https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/doctor-strange-multiverse-madness-loses-director-scott-derrickson-1268466

'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Loses Director Scott Derrickson
JANUARY 09, 2020 4:30PM by Borys Kit

The filmmaker has left over creative differences.

Marvel’s Doctor Strange sequel has lost its director.

Scott Derrickson has exited Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness due to “creative differences,” The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

"Marvel and I have mutually agreed to part ways on Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness due to creative differences," the filmmaker wrote Thursday on Twitter. "I am thankful for our collaboration and will remain on as EP."

The feature project was heading toward a May start, which is not expected to shift. Benedict Cumberbatch is reprising his role as the master of the mystic arts while Jade Bartlett is still a writer on the project. The pic's release date remains set for May 7, 2021.

Derrickson had been on the project for about a year and had, along with Marvel, said the story would be horror-tinged and be connected to the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision. It is unclear whether where the film will end up on the scares scale was a factor in the head-butting. In December, Derrickson cryptically tweeted, "Studio release dates are the enemy of art." It is unclear if he wanted to push back the movie's release in order to have more time to work on it.

Derrickson was already making post-Strange plans and in December announced that after Multiverse of Madness, he would be tackling an R-rated horror adaptation of a Joe Hill work he had written with longtime collaborator C. Robert Cargill.