'Star Wars' Spin-Off 2016 Movie Titled 'Rogue One' - Starring Felicity Jones, Hits Theaters December 16 Next Year

At the annual Disney shareholders meeting this week, CEO Bob Iger revealed some huge news concerning the next two chapters of the Star Wars universe. We learned that the first spin-off, standalone movie project in the Lucasfilm franchise officially has a name and a star! Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones will star in director Gareth Edwards' Star Wars: Rogue One. Iger also announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII, the sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2015 blockbuster The Force Awakens, would officially be written and directed by Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick) and would hit theaters on May 26, 2017. You can check out more on this story HERE, but find out more about Rogue One below!

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According to the official news on StarWars.com (via Slash Film), Felicity Jones has indeed been confirmed as the first actress in the newly titled Star Wars: Rogue One. Gareth Edwards will direct a script from writer Chris Weitz. We already know that the film will be released in December of 2016, but today we learned that it will come out on the 16th of the month.

Though we've learned a lot about this new movie, we're still in the dark in terms of plot details and characters. Hopefully we'll learn much more some time soon! Let us know what you think of this movie news in the comments section below!

Here is the official announcement and details on Rogue One:

Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything. The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic.