Source: Variety

Just weeks after coming onboard Sony's TONIGHT, HE COMES, director Gabriele Muccino has gone, reports Variety.

The film is still on course to shoot next year with Will Smith starring.

Muccino was hired after Jonathan Mostow dropped out because of creative differences. The trade says that Smith and Muccino had such a strong rapport on the recently completed "The Pursuit of Happyness" that the star was eager to reteam with the Italian helmer. Once the dust settled and Muccino got into the project, they decided that the story of a superhero in midlife crisis wasn't for him, and the split was amicable.

Because Sony has Muccino preparing "Happyness" for a December release, the studio already pushed TONIGHT, HE COMES from a summer start to early 2007. Warner Bros. used the open slot to accelerate the start of the Francis Lawrence-directed sci-fi film "I Am Legend."