'Godzilla' director Gareth Edwards to helm 'Star Wars' spin-off; film will hit theaters December 16, 2016

For about fifteen minutes, Warner Bros.' Godzilla was the talk of Hollywood before everyone moved on to X-Men: Days of Future Past. The creature feature took in a massive $93.1 million on its opening weekend, has already crossed $110 million at the box office and will receive a sequel very soon. I personally really enjoyed the film and plan on seeing it at least one more time to get a better grasp of the scope and size of the movie. One thing that I really felt contributed to the overall success of the movie was the direction of Gareth Edwards, who was experimenting with his first blockbuster movie. I pretty much assumed that he would be at the helm of the Godzilla sequel, but with this breaking news, it would appear that Edwards will be heading over to Disney for a new adventure.

The Hollywood Reporter (THR for short) is breaking the story this evening that Edwards will be directing an upcoming Star Wars spin-off movie, which is now scheduled to hit theaters on December 16, 2016. THR is also reporting that Book of Eli screenwriter Gary Whitta will be penning the script. Edwards wrote in a statement that is "excited & honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm." THR also writes that Edwards is still signed on for Godzilla 2 and 3, but I doubt that they will hit theaters anytime soon if that is the case.

Even though I didn't love Godzilla (read my "B+" review here), I still really enjoyed it and instantly recognized Edwards immense talent and fantastic directorial eye. While the subject of the spin-off isn't confirmed yet, I have a feeling that Edwards will have a lot of say in what the project ends up being and I'm confident that he'll pick a project that fits his style. This is another step in the right direction for the Star Wars franchise and I'm really happy that they're picking quality directors to helm these films.