In 'Solo' stumble, a crossroads for Disney's 'Star Wars'

The reaches of the galaxy far, far away might not be quite as vast as previously thought.

FILE - This undated file image released by Lucasfilm shows Alden Ehrenreich and Joonas Suotamo in a scene from "Solo: A Star Wars Story." In a box-office blip that echoed through the multiplexes, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” didn't fare well over the Memorial Day weekend, amassing an estimated $103 million in ticket sales from Thursday night to Monday, May 28, 2018. (Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm via AP, File)

In a box-office blip that echoed through the multiplexes, "Solo: A Star Wars Story" didn't fare well over the Memorial Day weekend, amassing an estimated $103 million in ticket sales from Thursday night to Monday. Most movies dream of such openings, but the standard for "Star Wars" is different, as is the bottom line.

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo in a scene from "Solo: A Star Wars Story." (Lucasfilm via AP)

"Solo," which switched directors mid-production, cost more than $250 million to make, and it was expected to debut with around $150 million. For the first time, the "Star Wars" juggernaut was humbled at the box office. The opening marked the worst debut in the franchise's history and Disney's stock slid 2.5 percent in trading Tuesday.

No one yet needs to run panicked through the streets yelling "Save the Wookies!" But for the first time since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05 billion, the profit potential within George Lucas' space saga no longer appears limitless.

Instead of opening up a new Han Solo trilogy, the disappointing arrival of "Solo" only intensified the questions bubbling around one of the movies' biggest properties. Is there a filmmaker beside J.J. Abrams that can win over both die-hards and new fans? How slavish should subsequent sequels and spinoffs be to the originals? Is there anyone in China who cares a lick about lightsabers?

"I think they knew they had a problem a long time ago," said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. "What, 75 percent of the directors are fired and don't finish the film? You've got internal problems."

Those problems came to a head on "Solo," where filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced during shooting by Ron Howard, who steered the film in a less irreverent comic direction that stayed closer to the script co-written by Lawrence Kasdan, the veteran "Star Wars" scribe of "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Once envisioned as a western-style prequel romp, "Solo" became an existential battle over the tone of "Star Wars," as Lucasfilm struggled to find a balance between old and new.

"If this is the business of movies now — and these are the ones that are actually in theaters — then it's got to be this push and pull, constantly," Kasdan said in an interview ahead of the film's release. "There's an added thing when you make a 'Star Wars' movie. You run into people in England — and in Marin County but mainly in England — who have been working on it off and on for 40 years. That's like entering a cult. You have the same people who worked on Chewie's costume in the original film, still working on it."

Finding a way to propel "Star Wars" forward while maintaining spiritual ties to Lucas' hallowed original trilogy is only going to get more complicated. Up next is Episode IX, which J.J. Abrams has taken the helm on after Colin Trevorrow was jettisoned. But after that film, which in December 2019 will close out the third "Star Wars" trilogy, a fleet of sequels and spinoffs are planned.

"Last Jedi" writer-director Rian Johnson is developing another trilogy in the main line of films. "Game of Thrones" creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff will write and produce a separate batch of "Star Wars" films. Jon Favreau is writing and executive producing a live-action series for Disney's upcoming streaming platform. James Mangold ("Logan") is to write and a direct a Boba Fett film. Rumors have long swirled about an Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff. And Disney will next year add "Star Wars" villages to its theme parks.

The litany of releases has, for some, diluted the power of "Star Wars." ''Solo" followed "The Last Jedi" by just five months, leading some to wonder if moviegoers are showing signs of "Star Wars" fatigue.

"These first three films that we released did more than $4 billion. This is our fourth movie now in what is our fourth year of having the Lucasfilm franchise," said Dave Hollis, distribution chief for Disney. "It feels a little premature to talk about fatigue. We're also planning our releases for 'Star Wars' movies in the same rooms where we're planning movies for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And we had 'Thor,' 'Black Panther' and 'Infinity War' in November, February and May, and they were all wildly successful."

But whether "Star Wars" can be Marvel-ified remains unclear. While the novelizations, merchandising and collective cultural force of "Star Wars" remains a mammoth industry, it all feeds primarily off that original trilogy of films. (64 percent of the audience for "Solo" was over the age of 25.)

And its international footprint is also missing one very big toe. China, where Lucas' first movies weren't released, has shown scant interest in new "Star Wars" installments. "The Last Jedi" survived only a week in Chinese theaters. "Solo," which earned a relatively paltry $65 million overseas, did even worse, opening with just $10.1 million in the world's second largest moviegoing market — an untenable black hole for any global blockbuster today.

"China in particular requires a longer conversation and probably a longer deployment of a strategy to introduce, in many instances, characters that other countries have had the benefit of growing up with," said Hollis. "So it will take some work."

Bock believes Lucasfilm needs to get more creative with "Star Wars," trust filmmakers to experiment, try an R-rated film and do whatever it takes to boost popularity in China. "If that means hiring Dwayne Johnson for the next one, then that's what you do," says Bock. "He's the franchise fixer."

