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Disney pushed back "Star Wars: Episode IX" from
its initial May 2019 release date after Abrams replaced
filmmaker Colin Trevorrow, who parted ways with Disney last week
citing differing creative visions with the studio.
Abrams launched Disney's reboot of the "Star Wars" franchise
with 2015's box office hit "The Force Awakens," which reunited
original 1977 stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill
and introduced a new generation of characters. The film made
more than $2 billion at the global box office.
"With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have
possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back
to close out this trilogy," Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy
said in a statement.
"Episode IX" faced creative challenges after the sudden death of
Fisher, who plays the franchise's Princess Leia, last year. Her
character, now called General Leia Organa, has a central role in
the upcoming December film "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," the
eighth installment in the saga written and directed by Rian
Johnson.
"Episode IX" was the second "Star Wars" project to lose a
director this year. Disney said in June that filmmakers Phil
Lord and Christopher Miller had left the upcoming Han Solo "Star
Wars" spin-off movie due to creative differences. They were
replaced by Hollywood veteran Ron Howard, the Oscar-winning
director of "A Beautiful Mind."
"Star Wars: Episode IX" is part of Disney's expanding slate of
"Star Wars" films that continue George Lucas' Skywalker saga as
well as introducing standalone spin-off films set within the
galaxy far, far away.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Nick Zieminski and
Richard Chang)
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