A woman takes a picture of a 1:6 scale model of the Star Wars' Millennium Falcon spaceship displayed in a shopping mall in Hong Kong on November 30, 2015. The new Star Wars movie titled 'The Force Awakens' directed by US director J.J. Abrams is to be released in Hong Kong on December 17, 2015. AFP PHOTO / Philippe Lopez / AFP / PHILIPPE LOPEZ (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

It appears that the review embargo for Solo: A Star Wars Story is lifting early, which is an extremely good sign.

Here’s a pro tip on how to read the tea leaves ahead of a major studio movie release. If the film’s review embargo lifts well ahead of the actual release, that’s a very good thing. The closer to the release date the reviews come out, the higher the chances that it’s going to be a tire fire. Studios are essentially hiding bad press for the movie out of fear it will hurt the box office return (something reflected in the war against Rotten Tomatoes ratings).

All of this is relevant thanks to Solo: A Star Wars Story. For months, there has been a lot said about how truly awful the film is expected to be. From rumors that Alden Ehrenreich needed an acting coach, to the firing of the original directors, and even reports that Disney is expecting to take a bath on the profits from the movie, it’s been very gloom-and-doom.

This week brought word that the review embargo for Solo will be lifted on May 15th, which is a week ahead of the film’s release. That’s extremely good news and a show of faith by Disney that the movie isn’t going to suck.

Of course, the flip side of this is that the studio is going to lean into the bad reviews and just own it. Afterall, this negativity has been out there since the film was announced a few years ago and has only been building from there.

Hearing that the embargo will be lifting early should fill fans with a certain amount of confidence. It doesn’t, however, guarantee universal praise. As we saw with The Last Jedi, acclaimed reviews don’t equal acceptance from the fanbase which is ultimately the major sticking point with Solo. It’s not only that fans are worried the film is going to be trash, it’s also that many don’t want to see Han Solo played by anyone other than Harrison Ford.

Regardless of positive reviews — of which detractors will scream fake news — this will all come down to how well the character of Han Solo is played and how much this new version of an old character is accepted by fans.