Yeah, I saw someone else bring that up as well: The wording in the press release definitely makes it sound like they kinda intend for this to be a Ron Howard movie now.
But if he's really only shooting for 3 weeks plus the 6 they have scheduled for reshoots, AND they're planning on sticking to that May date (which they repeated) I don't know how you manage to shoot enough footage to be able to give him the credit.
It's kind of a weird situation there.
People have been comparing it to Superman II, I've noticed, and superficially, that makes sense.
Donner got kicked off the film after having finished something like 75-80% of the footage needed for Superman II. They hadn't come up with an ending (since they moved it to Superman: The Movie in post) and some other things weren't grabbed yet, but that movie was mostly done. They brought in Lester, and essentially mandated Lester shoot just enough so that he could qualify for the Directed By credit and Donner wouldn't get it.
The major difference is that the split between the Salkinds & Pierre Spengler (producers on the film) and Donner wasn't really creative. They just didn't like each other. And the Salkinds were fucking crooks, for the most part. They were always having money problems, they were lying to people constantly, and at some point, as the relationship between Donner deteriorated (again, not based on the quality of the work, just based on how much it was costing) they began looking for whatever means they could to undermine him, and jettison him as soon as possible. The post-production on Superman: The Movie gave them that opportunity, and they took it.
Basically: Donner's getting cut out of Superman II was done as a malicious, cost-cutting endeavor primarily to fatten their own pockets via cheaping out on the sequel.
I have a hard time believing Kennedy & Kasdan are engaging in a similar sort of situation with Lord & Miller, and it doesn't make sense for them to ask Howard to come in and basically reshoot something like 50-60% of what Lord & Miller did for the sole purpose of getting their name off the credit block. It certainly won't be saving them any money to do so.
Especially not in the time frame they're apparently still shooting for. Yesterday I thought it was done deal they're pushing it back (maybe not December, but SOMEWHERE later down the calendar) but now I'm thinking they're really gonna stick to that May date.
And if they are, Howard simply isn't going to have enough time, even IF Lucasfilm had the will, to contribute to erasing Lord & Miller's name from the project.
