Phil Lord

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.

Since his creation several years ago, Miles Morales has become of the biggest fan-favorite characters in recent years and those fans have been clamoring to see him break out of the comics and take to the screen. Today, Sony Pictures confirmed that Miles will be the lead character of the upcoming animated Spider-Man film written by The Lego Movie's Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but what does that mean for the character and how will they approach possible ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

With Rogue One in theaters now (go go go!), fans are already turning their attention to the next round of Star Wars movies because pop culture isn’t about what’s new — it’s about what’s next. Lucky for you, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has a couple of brief updates on the next installments in the franchise: Episode VIII and the Han Solo spinoff. It’s just enough to keep you satisfied until Monday, probably, when someone else will undoubtedly say something interesting about the Star Wars franchise.

We’ve known for months that Alden Ehrenreich was our new Han Solo, but the closing panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe brought the official announcement, plus a surprise appearance by the actor.

It's been an eventful weekend full of Star Wars news and reveals, but Lucasfilm has saved the biggest surprises for last. Sunday's Future Filmmakers panel closes out the three day-long Star Wars Celebration Europe with big announcements for Episode 8 and the Han Solo spinoff. While the panel won't be live streamed as the Rogue One panel was on Friday, ScreenCrush's Erin Whitney is in London to bring you all the latest updates straight from Celebration.

The Hollywood Reporter has a new article about a bunch of animated content coming in the years ahead from Sony Pictures. The biggest news of the bunch is the director on the animated Spider-Man movie that was originally announced as a Phil Lord and Chris Miller joint last year. Lord wrote the movie’s screenplay, without Miller apparently, but both are still aboard the project as producers. Replacing them as director(s) is Bob Persichetti, an animator who was the head of story on Puss in Boots and The Little Prince. As for the rumor that this Spider-Man would focus on Miles Morales, the half-black and half Hispanic teenager who replaced Peter Parker in the series Ultimate Spider-Man, THR says “the company was mum on rumors.” The animated Spider-Man is on course for a December 21, 2018 release.

Leading up to the two most recent Spider-Man reboots, some fans expressed a desire to see the Miles Morales version of the web-slinger on the big screen instead of rehashing the same ol’ Peter Parker story. It looks like those fans may get their wish, as Morales is rumored to be the focus of Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s upcoming animated Spider-Man film — which does make sense, as the project is said to be separate from Sony and Marvel’s reboot with Tom Holland.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are the saviors of bad franchise ideas, achieving the impossible and making believers of even the most skeptical among us — from 21 Jump Street to The LEGO Movie, these guys have turned dumb concepts into great films. For their next trick, the pair are working on an animated Spider-Man movie (no relation to the new live-action reboot) and a young Han Solo prequel for the Star Wars series. The former will now hit theaters just a little later than originally planned, but judging by their previous work, it’ll be worth the wait.

The fastest man alive is one step closer to getting a writer and director for the big screen.

As producers, writers and directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are one hell of a team, taking ideas that seemed sort of ridiculous and delivering hugely entertaining and successful franchises…which is why it makes sense that every major studio wants to get in the Lord and Miller business. The duo are attached to develop The Flash solo movie for WB, as well as an animated Spider-Man film for Sony. That’s not news — what is news is Lord’s revelation that both projects will operate a bit independently from their larger franchises.