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"It&amp;#039;s barely been a month since Disney announced its acquisition of Lucasfilm and intent to have Episode 7 in cinemas by 2015, but already rumours are flying around faster than a Millennium Falcon jump to hyperspace. Toy Story 3 and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire screenwriter Michael Arndt is on board to pen the script, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg working on further Star Wars adventures.  One piece of the puzzle, however, is the vacant director&amp;#039;s chair. The likes of Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird and JJ Abrams have all ruled themselves out, while new names continue to pop up on a near-daily basis. Digital Spy takes a look at five filmmakers who could potentially direct Episode 7 below... Jon Favreau - The Safe Pair of Hands Track record: Zathura, Iron Man, Cowboys &amp;amp; Aliens The case for: Favreau ventured into science fiction with Zathura, displaying a keen eye for the practical effects and model work that made the early Star Wars so great. Iron Man made him a fanboy favourite, he&amp;#039;s already &amp;quot;in-house&amp;quot; at Disney thanks to Magic Kingdom and a working relationship with Harrison Ford (thanks to Cowboys &amp;amp; Aliens) could mean a return for Han Solo. The case against: Iron Man 2 and Cowboys &amp;amp; Aliens both failed to deliver on the hype, so we&amp;#039;re a little sceptical about him taking the reins of a mega-franchise like Star Wars. Favreau also has no great directorial stamp of his own, instead adapting his style to the scripts he&amp;#039;s working from. You feel Arndt would need to have a rock solid template to help best serve Favreau.  Rian Johnson - The Rookie Track record: Looper The case for: Having made a name for himself in low-budget indies Brick and The Brothers Bloom, Johnson hit a home run with his time-travel science fiction thriller Looper earlier this year. The twisting, turning narrative had us on the edge of our seats from minute one to the closing credits, so we&amp;#039;re intrigued to see what he could do with Star Wars. The case against: Johnson&amp;#039;s relative inexperience probably counts against him, and his work thus far has been grounded in more realistic worlds than the one Star Wars demands. His appointment would be a gamble, but then sometimes rolling the dice pays off in style (see Christopher Nolan&amp;#039;s jaw-dropping impact on the Batman franchise).  Matthew Vaughn - The All-Rounder Track record: Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class The case for: Since breaking away from producing Guy Ritchie&amp;#039;s movies, Vaughn has swiftly cemented himself as a director of note with a string of critically-praised and commercially-successful movies. If Stardust proved Vaughn could deftly juggle fantasy, romance and comedy, then X-Men: First Class showed he&amp;#039;s able to deliver a big budget studio project to a release date. Rumours of Vaughn&amp;#039;s involvement intensified this week, but the director&amp;#039;s reps have issued a &amp;quot;no comment&amp;quot; to Digital Spy. The case against: Though it&amp;#039;s impossible to fault Vaughn&amp;#039;s movies so far, in the past he&amp;#039;s flirted with big projects like The Man From UNCLE, Thor and X-Men: The Last Stand only to bail out. This suggests that the Brit helmer has a creative single-mindedness and would need to be on the same page as the myriad Disney execs and producers to follow through and make the film.  Guillermo del Toro - The Visionary Track record: Hellboy, Blade, Pacific Rim The case for: The Mexican-born director has a history of working on franchises with in-built fanbases (Hellboy, Blade), so would no doubt be highly respectful to the Star Wars mythology laid out by George Lucas. He&amp;#039;s also a superb visual stylist, who&amp;#039;d no doubt conjure up a stunning &amp;quot;galaxy far far away&amp;quot; with the latest digital technology. The case against: Del Toro may have recently piloted a large-scale blockbuster in the form of Pacific Rim but, like Vaughn, he has often struggled to submerge himself into the world of studio filmmaking. His involvement in high profile projects like The Hobbit, Halo and At the Mountains of Madness came to an end when he wasn&amp;#039;t given the time to perfect his vision, and Star Wars&amp;#039; 2015 release date is perhaps a little too close for comfort.      Duncan Jones - The Sci-Fi Up-and-Comer Track record: Moon, Source Code The case for: The British director made a stunning shoestring directorial debut with Moon, and followed it up with the tricksy and surprisingly heartfelt Source Code. Jones is quickly gaining career momentum and turned up on the shortlist for The Wolverine and Man of Steel, so there&amp;#039;s a feeling his big movie can&amp;#039;t be far off. Both his previous directorial outings also showed a keen sense for spectacle and story. The case against: Like Johnson, Jones is fairly fresh to filmmaking and hasn&amp;#039;t worked on a large-scale blockbuster. Entering into the Star Wars universe may be a stretch too far for Jones, who&amp;#039;s already got an Ian Fleming biopic and passion project Mute on his plate.   Who would you like to see direct Star Wars: Episode 7? Leave your comments in the space below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/star-wars/news/a441549/star-wars-episode-7-5-potential-directors-for-new-disney-movie/>