Josh Trank will direct a Star Wars spin-off
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images


The galaxy far, far away just got a little bigger. In an official announcement on StarWars.com, Lucasfilm revealed that Josh Trank — the director behind the found-footage movie Chronicle and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot — will helm a stand-alone movie set in the Star Wars universe.
In a statement, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy praised Trank as "perfectly suited to Star Wars." "The magic of the Star Wars Universe defined my entire childhood," said Trank. "The opportunity to expand on that experience for future generations is the most incredible dream of all time."
Trank is the second director to land a Star Wars spin-off, after Godzilla director Gareth Edwards, whose as-yet untitled Star Wars project is scheduled for release in 2016. Lucasfilm hasn't announced the plots of the stand-alone movies, but the studio has long been rumored to be interested in one-off "origin story films" based on popular characters like Han Solo and Boba Fett.
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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.
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