'Star Wars' spin-off to be directed by 'Godzilla' filmmaker
With J.J. Abrams kicking off the first of three new "Star Wars" films, Disney announced on Thursday that "Godzilla" filmmaker Gareth Edwards will direct a separate spin-off installment of the franchise, scheduled for December 2016.
_0">The yet-to-be-titled "Star Wars" film, which is being written by "The Book of Eli" screenwriter Gary Whitta, is being described as a stand-alone movie in addition to the next three installments beginning with Abrams's "Star Wars: Episode VII," to be released in December 2015.
British director Edwards made his feature film debut with his re-imagining of "Godzilla," which stormed the North American box office with $93.2 million in sales over the past weekend.
class="mandelbrot_refrag">Walt Disney Co purchased "Star Wars" creator George Lucas's production company LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in 2012 and announced it would release spin-off films between the releases of three new films in the popular sci-fi series.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Ken Wills)