Ron Howard is taking over the Han Solo 'Star Wars' movie

After days of speculation, Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard has signed on to take over as director of Disney and Lucasfilm's untitled standalone Han Solo movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Howard comes on the movie after its original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("The Lego Movie"), were reportedly fired by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy over creative differences on the "Star Wars" film.

THR reports that sources say Howard will soon meet with the actors - Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, alongside Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, and Michael K. Williams - to settle everyone's nerves and see the rough edit.

The movie was scheduled to shoot for three and a half more weeks and there will be five weeks of reshoots. THR reports that the latter is common for most large franchise movies.

Howard has over 40 directing credits to his name, including 1995's "Apollo 13" and 2002's "A Beautiful Mind," which earned him a best directing Oscar.

An official announcement on the Howard hire should come on Thursday, according to THR.

The move by Kennedy to fire Lord and Miller shocked many in Hollywood, as the duo was close to completing principal photography on the movie, which will follow the early years of Han Solo as a smuggler. Lord and Miller have also developed considerable clout after the success of "The Lego Movie."

It's still unclear how the director credit for the movie will be handled. If Lord and Miller take their names off the movie, they could potentially lose millions in residuals. However, it's not the Directors Guild of America's preference to list three names for a director credit.

Disney and Lucasfilm did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.