Despite his public declaration a few weeks ago that he was not interested, J.J. Abrams will direct the next “Star Wars” chapter after all.
An official announcement about the hiring of Mr. Abrams is expected to come later Thursday from Walt Disney Studios and its Lucasfilm unit, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked for anonymity to avoid conflict with the studios. A script for the movie is being written by Michael Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine”), and the film is expected to be released in 2015.
Mr. Abrams has long been popular with the science fiction crowd; his next movie is “Star Trek Into Darkness,” set for release by Paramount Pictures in May. His decision to tackle “Star Wars,” which was first reported by the Hollywood news blog theWrap.com, comes as a surprise, however, because he told Entertainment Weekly in November that he wasn’t interested in the job. “I have some original stuff I am working on next,” he said then.
Disney bought Lucasfilm in late October for $4 billion, thus acquiring the rights to the hugely successful “Star Wars” franchise. It immediately said it would make a seventh film in the series.