Star Wars fans – have you rewatched Solo: A Star Wars Story yet? Just how many times?! Solo: A Star Wars Story is now available everywhere on Digital HD, 4K, Blu-Ray and DVD, so you can add it to the collection and fit it into the timeline with all of the episodes. Happening before the original trilogy, the movie takes you through Han Solo’s back story.
To celebrate the release of Solo, we have some facts and figures on the new movie and it’s production perfect for any Star Wars fans. Use these facts to impress your friends, win trivia night or just add them to your information bank to pull out later when you need them!
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY IN NUMBERS
With the in-home release of Solo: A Star Wars Story about to take a lightspeed leap into homes, we step behind the camera to bring you these number-crunching facts on the galactic adventures of the beloved space scoundrel, Han Solo.
500
More than 500 creature designs were created for Solo: A Star Wars Story. “I feel like this movie has more creatures than any of the other Star Wars movies,” explains Alden Ehrenreich, who plays the young Han Solo. “With this movie, you get the same feeling as when you saw the cantina in the original movie – although it feels like that whole universe just expanded ten-fold.”
6
It was no easy task for Alden Ehrenreich to land the iconic role of Han Solo. “I had six months of auditions,” admits the actor. “Every audition involved a different scene, which was helpful, but it was a long process.”
2
Did you know that British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge had two stunt doubles for her role as the droid, L3-37? “They couldn’t find a single stunt woman who had my exact dimensions,” reveals Waller-Bridge. “Instead, one stunt woman was the top half of L3-37 and another was the bottom half. They had to do shots of L3’s legs with one person and then they had to again with the top person!”
1000
The costume design team, headed by David Crossman and Glyn Dillon, made more than 1,000 costumes for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
30
A total of 30 capes were created by the costume team for Lando Calrissian’s slick closet in the Millennium Falcon. “I love Lando’s style,” enthuses Donald Glover. “I think I’ve been influenced a lot by Lando. He has a style with an eye towards leisure, which I’ve really started to get into. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find a good cape.”
135
The run-time of Solo: A Star Wars Story is approximately 135 minutes. That’s more than two hours of galactic space-smuggling fun!
31
The exterior Millennium Falcon set built for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi was repurposed for use on Solo: A Star Wars Story. It weighs a hefty 31 tons.
3
The interior Millennium Falcon set took three months to build. “It’s very sleek and cool inside the new Falcon,” enthuses Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
2
The filming of Solo: A Star Wars Story took place mostly at Pinewood Studios in England, as well as two foreign locations: the Dolomites of Italy and Fuerteventura, the second largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.
525
The movie’s creative team was thrilled at the inclusion of an iconic speeder chase in the story. “We’ve seen a lot of chases within the Star Wars franchise, but we have never seen a speeder chase,” reveals special effects supervisor Dominic Tuohy. The team constructed Han’s speeder as a four-wheel-drive vehicle with a 525 brake-horsepower engine.
400
Do you know how old Wookiees live to be? “A Wookiee’s life span is about 400 years,” reveals Joonas Suotamo. “Relatively speaking, Chewbacca is quite youthful – but he’s about to embark on a new set of adventures that are surely going to give him a few gray hairs.”
24
The mud planet of Mimban is the iconic location where Han Solo first meets his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca. The set for the bleak prison pit measured 24 feet square and 18 feet deep, and was filled with a sticky, sludgy mud.
30
A talented team of 30 artists controlled the complicated performance of the alien underworld boss Mother Proxima. During the dark scenes at the beginning of the movie, 20 performers were submerged in the water to move the character around the dank and dismal purpose-built environment.
Bonus Clip: Star War Knowledge
VEHICLES & SPACESHIPS
- Han’s speeder is dressed with items as diverse as a Morris Minor bonnet hinge, a set of baguette warmers and a re-fuelling nozzle from a Vickers VC10 aircraft.
- The 1960s-style chrome bezels and switchgear for the dashboard were purchased at a second-hand auto parts sale.
- The final design of the white stripes on Han’s speeder were the result of almost 100 variations of width, shape, length, color and position!
