New Planet of the Apes movie being developed by Maze Runner director Wes Ball
A new Planet of the Apes film is being developed by Maze Runner director Wes Ball. It is unclear if Andy Serkis will return in any capacity.
Fox has tapped Maze Runner filmmaker Wes Ball to spearhead another reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, the first significant revitalisation of a Fox property since the studio’s takeover by Disney.
The science-fiction franchise originally starred Charlton Heston, and was rebooted twice, first by director Tim Burton and then for a new trilogy starring Andy Serkis as the ape Caesar.
The Hollywood Reporter says that it is unclear if the new film will feature Serkis, who generated Oscars buzz for his motion capture performance, especially in the second and third films, directed by Matt Reeves. Serkis and Reeves are slated to reunite in a new Batman film, in which he will play Alfred.
Ball became an in-house favourite at Fox after taking the Maze Runner trilogy to almost a billion dollars worldwide, with relatively small budgets. He was developing a Mouse Guard movie which fell apart weeks before production was due to begin.
Under Disney’s reign, Fox has released Oscar hopefuls such as Ad Astra and Ford v Ferrari, in addition to major superhero films such as X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
The original Planet of the Apes series, created by Pierre Boulle, had five feature films. It continued on television, both in live-action and animated forms. Burton rebooted the series in 2001, while Rise of the Planet of the Apes arrived in 2011.
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