Boba Fett is finally getting his own solo film and I honestly don’t care.
Well, let me say this a different way. I CARE that James Mangold has been tasked to write and direct a Star Wars movie. I think he did a good job on The Wolverine and an utterly brilliant job on Logan. I think that he could take the character in a different direction and make him cool. I think Mangold is a much better choice than the original person, Josh Trank. I think if the movie is set as a sequel as he comes out of the Sarlaac Pit OR a prequel with Jabba the Hutt assembling a Bounty Hunter team-style heist movie that ties into the Solo series, would be pretty awesome.
I say all those things but at the end of the day, IT’S NOT OBI WAN. EVERY fan wants an Obi Wan film. Not some of them. ALL of them. It’s the only ‘Star Wars Story‘ that people have been asking for since we heard that these spinoff films were even going to be a thing. What are the Game of Thrones guys and Rian Johnson doing? Their own stories with new characters. Yet, we find out there’s going to be a trilogy of Solo films and still nothing with Ewan McGregor coming back into the one character from the prequels we all loved.
Like I said above, there are some reasons for me to be excited for a Boba Fett film, but none even close to excite me like Obi Wan. McGregor would be fantastic in the role, he’s age appropriate, and there’s a ton of material to mine there. They’ve been doing a good job in the Marvel comics to show part of his ‘journals’ and it incorporates characters like Fett and others in the time period between Episode 3 & 4. I’m all for a company making good business decisions and though it may feel like Star Wars saturation sometimes, Disney is in the business of making money.
Want to make a LOT of money for little effort. Make an Obi Wan movie. All the fans will come. The casual movie-goers will be drawn in because it says Star Wars and has a named actor in it. You’ll continue to expand the mythology of the lore and potentially add a ton of world-building to the franchise that extends out past the ‘Saga’ films. At this point, yes it’s very much fan service, but it just makes good business sense.
Sorry, James Mangold, I’m sure you’ll do great with the Boba Fett film and I’ll be there opening day and it’ll probably be a kick-ass film; it’s just at this point, I just don’t care.