J.J. Abrams to take over delayed ‘Star Wars IX’: Lucasfilm
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Sci-fi filmmaker J.J. Abrams has been tapped to direct “Star Wars: Episode IX” after the departure of Colin Trevorrow, Lucasfilm announced on Tuesday, delaying its release for seven months.
Abrams — a familiar face in the “Star Wars” universe who directed “The Force Awakens” (2015) — will co-write the film with Chris Terrio, who won an Oscar for the screenplay for “Argo” (2012), the Disney-owned studio said.
“With ‘The Force Awakens,’ J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement.
Disney later announced that “Episode IX,” originally scheduled to hit theaters on May 24, 2019, will now be released on Dec. 20 of that year.
Abrams has considerable pedigree in sci-fi, having successfully rebooted the “Star Trek” franchise, directing two of the new films, as well as producing the “Cloverfield” trilogy and the upcoming “Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.”
The “Force Awakens” is the third-highest grossing movie of all time, taking $2.1 billion, and spinoff movie “Rogue One” was beaten only by “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016.
But it hasn’t been plain sailing for Lucasfilm, which has parted company with several of its directors recently, starting with Josh Trank, who dropped out of developing a “Star Wars” spinoff in 2015, citing the enormous pressures of being involved with the franchise.