20th Century Studios is making another Planet of the Apes movie. Matt Shakman, who directed Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, will direct the new film. Meanwhile, Josh Friedman, who helped write both First Steps and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, is writing the script. Producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who worked on the earlier Apes movies, are returning for this project as well.
But the new movie will not be a sequel to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, even though that movie made nearly $400 million worldwide and was seen as a success. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes continued the rebooted Planet of the Apes story that started in 2011 and focused on the ape leader Caesar. A sequel to Kingdom had been discussed before, but it’s unclear if that’s still happening.
Josh Friedman has worked on several big movies for 20th Century Studios, including Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash. Shakman became well known for directing Marvel’s WandaVision and also directed the first episode of Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
