Chris Miller

Phil Lord and Chris Miller assembled a dream team to create their Han Solo spinoff Star Wars anthology film. The cast is incredible: Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, and Alden Ehrenreich as the young Solo. The screenplay was by longtime Star Wars creative force Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon. The cinematographer was Bradford Young, whose quickly proven himself as one of the most talented young D.P.s in the business with films like Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Selma, and Arrival. If you’re gonna make a Han Solo movie, these sure seem like the men and women you want to do it with.

Woody Harrelson is a pretty chill dude, so when he was recently asked about Ron Howard replacing Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the Han Solo spinoff, his response wasn’t particularly surprising: “I wouldn’t worry.” Of course he wouldn’t worry; he’s Woody Harrelson, a man who wears flip flops to film premieres and calls fellow mellow dude Matthew McConaughey his BFF.

If you’ve made use of the internet in the past week, then you may very well be aware of a recent personnel change-up on the set of the gestating Han Solo spinoff film. Original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are out, Ron Howard’s in, but as with most showbiz behind-the-scenes drama, the details have been kept under wraps. That is, until The Hollywood Reporter ran an illuminating new item this morning, getting the dish on what really drove the two filmmakers away from this project. The catch-all code word of “creative differences” does not even come close to doing justice to the antipathy between the Lord-Miller brain trust and Lucasfilm.

We’re still reeling from the news that Phil Lord and Chris Miller have walked off (or been fired from) the Han Solo spinoff Star Wars anthology film, but this movie has a release date in less than a year, and it is coming to theaters, with Lord/Miller or not. Although the news that the directing duo was not finishing Han Solo was announced today, the search for a replacement was already underway. Deadline says that Lucasfilm’s top pick at the moment is Ron Howard, the Oscar-winning filmmaker of movies like Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code:

Are you seated, Star Wars fam? You need to be seated for what you’re about to see because — and there is no easy way to break this to you — something is up with Alden Ehrenreich’s ’70s-style hair in this new photo from the set of the young Han Solo movie. And that something is not necessarily a good something. In fact, he looks less like he’s playing the junior version of Harrison Ford’s iconic hero in Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s untitled Star Wars spinoff, and more like he’s playing…you know what? I’m going to give you a chance to back away now before I say something that royally screws up your Friday vibes.

LEGO Batman may have gotten his own spinoff from Lord and Miller’s LEGO Movie, but we all know Unikitty was the real star of the show. So it is, that the extra-adorable LEGO character will headline her own Cartoon Network TV series, with Lord and Miller on-board to executive producer.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, Lucasfilm’s Force for Change has partnered with Omaze for a huge charity drive commemorating the past, present and future of the franchise. That future includes Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s (still untitled) young Han Solo spinoff, which is still lightyears (OK, months) away from release, so it’ll quite a while before we see a teaser. But with Force for Change heading into hyper-drive, we can expect more videos like the one above, in which Star Wars vet Warwick Davis drops in on Lord and Miller’s set and gives us a special sneak peek at a new alien character.

Although pre-production on Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s young Han Solo spinoff has been underway for some time now (operating under the clever codename “Red Cup”), today marks the full, official start of production. To celebrate, Lucasfilm has debuted the first photo of the cast and their directors, crammed together inside the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as if posing for a very cheerful (if a bit tardy) holiday greeting card.

It’s a question that has perplexed Batman villains since at least 1989: “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” Finally, we have an answer. The LEGO Store. The one a few blocks from Warner Bros.’ New York offices currently sells at least eight different LEGO Batman sets, all of which appear in various forms in The LEGO Batman Movie. The film is, like The LEGO Movie before it, a feature-length toy commercial — and, like The LEGO Movie before it, The LEGO Batman Movie is far more entertaining than a giant piece of crass commercialism has any right to be.

And here…we…go. As of today, filming has officially begun on Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s young Han Solo movie, Lucasfilm’s next Star Wars Story standalone project. To commemorate the occasion, Miller shared a teaser photo that pays homage to the epic “who shot first?” debate — a timely nod, as this month marks the 20th anniversary (yep, you’re old) of George Lucas’ notorious Special Editions.