Read the Full StoryThe biggest box office challenge to J.J. Abrams’ trilogy capper was never about the alleged online backlash to The Last Jedi (at least some of which was propagated by Russian bot accounts). Nor was it about the box office failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story (a film that, fairly or not, moviegoers just didn’t want to see). It was always about the sheer amount of very big and demographically linked movies opening just before Star War Episode 9 when the ninth episode opens in the U.S. on December 20, 2019. But now, just within the last month, the Rey/Kylo finale no longer has to worry about Wonder Woman 1984, James Bond 25 or Death on the Nile. So that’s two potentially huge (and leggy) tentpoles and one adult-skewing biggie off the table.
