Ever since 1977, when the original Star Wars came out, moviegoers have craved the franchise’s next installment. Until this year. The turn that Star Wars: Episode VIII, The Last Jedi took killed the enthusiasm that most fans had for the franchise, and the effects are being felt in the disappointing box office returns for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

 

The truth is that moviegoers do not want Star Wars movies simply because they are Star Wars, they want epic space fantasy that is serious and well-crafted. Moviegoers are craving dark and gritty space fantasy movies that simply are not being made. 

 

Realizing their mistake, Disney just announced they are postponing development on any future Star Wars projects except for Episode IX. The sad fact is that with the direction The Last Jedi took almost nothing can save Episode IX. Meanwhile, all across the world, audiences are ready for something else–the next great epic space fantasy franchise.

 

For far too long, people have associated the entire genre with Star Wars. The truth is, now is the perfect opportunity for another company to create the type of epic space fantasy that viewers are eager to see. The next billion dollar franchise is just waiting to be made. Don’t trust me? Ask all of the viewers who left The Last Jedi feeling disgusted. If another set of movies came along that captured the same tone as The Empire Strikes Back, regardless of whether it took place in a galaxy a long, long time ago, people would line up to see it.

 

Why isn’t that happening then? It must be really difficult to create a universe with unique aliens, planets, and everything else that made audiences gasp in amazement. Not so. The Space Lore series of books is already available. It seems crazy that a studio like Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Universal, or Paramount isn’t already actively turning the Space Lore saga into the next blockbuster franchise.

 

Space Lore really is the next evolution of epic space fantasy. Whereas Star Wars was a combination of Buck Rogers and Japanese mythology, Space Lore is a combination of Star Wars, Arthurian legend, and Shakespearean tragedy. Yes, the same kind of Shakespearean tragedy that has helped propel Game of Thrones into becoming a blockbuster franchise of its own.

 

So how much longer will the movie studios wait while Disney flounders with a Star Wars brand that fans have fallen out of love with? How much longer until a movie executive realizes every great franchise is eventually replaced by another and that Space Lore has everything viewers want to see in a blockbuster?