Taika Waititi To Direct And Co-Write Next Star Wars Film

The acclaimed New Zealand-born filmmaker behind Jojo Rabbit and What We Do in the Shadows is attached to another film project.

Taika Waititi at the Toronto International Film Festival. Photo Credit: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images.

Taika Waititi has a busy schedule. The Oscar-winner, aside from working on Thor: Love and Thunder, remakes of Time Bandits and Akira, and two different Roald Dahl adaptations, is attached to direct the next Star Wars film.

Co-writing with 1917 screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns, the details for this film haven’t been released. Waititi, who directed the season finale of The Mandalorian, is a logical choice for the studio after the mixed critical and audience reviews to Disney’s recent trilogy.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens grossed over $2 billion worldwide, with $936 million of that figure stemming solely from the US, making it the fourth highest grossing film of all time. It’s divisive follow-up, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, grossed little over half of its predecessor at $1.3 billion, with $620 million grossed from the US box office. And last year’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker grossed a little over $1 billion and made only half as much on its opening weekend as The Force Awakens.

Waititi, on the other hand, is on the up and up. His last three films (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, and Jojo Rabbit), all box-office successes, grossed $22 million, $853 million, and $90 million respectively.

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