Director Edgar Wright has walked away from the upcoming Marvel flick 'Ant-Man' after being attached since 2006.

Marvel Studios made the shocking announcement on Friday (May 23rd), just as the film's pre-production is coming to an end.

Wright's exit was "due to differences in their version of the film," the studio announced.

"Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Ant-Man due to differences in their visions of the film," read the statement released Friday.

Adding, "The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly."

The filmmaker's departure comes even more of a surprise since he and Joe Cornish wrote the script together.

Shooting was expected to begin very soon, with Paul Rudd leading the cast as the miniature superhero, scientist Henry "Hank" Pym, who creates a chemical substance to dramatically changes his size and communicate with insects in order to fight crime.

Wright was responsible for casting the 45 year-old actor, this past December (2013) the studio announced that the director "came to us with the idea of Paul Rudd, we felt a huge sense of relief because the first step in creating any Marvel Studios film is finding the right star."

"We knew early on that we had found the right person in Paul. When he not only agreed to do it but became as enthusiastic as any actor we'd ever met with about doing the work, we knew we'd found the right guy. We couldn't be more excited for our audiences to see what he's going to do to bring Ant-Man to life."

MORE: 'House of Cards' Actor Corey Stoll Joining 'Ant Man' as Mystery Character

Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Patrick Wilson, Corey Stoll and Michael Peña round off the cast.

MORE: Patrick Wilson Confirms 'Important' Ant-Man Role

'Ant-Man' is scheduled for a release date of July 31st 2015, which will compete with other huge summer blockbusters such as Marvel's 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron,' the 'Man of Steel' sequel which will feature Henry Cavill's 'Superman' as well as Ben Affleck's 'Batman,' 'Jurassic Park IV' and a reboot of the 'Terminator' franchise.

Paul Rudd
Rudd has been cast as the 'Ant-Man'