Disney CEO Bob Iger ‘Takes Blame’ For Too Much Star Wars Too Soon

When Solo: A Star Wars Story under-performed at the box-office earlier this summer – it pulled in $392 million worldwide, compared to $2 billion for The Force Awakens, $1.05 billion for Rogue One, and $1.3 billion for The Last Jedi – there were plenty of theories flying around about why the Han Solo prequel spin-off didn’t pull in as many punters. One of the prevailing ideas was that it simply came too soon after The Last Jedi, hitting multiplexes just five months after that controversial main-series Episode, and marking the fourth Disney-backed Star Wars film in the space of just two and a half years.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter{=nofollow}, it seems like Disney CEO Bob Iger shares that opinion – and he blames himself for the rapid influx of adventures set in a galaxy far, far away. Responding to a question about Disney scheduling roughly one Star Wars film a year, Iger didn’t single Solo out – but his comments seemed to refer to the film’s underwhelming performance. “I made the timing decision, and as I look back, I think the mistake that I made — I take the blame — was a little too much, too fast,” he confessed. “You can expect some slowdown, but that doesn't mean we're not gonna make films.”

He added that the future of the Star Wars universe isn’t set yet – and that audiences might get a break from the sci-fi saga after Episode IX arrives in December 2019. “We are just at the point where we're gonna start making decisions about what comes next after J.J.’s,” he said. “But I think we're gonna be a little bit more careful about volume and timing. And the buck stops here on that.”

The gap between Solo and Star Wars: Episode IX, which is currently shooting and will wrap up the current Skywalker trilogy, will be more than 18 months – surely enough time for audiences to build up an appetite for more Jedi, space battles, adorable alien creatures, and high-stakes family drama. For now there are no other Star Wars Story spin-offs officially in production, despite pervasive rumours about potential Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett movies.

Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.