Nick Hughes 

Opinion  Editor

Over the past two months, there was a combined total of five trailers/ teasers for the upcoming “Solo: A Star Wars movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The movie, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover and many other notables, features a young Han Solo’s adventures before “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” “Solo” hits theaters exactly 41 years after the first film in the series, which premiered May 25, 1977.

This is the second of the anthology films being done by Disney since they acquired the rights to Star Wars in October of 2012. The first, being “Rouge One: A Star Wars Story,” premiered December 2016. . “Rogue One” was hailed as a critical success and many critics are expecting the same out of Solo. There is also speculation that the movie will not be nearly as financially successful as Rogue One. This being due, in part, to the fact that there might be an Obi Wan Kenobi movie in two years. Some reddit posters are calling it ‘Star Wars fatigue’. Kaden Patrick, founder of Rebel Cause Lancaster disagrees, saying that there is a diversity in the films as of late. This is lending itself to a ‘hype train’ that is going faster than ever before. The Avengers movie coming out quite soon also might be lending itself to the whole fatigue theory that is going around reddit.

The trailers that are promoting the movie revealed a lot of small details, but no huge plot points. By the looks of the trailer, there is a time skip in the movie. The two sections for the movie look to revolve around two points in Solo’s life. Meeting Chewbacca and a job that Solo does that involves Lando Calrissian in some capacity. The viewers were also given a look at an additional Wookie in the third TV spot. Fan speculations from places such as Reddit and the forums of the fan site Wookiepeida say that this might be Chewbacca’s son or wife.

An interesting detail in one of the trailers also shows what looks to be a Sith holocron in one of the TV spots. A Sith holocron is an unusual addition in the Solo film. There is no mention of any Force styled influence in the movie. Seeing the holocron in the main villain’s artifact collection has sparked a lot of speculation if Emperor Palpatine might have, at least, a small cameo in the movie. Also, the fact that film villain Dryden Vos, played by Paul Bettany, is collecting artifacts makes some fans think that the ‘job’ that Woody Harrelson’s character, Tobias Beckett, is is offering Solo might be a job request made by Vos. Dryden Vos is being played by Paul Bettany.

Regardless of the content of the film, there is also speculation of when tickets will go on sale for the movie. The prevailing theories say May fourth, which is international Star Wars day. Projected ticket sales are high. Box office Pro says, “A domestic gross anywhere between $350-475 million looks most likely.” They also say that Solo has the potential to resemble “Rogue One in terms of box office sales.”

Patrick is excited for the movie regardless of what critics and skeptics say. He will be going to see the movie, along with millions of Star Wars fans across the country on May 25.