Star Wars: The Force Awakens has grossed over $2 Billion in the worldwide box office since its release making it the 3rd highest grossing film in history and has officially reached the #1 spot in the United States with over $920 million in domestic sales.
Director J.J. Abrams has now successfully relaunched two popular film franchises with Star Trek: Beyond scheduled for release in July. This will be the third installment of the orginal Star Trek that Abrams brought back to theaters in 2009. He later directed the sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), but had to give up directing responsibilities for Beyond because of his commitment to The Force Awakens. In addition, Abrams is the creator of popular television shows like Alias and the Emmy Award winning series Lost. He previously wrote and directed Mission: Impossible III, which helped reinvigorate the franchise with Tom Cruise as well.
Abrams will not be directing Star Wars: Episode VIII and has not yet made plans for any new projects, which raises the question—what will J.J. Abrams direct next? He is currently taking some time away from the director’s chair and using his creative talents to executive produce several new projects including the Hulu original series 11.22.63 starring James Franco, which is available to stream now.