'Star Wars: Episode IX' loses writer/director over movie vision

The "Star Wars" movie franchise has parted ways with another director, Walt Disney Co announced on Tuesday, saying that director and writer Colin Trevorrow would no longer be involved in the studio's scheduled 2019 film "Star Wars: Episode IX."

Disney and Lucasfilm Ltd in a statement blamed differing visions for the project but did not name a replacement.

"Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on ‘Star Wars: Episode IX,'" the statement said.

"Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process, but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon."

Trevorrow was due to write and direct the movie.

It was the second "Star Wars" project to lose a director this year. Disney in June said that film makers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had left the upcoming Han Solo "Star Wars" spin-off movie project 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" movies, which was rebooted by 2015's hit, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," that reunited original 1977 stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. That film made more than US$2 billion at the global box office.

Disney gave no details about the reasons for Trevorrow's departure, but Hollywood trade paper Variety cited sources as saying the split stemmed from differences over the script.

Production on the film, the last of the planned trilogy of new movies tied to the central tale of the Skywalker family, was due to start early next year.

The ninth film in the space saga was due to have starred Fisher and her character General Leia Organa, but Fisher's unexpected death last year derailed those plans.

Lucasfilm Ltd president Kathleen Kennedy said in a Vanity Fair interview in May that the film was being reworked by her, Trevorrow and the Lucasfilm team.

Lucasfilm has said it would not digitally recreate Fisher's likeness in future films.

Trevorrow was named director after scoring a box office hit in 2015 with a reboot of dinosaur movie "Jurassic World."

The next film in the franchise, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," will be released in December.