• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
Arts & EntertainmentDisney

Disney Is Taking a Very Different Marketing Approach With ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’

By
Rachel King
Rachel King
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Rachel King
Rachel King
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 5, 2018, 9:42 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Disney and Lucasfilm have finally released the official teaser trailer to the next film in the Star Wars franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The studio actually already released a 46-second teaser to the teaser trailer during the Super Bowl on Sunday, promising via Twitter that a “full” teaser trailer would follow on Monday morning with a little bit of Disney synergy on Good Morning America.

Clocking in at one minute and 43 seconds, the teaser provides some desired first looks at the cast, comprised of familiar characters with new actors (like Donald Glover as the young Lando Calrissian‬ and Han Solo himself, now played by Alden Ehrenreich) and brand new additions, such as Westworld‘s Thandie Newton and Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke. Woody Harrelson also makes an appearance in what has been reported will be a mentor-like role to Solo, and that indeed appears to be the case when Harrelson’s character says he’s “putting a crew together.”

Disney also dialed up the social media buzz a bit further with four new teaser posters, one of which reveals the name of Clarke’s character, Qira.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be0YaMLhYlF/

While the release of both teasers will undoubtedly have critics and fans buzzing on social media, the timing of these releases represent a radically different marketing approach for Disney’s tentpole franchise.

For starters, Solo: A Star Wars Story is slated to be in theaters on May 25, less than five full months after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in December. That marks the shortest time frame between the release of any Star Wars film ever. (For reference, there was at least a year between Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and then another year between Rogue One and The Last Jedi.)

The short gap between Star Wars films appears to be falling in step with the release schedule Disney has evolved with movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For example, Black Panther comes out this month but Avengers: Infinity War will be in theaters in May, too.

But it’s also unusual that Disney waited so long to release any kind of trailer or images at all for Solo with less than four months to go before the movie comes out. Like with anything in the Star Wars universe, there have been a few theories as to why Disney’s marketing rollout has been so slow going compared to the usual media blitz.

One: It’s possible that Disney is testing the waters, hesitant to oversaturate the scene with too many Star Wars movies at once. Most movie-goers are already used to the proliferation of Marvel movies at this point, the Mouse House might be afraid of some space overkill.

Two: Like Rogue One, Solo has had some production issues—but to a much more extreme point in that Lucasfilm fired the film’s original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, for any one of a few rumored reasons. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy replaced them with Hollywood veteran Ron Howard, who knows the studio game well and knows how to play by studio rules. (In a similar fashion, Lucasfilm parted ways with its director slated for Episode IX, Colin Trevorrow, in September, replacing him with a director tried-and-true to Lucasfilm: The Force Awakens’s J.J. Abrams. But the final installment of the main Skywalker saga won’t be out until December 2019.)

Reshoots on movies, large and small, are common. But it has been reported that by the time Howard got on board, much of the film had to be reshot and start from scratch. Such a scramble would have been reasonable cause enough to push the release back to December—in line with the previous three Star Wars releases—but Disney seems dead-set on getting this out the door (and maybe in the rearview mirror altogether) by the original May date. Thus, showable footage might not have been available until just now anyway.

It has been joked that Star Wars films are a license to print money, and after the last three Star Wars movies, Disney (DIS) has already made back its money in buying Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion. Demand for Star Wars films is still astronomically high, but the expectations for Solo in Reddit forums and on Twitter have been lukewarm (pardon the pun) at best, and Disney might not have an incentive to raise them any further.

About the Author
By Rachel King
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Arts & Entertainment

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Arts & Entertainment

wilt
Arts & EntertainmentAuction
Gen Z entrepreneur found a Wilt Chamberlain Lakers warm-up for $3.07 outside Portland — it was a $90,000 genuine article
By Claire Rush and The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
3 hours ago
‘We all failed’: Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner on Hollywood, video games and the big question of IP
Arts & EntertainmentDisney
‘We all failed’: Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner on Hollywood, video games and the big question of IP
By Joshua HongJuly 21, 2026
4 hours ago
Paramount water tower
LawHollywood
Judge halts Paramount-Warner’s $81 billion merger for two weeks after states warn it would ‘extinguish competition’
By The Associated Press and Wyatte Grantham-PhilipsJuly 20, 2026
20 hours ago
Ferran Torres
SuccessWorld Cup
Spain’s Ferran Torres scored the winning goal in the World Cup—but just four years ago, he was in therapy and stuck in a ‘bottomless pit’
By Emma BurleighJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
Christopher Nolan wearing a black suit
SuccessCareers
Christopher Nolan was rejected from film school as a teen. Today, the Oscar-winning director behind  ‘The Odyssey’ is worth $250 million
By Preston ForeJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
nolan
Arts & EntertainmentHollywood
‘Everybody’s a sucker for a dog’: scholars see modern schmaltz in Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey
By Hillel Italie and The Associated PressJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
22 hours ago
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
Success
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
AI
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
By Jason MaJuly 18, 2026
3 days ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 20, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 20, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
It’s not just Taco Bell lettuce and possible glass in Pillsbury rolls: Food and drink recall events reached a 6-year year-over-year high
Retail
It’s not just Taco Bell lettuce and possible glass in Pillsbury rolls: Food and drink recall events reached a 6-year year-over-year high
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
The Treasury is walking a tightrope on U.S. debt by relying so much on short-term rates that are at the mercy of a suddenly very hawkish Fed
Economy
The Treasury is walking a tightrope on U.S. debt by relying so much on short-term rates that are at the mercy of a suddenly very hawkish Fed
By Jason MaJuly 20, 2026
23 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.