'Star Wars' spinoff gets a director and screenwriter

LOS ANGELES, May 23 (UPI) -- Director Gareth Edwards and screenwriter Gary Whitta have signed on to create a standalone Star Wars movie, Lucasfilm and Disney announced.

The spinoff is due out in theaters Dec. 16, 2016, but no other information about the project, such as its title, story line or cast, have been announced yet.

"Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life -- join the Rebel Alliance! I could not be more excited and honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm," Edwards said in a statement on the Star Wars website.

"From the moment I first saw the original movie as a wide-eyed kid, Star Wars has been the single most profound inspiration to my imagination and to my career as a writer," said Whitta. "It is deeply special to me, so to be given the opportunity to contribute to its ongoing legacy, especially in collaboration with a filmmaker as talented as Gareth, is literally a dream come true. I'm still pinching myself."

Edwards recently helmed the blockbuster Godzilla. Whitta is best known for penning The Book of Eli.

The seventh installment in the core Star Wars franchise is now filming in England in anticipation of a 2015 theatrical release. J.J. Abrams is directing that picture.