On May 25th, 2018 the new Star Wars standalone spin-off, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will be released...but are we really so sure about this? The movie is 4 months away and there has not been a single trailer or solid piece of promotional material. All we’ve seen is a simple poster with the title. The only thing you can find is a picture of the crew in a behind-the-scenes photo while filming, why is this?! Most movies, especially popular franchise movies, are shoving trailers in your face eight months prior to release!

Even "Rogue One" was giving us teases and glimpses a year before it came out. You'd think a new Star Wars movie about Han Solo would be highly anticipated and marketed...but maybe it's not good. I personally think that Disney doesn’t believe the movie is good and they’re scared to put up a trailer since they have nothing good to show us.

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” is probably one of the most unnecessary movie ideas I could think of. There is absolutely no need to tell a whole two-hour story about how Han Solo met Chewbacca or how he got his jacket or how he got the Millennium Falcon. These things don’t need to be expanded into a whole movie, it's ruining the unique mysticism of Star Wars.

We like Han Solo for what he was: a “bad-boy” type character, his rogue behavior and charming presence was one of the best elements of the original Star Wars trilogy. I think it’s a huge disservice to ask audiences to forget about Harrison Ford’s performance and instead invest time in this new guy playing the same character... but just a few years before the original movie. What, you’re saying his looks changed so drastically over the course of 10-15 years?!

The only reason this movie is being made is that people like (no scratch that, they RECOGNIZE) Han Solo. They recognize things like Lando Calrissian’s mustache or the design of the Millennium Falcon. People like to point and say “Oh I remember that jacket!” or “That’s Han Solo’s blaster! I know that thing!” Simple recognition is fine for moments of fan-service but it won’t work for an entire movie, “Rogue One” showed us that. As much as I didn’t like “Rogue One,” I still think that movie and the backstory it added to the overall universe was fine. I was curious enough to learn what the social/political conflicts of the galaxy were under the rule of the Empire. All that material could’ve been interesting in a better-made movie but at least “Rogue One” was trying something, this new Han Solo movie seems like it’s going to be a total mess...the drama behind-the-scenes doesn’t help ease my mind either.

Originally, this Han Solo movie was to be directed by the directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, you might know them as the creators of the new 21/22 Jump Street movies. They’ve also worked on the show “Last Man On Earth” on FOX and even wrote/directed The Lego Movie! They have such great projects that exemplify their talent so I was very excited to see their take on the Star Wars universe. I think Phil Lord and Chris Miller are hilarious and have unique takes on established franchises while also paying homage to what makes them great in the first place. Unfortunately just before they were done filming, the two were fired from the project because of too much ad-libbing on set and comedic elements being thrown into the movie. Ron Howard was substituted as the director and he went back to reshoot a lot of the movie. I have nothing against Ron Howard but the fact that Disney thinks Lord and Miller’s cut of the movie was too lighthearted and fun is terrible news. These recent Star Wars movies are really serious and divisive among the fanbase, what all the Star Wars fans collectively need is something lighthearted that can poke fun at the franchise you love while still having meaning behind it. Lord and Miller are experts in blending comedy with heartfelt character moments, but nope...they’re fired. Disney doesn’t want any fun in Star Wars I suppose. As much as I didn't want a Han Solo movie to begin with, Phil Lord and Chris Miller's direction was the main thing that made me excited.

(the fact that these geniuses in storytelling and character were fired is the ultimate reason I'm not anticipating this movie one bit anymore.)

Now there are some things from this movie I’m cautiously optimistic for. I do believe regardless of the movie’s quality that Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian will be excellent casting. Donald Glover/Childish Gambino is a great actor and he definitely looks like he could play a young Lando. Unfortunately, all his dialogue will consist of references to “The Empire Strikes Back” but at least we can appreciate his performance. I’m curious how the characters Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys from “Game of Thrones”) play will impact the story, it’ll also be interesting to find out why Solo’s mentor and love interest are randomly absent by the time the original Star Wars trilogy is supposed to happen.

The issue is also that there shouldn’t be Star Wars movies coming out every couple months. We JUST had “The Last Jedi” in theaters back in December and now we’re preparing for another Star Wars movie, it’s way too much. Even though this isn’t a sequel to “Last Jedi” and instead takes place years before the events of that film it’s the concept of Star Wars that is becoming overblown. I’d probably be more excited to see Chewbacca return to the big screen if I didn’t just see him in a movie last month! It’s way too soon for another Star Wars and the production issues make it clear that Disney isn’t even confident with how it is turning out. Is this whole movie just going to be Han Solo’s famous Kessel Run story? It’s literally just a race mentioned in an off-hand comment by Solo in one of the original movies.

They’re going to make a 2-hour story about how he prepared for a race? I really can’t think of anything more boring. It’s also been rumored that we’ll learn the true story of how Han Solo came to meet Chewbacca, not that the question has really been pressing the public.I'm already predicting how it'll go: it's going to be a basic plot point where Chewbacca will be enslaved by some Imperial Forces and Han will rescue him. I don’t think these intricate details are necessary, sometimes our imaginations and our own ideas of a character’s backstory are enough. It’s going to be embarrassingly funny to see how they just paint over the grey streaks of the Chewbacca outfit from the new movies and just pretend he’s years younger in this movie. Another piece of bad news I recall hearing was the need to hire an acting coach on the first week of filming for Alden Ehrenreich! Dude, this is the guy playing Han Solo! They needed an acting coach because their actor who's playing the LEAD wasn't working for them. This all sounds worse and worse the more I think about it.

Bottom line: we don’t need another Star Wars movie yet and we especially don’t need one about a young Han Solo. Star Wars needs to do something NEW. Something that is NOT connected to the original trilogy. The more you try and explain every last detail the more uninteresting these things you used to love will become. It’s a horrible sign that we haven’t seen even a small teaser trailer for this despite the fact that it’s coming out at the end of May. I even heard they’re reshooting scenes now because of test audience reactions. This movie seems like a complete jumbled mess and I truly wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the release date has been pushed back soon.

The Super Bowl is basically our last chance at seeing a trailer, or before the other Disney movie in February “Black Panther.” Those are the only times I could see them finally releasing promotional material for this movie. So at the time of writing this...I really don’t see this movie being released. It’s been talked about for so long but under bad circumstances, every conversation surrounding “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is filled with doubt and uneasiness, this is not the type of feeling you want to instill in your audience. Even Star Wars fans are getting tired of Star Wars, it used to be an event when a new movie would be released but now there’s one every single year and it’s almost becoming a chore. They need to tone this down and make Star Wars eventful and special again.

(Just in case you needed to see Star Wars embarrass itself some more. )