Things sure do move fast in the movie world, as it was less than twelve parsecs since the last directors were fired…
In case you missed it, the directors of The LEGO Movie and 21/22 Jump Street were fired from the directing the as-yet-untitled Han Solo spin-off movie, and for reasons we spelled out here, we totally understand why.
However, with the movie already in production and, by all accounts, nearly half-way-done in terms of shooting, they needed to find a replacement, and quickly!
Rumours spun around Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) for a while, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney and LucasFilm have settled on Ron Howard.
Howard is a jack-of-all-trades kind of director, having worked on Oscar-bait biopics (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon), to big-budget blockbusters (The Da Vinci Code, Backdraft). He even directed the Jim Carrey version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
It will be interesting to see whether or not he can mesh his vision with what has already been produced, or if the final product will have a Frankenstein-y feel of “Oh, that bit is clearly from Howard, and this bit is clearly from the guys he replaced…”
The film is due for release in May 2018, with Alden Ehrenreich as Solo, and Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson in supporting roles.
We’ve also got The Last Jedi set for release this December, so it has never been a more exciting time to be a Star Wars.
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