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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesdirector Wes Ball has a lot on his plate, as he is currently working on multiple projects including the Legend of Zelda and Ruiner adaptations. However, Planet of the Apes fans have no reason to worry as he recently confirmed that plans are in place for the sequel to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Speaking to Collider, Ball confirmed that work was currently being done on the sequel, which was recently announced to be coming to theaters in 2027. While he didn't reveal plot details regarding the sequel, he shared his excitement about the many ideas he has about expanding the franchise moving forward.

"Yeah, we're talking about it. That's all I can say, really. But I'm greedy," Ball said. "I've got multiple things that I'm playing with right now. I'd love to do all of them, but there are so many cool...

As soon as credits began rolling on The Batman, so did the rumor mill about when The Batman, Part II would hit theaters. Every nerd on the planet knew Matt Reeves could not allow that film to end with just a singular offering.

However, it has felt that way with what is now the third delay since that amazing film ended. At CinemaCon 2022, Wbd motion picture major domo Toby Emmerich joyously announced that The Batman was coming back to the big screen. Then, Matt Reeves said this from the stage:

"Thank you all for your tremendous support for The Batman. We couldn’t have gotten here without the faith and enthusiasm of all your teams around the world. I’m excited to jump back into this world for the next chapter," Matt Reeves told Deadline in April 2022.

Amid the ballyhoo of other CBMs and other nerd-laden entertainment like Black Adam,...

Apes together strong indeed! After earning close to $400 million bananas with the Wes Ball-directed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, news about another movie in the evolutionary franchise is swinging our way! According to 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell, another Apes film is in the works for a 2027 release. Details about the project are scarce. However, it’s a fair assumption to think it’s a sequel to Ball’s box-office blockbuster, starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, and more.

Whispers about a new Planet of the Apes movie arrive alongside confirmation that 20th Century Studios is developing more Alien and Predator films. We already know Predator Badlands will be unleashed on November 7, 2025. However, Asbell says we’re getting two additions to the Predator franchise in 2025. The studio also plans to develop a sequel to Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus and...

Back in 2020, Collider did a deep dive into the artistic work of Didier Konings, an accomplished concept artist, digital painter, and visual effects artist whose work featured in the likes of Wonder Woman, Rampage, Stranger Things, and Mouse Guard, to name just a few. Since then, Konings has been a busy man, and there have been exciting developments in his career. Last year, Konings teamed up with Make Way Film for his first feature-length project, Heresy, which Collider is delighted to reveal, is set to have its U.S. premiere this week at Fantastic Fest. Since relocating from his native Netherlands, Konings has spent the last ten years working as a concept and VFX artist and, as we've previously noted, his contributions to major studio projects shouldn't be ignored.

[Editor’s note: Spoilers for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” below.]

Wes Ball had two things going for him in directing “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”: His love of the original franchise, which he first watched on TV as a kid in the ’80s, and his admiration for “Avatar,” whose virtual production and performance capture prowess he leveraged with the help of Wētā FX.

“Something I’ve always wanted to do is go play in that ‘Avatar’ style and do it here, where there is no camera, there’s no lights, there’s no set really,” Ball told IndieWire. “And you have to create that in the computer with really talented artists. And I had a great time doing it.”

Ball got a taste of the tech working with Wētā on the shuttered “Mouse Guard” adaptation of David Petersen’s graphic novel (a casualty of the Disney/Fox merger). “That...

[Editor’s note: Massive spoilers for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” below.]

Apes rule in “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” kicking off director Wes Ball’s post-Caesar saga 300 years later. Wētā FX leveraged its tech from the previous “Apes” trilogy and the Oscar-winning “Avatar: The Way of Water” for greater photorealism in their performance capture animation and VFX. This is important because the apes are chattier, and there are more CG action set pieces (33 minutes are entirely digital — a franchise first). It adds up to possibly earning the franchise the VFX Oscar that it’s been denied.

After achieving great on-set facial capture in the rain and snow for director Matt Reeves’ “Dawn” and “War” films, Wētā embraced more expansive environments for “Kingdom” along with more active and expressive apes. In the film, simians have begun developing their own civilization in villages spread throughout the overgrown Pacific Northwest, with decrepit skyscrapers in the distance.

This post contains spoilers for "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes."

The majority of people currently alive today have never known a world without the "Planet of the Apes" franchise. French author Pierre Boulle first published his novel "La Planète des singes" in 1963, and the world has been fascinated with an alternate future where our own hubris have destroyed humans, and highly intelligent apes are now the dominant species on Earth. "Maze Runner" and future "The Legend of Zelda" director Wes Ball is the latest to sit in the director's chair, delivering "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," the tenth film overall in this legacy series.

The film follows the events of the previous trilogy a few hundred years later, where a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague) sets off on a journey after his clan has been attacked by a rival group under the control of the...

[The following story contains mild spoilers for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.]

