'Star Wars' standalone film loses its director

The rebooted "Star Wars" franchise hit a bump on Friday as filmmaker Josh Trank, who was selected to direct one of the upcoming standalone films, said he was stepping down from the project to pursue other "creative opportunities."Trank, 30, the director of 2012@@@s sci-fi movie "Chronicle" and the upcoming "Fantastic Four" movie, was selected to direct the second "Star Wars Anthology" due out in 2018. The three anthology films will intersect a new trilogy in the franchise, kicking off with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in December.

"After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I@@@m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path," Trank said in a statement on StarWars.com.

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