Last year's Rise of the Planet of the Apes was easily the surprise hit of 2011. No one expected a movie about humanoid apes at the tail end of the summer movie season to have any succes commercially or critically. And after the absolute abortion that was director Tim Burton's 2001 remake, why would anyone expect the film to be good? Just goes to show that producer William Goldman's old Hollywood saw is correct: "Nobody knows nothin'." With a budget of $93 million the film went on to rake in almost half a billion dollars worldwide and thanks to a strong script, excellent performances, and amazing motion capture shots, it currently holds a 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And just like another Hollywood axiom (if it makes money it's getting a sequel) the follow up to Apes will soon hit the theaters. Unfortunately director Rupert Wyatt will not be along for the second go around, claiming concerns about the hard release date already set for the film. Yet the beat goes on and Fox Studios already has a short list of directors in mind to helm the second film in what will inevitably be a trilogy.
Fox Studios has narrowed down its directors list to the following candidates:
Rian Johnson (Looper)
Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labryinth)
Matt Reeves (Cloverfield)
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later*)
J. Blakeson (The Disappearnce of Alice Creed)
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter)
Juane Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage)
While these are all great choices (minus Matt Reed) I think Fox has to go with either Del Toro or Fresnadillo. Del Toro already has a proven track record in dealing with the bizarre and is probably one of the more underrated directors working today. Fresnadillo on the other hand has an excellent grasp of the thriller/horror genre and would be a great fit.
The sequel, entitled Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, swings into theaters May 23rd, 2014.
*The first ten minutes of 28 Weeks Later is the maybe the most riveting opening sequence to a movie I've ever seen.
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