- For stunt work, two of Han’s speeders were built on a custom-built chassis with a V8 engine, allowing them to reach over 100 mph!
- During the shoot, more than 80 tires were used on the two stunt-driving speeders due to wear and tear.
- Two of Moloch’s speeders were also built on a custom-built chassis with a V8 engine.
- There is a real air intake from a helicopter incorporated into the Moloch vehicle grille design.
- Three electric tugs were built, incorporating some triangular flood defense barriers for their front bodywork, which were obtained from a government surplus supplier.
- The tugs were christened Huey, Dewey and Louie, after the Disney cartoon ducks because they looked quite like ducks. Their names are written in Aurebesh on the fronts.
- A speeder that appears in the background in Corellia is very well traveled. It first appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Abu Dhabi; it was then revamped and traveled to Iceland for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” and was then revamped for a second time and shipped to the U.K. for this film.
- A Corellian factory vehicle and a mining vehicle in Kessel use a similar engine component to that which appears on Rey’s speeder in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
- During the kit-bashing process, as part of the skiff design, parts of Anakin’s podracer were used on the concept model. When this model was scaled-up, these design details were also scaled up and can be seen on the finished vehicle.
- The engine surrounds on the skiffs are actually made from the chrome wheel trims from a 1966 Singer Chamois car.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- The bridges in the frontier town of Fort Ypso were made “wobbly” using springs from a Land Rover.
- The exterior Millennium Falcon build weighs 31 tons and has to be moved around using two cranes.
- The interior Millennium Falcon set on C stage took three months to build. It is the largest interior Falcon set ever made on any Star Wars film due to the addition of new areas.
- On the Interior Millennium Falcon cockpit set, rear projection screens have been utilized so that the actors can see and react to pre-designed animations flying and entering hyperspace!
CREATURES
- Over 500 designs for the creatures were produced in the design process for the film.
- Six Eyes is the most sophisticated mechanical head ever produced. It has 50 servos inside the head with on-board intelligence.
- This is the first film to feature Chewbacca in a lead role, so to achieve this level of on-screen action, production produced eight suits and 10 heads.
PROPS
- Nine copies of Beckett’s rifle were made. It is the rifle that ultimately becomes Han’s pistol.
- Beckett, played by Woody Harrelson, has two pistols in the film. There are 10 copies of each one for various purposes, such as soft ones for the fight scenes.
- Enfys Nest’s chainsaw pike had 14 copies of it made from a stunt version to ones that open. One version was even made with pyrotechnic capabilities.
- There are 25 pairs of the iconic gold dice that hang in the Millennium Falcon. Three of
these were made by Tiffany. - An R2 unit was turned into a BBQ fire pit for one of the scenes.
Moloch’s staff features a carving of many faces; one of these faces has glasses on as the designer decided to carve his own face into the staff. - In Dryden’s yacht there are display cabinets, and among all of the treasures in them are some that might be recognized from another film franchise: “Indiana Jones.” There are the Sankara Stones from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” the fertility idol from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and also the Holy Grail itself.
- Over a hundred E-11 mudtrooper blasters were made for the battlefield scenes on Mimban.
VISUAL EFFECTS
- The visual effects crew spent approximately 44 hours of airtime in helicopters in the Dolomites and Fuerteventura scouting, shooting plates and photo-modeling.
- They also measured and mapped the interior and exterior of Fawley Power Station and most of the surrounding site with sophisticated laser scanning equipment (Lidar). Around 200 acres in total!
- The visual effects team digitally scanned over 500 characters, props and sets.
- The on-set data wrangling team captured photo reference (still images), witness camera data (small video cameras), and set survey data along with other reference information.
- This data will total about 40TB, which will be sent to Industrial Light & Magic, who will use the data to assist in creating the visual effects shots for the movie.
