At this point, just about any franchise with potential for a "shared expanded universe" amongst it's characters and films is hard at work following the mold made successful by Marvel Studios. With Sony starting their own Amazing Spider-Man universe, and Fox possibly planning on tying their X-Men and Fantastic Four universes together, it's shouldn't come as much of a surprise that a name as big as Star Wars is taking the same route. Following last week's news that Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) would be directing one of the many spin-off films Disney has in development, not to many people were expecting an announcement of yet another director tackling on of these solo movies.
And that director is Josh Trank, who has been confirmed by the official
Star Wars website as the director for studio's next planned spin-off. Trank, like Edwards, seems to be an inspired yet strange choice. Similar to Edward's work on the small budget film
Monsters, Trank came to the public eye with the acclaimed superhero film
Chronicle. Yet the parallels between the two directors don't stop there, as Edwards has recently made his leap into big budget cinema with
Godzilla (And a confirmed spot directing it's sequel), and Trank hopes to do the same with his upcoming work on next year's
Fantastic Four reboot. It's a bit surprising that the studio went after Trank before
Fantastic Four has even been released, as
Fox has already confirmed a 2017 sequel for the superhero team-up film, with Trank so far expected to return.
It's very plausible that both Trank and Edwards may have to drop their position at the director's chair of their upcoming sequel, although neither would've accepted a job as big as this without knowing what they were in for. Unlike with Edward's announcement, it's still unknown when Trank's
Star Wars film will be released, although it'll likely be some time after
Episode VIII. While it's still unknown what exact schedule of releases
Disney is going to follow for their films, it's already been confirmed that their will be a
Star Wars related film each year, and that 2015 will see the debut of
Episode VII, followed by 2016's first stand-alone film. It's been rumored that the studio aims to follow that same pattern throughout, with a new installment of the
Star Wars saga being followed the next year by a new spin-off.
There has of course still been know word on which exact spin-offs either Trank or Edwards are directing, although the possibilities are limited with only
Boba Fett,
Han Solo, and x-wing films officially confirmed to be in development. It's widely believed that the 2016 film Edwards is directing will be the Boba Fett spin-off, where as many have come to the conclusion that Trank will helming the young
Han Solo film. This seems right up Trank's ally, considering the director's only two films have centered primarily on young adolescent characters, and the majority of the actors he's worked with have been very young. Speculation has suggested Trank's frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan could be playing a young version of Solo's friend Lando Calrissian in the film (As the actor in the past has suggested he'll be involved with a
Star Wars film). Personally I believe Jordan would be a great choice for a young Lando, and could work great off an actor like Garrett Hedlund (
Tron: Legacy) as a young Han.
So how do you feel about Josh Trank possibly directing the stand-alone Han Solo movie? Are you happy with the directors Disney has been choosing so far? Let us know below!
