20th Century Studios is returning to Planet of the Apes.
Matt Shakman, who directed Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps, has been tapped to helm a new installment of the long-running sci-fi property, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Josh Friedman, who co-wrote First Steps as well as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, will write the new script.
In a twist worthy of an astronaut seeing the Statue of Liberty on a seashore, the new feature project will not be a sequel to Kingdom, which made $397.3 million worldwide and is generally considered a success. Kingdom was a continuation of the trilogy produced starting in 2011 that rebooted the franchise and focused on the rise of the ape leader known as Caesar.
A sequel to Kingdom was talked about but it is not clear where things stand with that.
Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who were producers on the previous Apes films, are back on this one, joined by Shakman.
Exec vp of production Scott Aversano will be overseeing for 20th Century Studios.
Friedman is a go-to scribe for 20th Century as in addition to Kingdom, he also co-wrote the blockbusters Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash films for the studio. He is repped by UTA.
Shakman gained attention for his work on Marvel Studios’ WandaVision. He also helmed the pilot for Apple’s Godzilla series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Deadline first reported the hiring of Shakman.