But the best solution for "Star Wars" might be even simpler. A full half — and, arguably, the clearly weaker half — of the "Star Wars" canon follows events leading up to "A New Hope." ''Solo," ''Rogue One" and Lucas' little-loved 1999-2005 trilogy all function as preludes for what's the come.

So whatever changes need to be made in the "Star Wars" universe, Lucasfilm could start with this: Look to the future, and give up the prequel.

Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica with record-tying 185 mph winds Tuesday, was a beast that stood out as extreme even in a record number of monster storms spawned over the last decade in a superheated Atlantic Ocean.

Melissa somehow shook off at least three different meteorological conditions that normally weaken major hurricanes and was still gaining power as it hit, scientists said, a bit amazed.

And while more storms these days are undergoing rapid intensification — gaining 35 mph in wind speed over 24 hours — Melissa did a lot more than that. It achieved what's called extreme rapid intensification — gaining at least 58 mph over 24 hours. In fact, Melissa turbocharged by about 70 mph during a 24-hour period last week, and had an unusual second round of rapid intensification that spun it up to 175 mph, scientists said.

“It's been a remarkable, just a beast of a storm," Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said.

When Melissa came ashore it tied strength records for Atlantic hurricanes making landfall, both in wind speed and barometric pressure, which is a key measurement that meteorologists use, said Klotzbach and University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. The pressure measurement tied the deadly 1935 Labor Day storm in Florida, while the 185 mph wind speed equaled marks set that year and during 2019's Hurricane Dorian. Hurricane Allen reached 190 mph winds in 1980, but not at landfall.

Usually when major hurricanes brew they get so strong that the wind twirling in the center of the storm gets so intense and warm in places that the eyewall needs to grow, so a small one collapses and a bigger one forms. That's called an eyewall replacement cycle, McNoldy said, and it usually weakens the storm at least temporarily.

Melissa showed some signs of being ready to do this, but it never did, McNoldy and Klotzbach said.

Another weird thing is that Melissa sat offshore of mountainous Jamaica for awhile before coming inland. Usually mountains, even on islands, tear up storms, but not Melissa.

“It was next to a big mountainous island and it doesn't even notice it's there,” McNoldy said in amazement.

Warm water is the fuel for hurricanes. The hotter and deeper the water, the more a storm can power up. But when storms sit over one area for awhile — which Melissa did for days on end — it usually brings cold water up from the depths, choking off the fuel a bit. But that didn't happen to Melissa, said Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist for Climate Central, a combination of scientists and journalists who study climate change.

“It's wild how almost easily this was allowed to just keep venting,” Woods Placky said. “This had enough warm water at such high levels and it just kept going.”

Melissa rapidly intensified during five six-hour periods as it hit the extreme rapid intensification level, McNoldy said. And then it jumped another 35 mph and “that's extraordinary,” he said.

For meteorologists following it “just your stomach would sink as you’d see these updates coming in,” Woods Placky said.

“We were sitting at work on Monday morning with our team and you just saw the numbers just start jumping again, 175. And then again this morning (Tuesday), 185," Woods Placky said.

“It's an explosion,” she said.

One key factor is warm water. McNoldy said some parts of the ocean under Melissa were 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the long-term average for this time of year.

Climate Central, using scientifically accepted techniques of comparing what's happening now to a fictional world with no human-caused climate change, estimated the role of global warming in Melissa. It said the water was 500 to 700 times more likely to be warmer than normal because of climate change.

A rapid Associated Press analysis of Category 5 hurricanes that brewed, not just hit, in the Atlantic over the past 125 years showed a large recent increase in those top-of-the-scale storms. There have been 13 Category 5 storms from 2016 to 2025, including three this year. Until last year, no other 10-year period even reached double digits. About 29% of the Category 5 hurricanes in the past 125 years have happened since 2016.

McNoldy, Klotzbach and Woods Placky said hurricane records before the modern satellite era are not as reliable because some storms out at sea could have been missed. Measuring systems for strength have also improved and changed, which could be a factor. And there was a period between 2008 and 2015 with no Atlantic Category 5 storms, Klotzbach said.

Still, climate science generally predicts that a warmer world will have more strong storms, even if there aren't necessarily more storms overall, the scientists said.

“We’re seeing a direct connection in attribution science with the temperature in the water and a climate change connection, Woods Placky said. ”And when we see these storms go over this extremely warm water, it is more fuel for these storms to intensify rapidly and push to new levels."

Science Writer Seth Borenstein has covered hurricanes for more than 35 years and has co-authored two books on them. Data journalist M.K. Wildeman contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.

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People walk along a road during the passing of Hurricane Melissa in Rocky Point, Jamaica, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Waves splash in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man walks along the coastline during the passing of Hurricane Melissa in Kingston, Jamaica, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

People walk along a road during the passing of Hurricane Melissa in Rocky Point, Jamaica, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man walks in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)