I honestly couldn’t be happier that Planet of the Apes is back as a successful film series. Too many sci-fi movies in recent years have simply been Star Wars or Star Trek ripoffs or superhero or action movies trying to disguise themselves as a sci-fi movie. But with Rise of the Planet of the Apes we finally had an honest-to-goodness sci-fi remake that put a clever new spin on a classic series, something Tim Burton’s 2001 remake was unable to do. So much of that has to do with the wonderful performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar, but also because the filmmakers have found the right story that makes Planet of the Apes more realistic than audiences in 1968 ever would have imagined.
When it comes to the sequel, this July’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, so far we’ve only see a teaser trailer and a few posters. But 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment are obviously excited about what it has seen so far. How do I know that? Because according to Deadline the director, Matt Reeves, has been signed to direct the third film. Prior to Dawn, Reeves directed Let Me In and Cloverfield. That means if the second film is as successful as the first we’ll see the third film fast-tracked.
The Deadline report says that Reeves is in negotiations to co-write the film with Mark Bomback, who co-wrote Dawn and did uncredited work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Bomback has become a prominent franchise writer after working on scripts for Live Free or Die Hard, Total Recall, The Wolverine, and even doing the final rewrite of Fifty Shades of Grey. I had a chance to speak with Bomback around the time he was promoting The Wolverine and he was really enthusiastic for his Dawn script. If that enthusiasm shines through to the finish product, we may end up with two excellent Planet of the Apes sequels over the next few years.
Are you as excited for a second and third Planet of the Apes movies as I am?
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