A long-rumoured Star Wars standalone movie featuring the bounty hunter Boba Fett looks likely to go into production, after reports that Logan director James Mangold has been hired to take on the project.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Mangold will join writer-producer Simon Kinberg, who also worked on Logan, on Boba Fett. Mangold will co-write the film with Kinberg as well as direct; Kinberg is also on board as producer. The release date is expected to be 2020.
A Boba Fett movie, about the hunter who brings a captive Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt, has been in the works since at least 2010, when Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston was reportedly trying to interest George Lucas in the idea. Since the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, the project has been repeatedly revived; Fantastic Four director Josh Trank spent a year developing what is believed to have been a Boba Fett film before leaving to pursue other “creative opportunities”.
Though Lucasfilm have made no official comment, the film is believed to be Fett’s origins story, and will become the third Star Wars “anthology” film after Rogue One and Solo. In keeping with the current Star Wars release pattern, it should follow the JJ Abrams-directed Star Wars: Episode IX, which has a release date of 20 December 2019.
