord & Miller shot a whole movie that had to be reshot and which was almost certainly responsible for the financial failure of Solo (budget overruns, inability to move the scheduled release, ineffective marketing). Rogue One, although financially successful, had some serious post-production issues to deal with, and the experience was apparently unpleasant enough for Edwards to say that he wouldn't want to direct another Star Wars movie. Trevorrow dropped out of Ep. IX and JJ took it over, although he's still credited as a co-writer.
What all of this suggests to me -- and I claim no great expertise here -- is that Star Wars has been going full-tilt with a particular business model since the Disney purchase of LFL, and it has been...of mixed success. TFA was undoubtedly a success. (I'm talking financially here, not just what people think of the film; I certainly have my criticisms of it.) TLJ was also a financial success, however it may have divided the fan base. But so far, we have two "saga" films and two "anthology" films, and only the Saga films managed to avoid production SNAFUs. As a result, I think taking a step back, pausing the breakneck pace of development, and saying "Hang on. What are we doing here, and why are we doing it?" is a wise choice. Something isn't working, or isn't working as well as it should.
If Marvel can avoid "Marvel fatigue," then Star Wars should absolutely be able to. Marvel's had far fewer of the kind of production SNAFUs that Star Wars has. My recollection is that only Ant-Man suffered from anything comparable. So, again, I think this boils down to a need to reevaluate strategy at the C-suite level. Figure out what the common threads in production failures have been, and try a different approach. And meanwhile, focus on what they know works (the Saga films).
I'd also like to see a Boba movie. When we last saw him in Clone Wars, he was a punk wannabe who was getting screwed over by his crew and beaten by Ventress (who hogtied him and stuffed him in a trunk). Aurra Sing stole and crashed Slave I. Etc. I'd like to see how he gets from that to being the most feared bounty hunter in known space.
All of these -- and Solo -- deal with the fringier elements of Star Wars. The dangerous underbelly of society, where some of the best Clone Wars and Rebels episodes took place. Use Han and Boba to be the audience's familiar touchstones and let the stories speak for themselves. Use them to introduce new characters, that we can then follow later without them as training wheels. Jumping over to the comics, Doctor Aphra was working with/for Vader in his title. She proved so popular with fans that when that series ended, she got her own, largely unsupported by any of Our Heroes. This is exactly what I see people clamoring for, but when they get it, they don't seem to know what to do with it. New stories set in the Star Wars universe, introducing new characters... It's such an established IP, though, that you can't just throw a whole cast of new characters at a movie audience. A familiar face really helps smooth the transition. If they didn't, a lot of casual viewers would be wondering when Han or Luke were going to show up. Or maybe Poe, if they're unclear about the era, as happened with Rogue One.
Right, and that's exactly what I
thought the plan was for the anthology movies.
Although, I have to be honest, I think we're getting to a point where we have to move beyond the OT characters. You can still do the OT setting to launch new characters, but the OT characters themselves are...well, they're pretty well established. Doing a "backstory" movie about one isn't going to grab audiences. It helps to have a familiar
face, but I think what's more important is a familiar
setting and a familiar
struggle. Everyone "gets" Rebels vs. Empire. That's an easy touchstone. Everyone "gets" the underlying concept of the Clone Wars. Clone dudes vs. robot dudes, lots of Jedi, and a couple of Sith dudes behind the scenes. An underworld story -- if you want to launch an underworld series -- can tie into that, at least tangentially. Tell a story like what Han and Chewie did, but tell it from the perspective of the smuggler ne'er-do-wells instead of the plucky rebels. Don't have the smugglers join up (initially), but have them remain in contact with the Rebels or maybe end up branded "Rebels" by the empire and now they're on the run. Hey, there's your sequel!
But continually going back to the OT well for characters and stories? That's unsustainable.