Star Wars: Episode IX Being Considered Lucasfilm’s ‘Course Correction’

It looks like Star Wars: Episode IX is being seen as a course-correcting film for Lucasfilm after Solo: A Star Wars Story's poor performance at the box office.

Variety just recently wrote a piece about Episode IX director J.J. Abrams looking for a hefty deal in a plan to develop a few multimedia projects for a studio. In the report, the publication briefly discusses the filmmaker's work on the third and final chapter in Lucasfilm's Star Wars sequel trilogy, mentioning the film as a pivot in the studio's plans.

"He's [Abrams] currently working on Star Wars: Episode IX, which has been billed as a course correction at Lucasfilm after spinoff films like Solo failed to meet the label's high commercial expectations," the publication writes.

This is the first time we get to hear Episode IX being mentioned as a course corrector. However, as alarming as it sounds, fans should take note that the publication directly links Episode IX to Solo, not to The Last Jedi.

While The Last Jedi may have had backlash from a group of vocal fans against the film's subversion of fan expectations, the film had been nothing but a success for Lucasfilm. Not only did the sequel to The Force Awakens make it big at the box office, but it also earned so much love from so many film critics, many of which considered the film one of the best in the Star Wars franchise.

Besides, Abrams already told fans that the backlash against The Last Jedi wouldn't influence the creative decisions that he'd make in Episode IX.

No. Instead, Episode IX seems to be a "course correction" after the poor performance of Solo. While the film wasn't necessarily hated by the fanbase, the Han Solo standalone movie did very poorly at the box office, raking in a little over $390 million at the global box office.

With the spinoff's biggest problems being its competitive release date and underwhelming marketing campaign, it seems like Lucasfilm is planning to take steps to avoid these issues with Episode X.

Let's wait and see what the studio has up its sleeves.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits cinemas December 20, 2019.

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