Solo: A Star Wars Story In-Home Trailer:
About the At Home Release of Solo: A Star Wars Story:
Lucasfilm’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” directed by Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Ron Howard—the creator of unforgettable films, such as “A Beautiful Mind,” “Apollo 13,” “Parenthood” and “Splash”—took moviegoers on this summer’s wildest ride with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy, Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich). The action-packed journey explores Han’s first encounters with future friend and copilot Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and notorious gambler Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), as well as his adventure-filled past alongside fellow street thief Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) and career criminal Beckett (Woody Harrelson). Watch instantly on Sept. 14th as the Millennium Falcon sets course digitally in HD and 4K Ultra HD™ and on Movies Anywhere, and bring the adventure home on Blu-ray 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, DVD and On-Demand on Sept. 25.
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” bonus content takes fans behind the scenes to experience compelling discussions with the star-studded cast and screenwriters Jonathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan (writer of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi); a revealing feature on Chewie and his enduring friendship with Han; a close-up look at the original version of the Millennium Falcon and Han’s first time piloting the infamous ship; the creation of the film’s otherworldly settings and pulse-pounding action sequences; and eight never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes.
DIGITAL AND BLU-RAY BONUS MATERIAL (may vary by retailer):
- Solo: The Director & Cast Roundtable
Sit down with director Ron Howard and the stars for an intimate and entertaining discussion of the film’s making.
- Team Chewie
See what it takes to bring your favorite Wookiee to life in this lighthearted look behind the scenes.
- Kasdan on Kasdan
Iconic Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and son Jonathan share what it was like to write the movie’s script together.- Remaking the Millennium Falcon
Track the transformation of the most famous ship in the galaxy, from Lando’s swank and impeccable pride and joy to Han’s stripped-down hot-rod freighter with “special modifications.”- Escape from Corellia
Get behind the wheel for the making of this high-octane chase through the streets of Corellia.
- The Train Heist
Explore the challenges and thrills of creating this action-packed sequence, including its remote location and spectacular effects.
- Becoming a Droid: L3-37
Meet the newest droid—and the talented actor who helps bring her to life.
- Scoundrels, Droids, Creatures and Cards: Welcome to Fort Ypso
Take an in-depth tour of the rough-and-tumble bar where strangers mix and gamblers risk all in the legendary card game, Sabaac.
- Into the Maelstrom: The Kessel Run
Join Han and Chewie at the controls of the Millennium Falcon to see how this legendary moment in Star Wars history unfolds.
- Deleted Scenes
o Proxima’s Den
o Corellian Foot Chase
o Han Solo: Imperial Cadet
o The Battle of Mimban: Extended
o Han Versus Chewie: Extended
o Snowball Fight!
o Meet Dryden: Extended
o Coaxium Double-Cross
- The Millenium Falcon: From Page to Park – An exclusive look at the history of the most famous ship in the galaxy, its origin and development, and how it will translate in one of the most anticipated expansions in Disneyland’s history.
Directed by Ron Howard, the fun-filled galactic heist movie stars Alden Ehrenreich (“Hail, Caesar!,” “Tetro”), Woody Harrelson (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “The Messenger”), Emilia Clarke (“Me Before You,” “Game of Thrones”), Donald Glover (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “The Martian”), Thandie Newton (“Gringo,” “Crash”), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag,” “Killing Eve”) and Paul Bettany (“Captain America: Civil War,” “Master and Commander”). Joonas Suotamo (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) returns to play Chewbacca.
Written by Jonathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel. Lawrence Kasdan, Jason McGatlin, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are executive producers.
To create the unique look of the film, some of the industry’s top talent was recruited, including Academy Award® nominee Bradford Young (“Arrival”), director of photography; two-time Academy Award–winning editor Pietro Scalia (“Alien: Covenant”); Dominic Tuohy (“The Mummy”), special effects supervisor; Rob Bredow (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”), visual effects supervisor; and John Powell (“Jason Bourne”), score composed and adapted by.
They are joined by returning Star Wars veteran crew members: Neil Lamont, production designer; Neal Scanlan, special creature effects; David Crossman and Glyn Dillon, costume designers; Jamie Wilkinson, prop master; Lisa Tomblin-Fitzpatrick, hair designer; and Amanda Knight, makeup designer.
The legendary John Williams is credited with the “Han Solo Theme” and original Star Wars music.