With strong reviews and a projected opening weekend as high as $145 million worldwide, Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is poised to carry out a successful relaunch of the Apes franchise. The film picks up right where Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves’ reboot trilogy left off with ​​War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), as Ball depicts Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) funeral before jumping multiple centuries ahead to a time where Caesar has become the stuff of legend.

In 2019, after his three Maze Runner films grossed nearly $1 billion on a $156 million spend, Ball was days away from production on 20th Century Fox’s Mouse Guard adaptation, but then the Disney-Fox merger abruptly canceled his ambitious mocap-centric project that counted Reeves and Serkis as producer and actor, respectively. However, later that year, Ball got a call from 20th’s longtime president of production,...

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball feels grateful for Andy Serkis and Matt Reeves for their contribution to his work on the latest installment of the famed franchise. Serkis previously portrayed the chimpanzee Caesar, while Reeves helmed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes via 20th Century Studios

Both the actor and The Batman director are no longer part of the new film, but they have more input into the project than they imagined.

Andy Serkis Showed Genuine Support For Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

During the Los Angeles premiere of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, director Wes Ball recalled to The Hollywood Reporter how Matt Reeves offered his support for the new film.

“I had dinner with Matt because I had known him from our movie Mouse Guard together,...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes starring Andy Serkis as the iconic character of the franchise, Caesar continued the legacy of the movie with several later installments, including War for the Planet of the Apes, partnering with Matt Reeves. With Wes Ball reviving the franchise with the latest installment of the 20th Century Studios movie series, the original Caesar gave his verdict on the new movie.

A still from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Ball’s latest movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars You Hurt My Feelings actor Owen Teague alongside Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy. The Josh Friedman-penned movie has created quite a buzz ahead of it’s release and Serkis and Reeves’ comments on the movie might help it get further attention.

Andy Serkis Commented On Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Andy Serkis with...

In 2014, Wes Ball made his directorial debut with the dystopian science fiction film The Maze Runner which is based on James Dashner’s novel of the same name. The filmmaker subsequently went on to direct two more films in the franchise which follows the story of a teenager who is thrown into an intricate maze and must find his way out of it.

Hollywood director Wes Ball (image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The central protagonist in the films was played by Dylan O’Brien who impressed with his performance in the trilogy. But the young actor who aptly developed the nuances of his character through the narratives, was initially not considered the perfect choice by Ball owing to a certain preconceived notion that he had of him.

How The Maze Runner Star Proved Director Wes Ball Wrong

Wes Ball’s first film in the Maze Runner series was the 2014 film titled The Maze Runner...

Andy Serkis and Matt Reeves, who collaborated on 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, may not lead the new adaptation, but still played a role in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

At the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Thursday, Kingdom director Wes Ball recounted how at the very beginning of working on the project, “I had dinner with Matt because I had known him from our movie Mouse Guard together and I told him all these ideas we were doing. He was literally about to get on a plane to go do Batman, and after that dinner I felt like we were ready to go make this movie and have the support to just go for it. And the same thing with Andy, when we got him involved.”

Serkis starred as Caesar — the leader of the...

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set nearly 300 years after the events of its predecessor, 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes. In a new interview, Kingdom director Wes Ball opened up about the decision to jump ahead a few centuries for the fourth installment in 20th Century Studios' Planet of the Apes reboot series.

"I was looking for what to do next after I had a previous movie called Mouse Guard that crashed and burned. We were just about to make it, and I was making it with Matt Reeves at Fox. We were licking our wounds from that thing, and someone came and asked, 'What would you do with the next Planet of the Apes? You just learned all this big mo-cap stuff, and you’re friends with Matt. What would you do?' shared Ball during Collider's Directors on Directing panel at WonderCon.

Wes Ball's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes challenges expectations with a bold narrative leap post-Caesar's era. Ball's creative resilience shines in the film, respecting the franchise's legacy while exploring new ape civilizations. A talented cast, captivating trailer, and innovative storytelling promise a significant addition to the Apes saga.

Wes Ball's upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stands as a testament to the power of creative resilience and the art of storytelling. During a press visit to the film's edit bay, Ball shared insights into the genesis of this project and his journey from initial reluctance to embracing the directorial role.

Per ComicBook, Ball's journey began amid the fallout of a canceled project, Mouse Guard, where he honed his skills in motion capture technology, working closely with industry veterans like Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis. Despite his expertise, Ball initially rejected the opportunity to helm the...

The director, Wes Ball, had a vision for a live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda using mo-cap technology, which he expressed in a tweet back in 2010. Wes Ball's previous experience with mo-cap in films like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and his cancelled Mouse Guard film shows that he has the skills to make the live-action Zelda movie work. Mo-cap technology will be crucial for bringing various characters and species from the Legend of Zelda games to life in the movie, such as Ganondorf, the Zora, Rito, Gorons, and the franchise's monsters.

The Legend of Zelda is finally getting a live-action movie, and the plans for the film are even more exciting based on the director's 13-year old plan. Although fans have been clamoring for a The Legend of Zelda movie for ages now, most of them assumed that the film would be animated due to its massive scope and fantastical setting.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes could potentially revive the canceled Disney movie Mouse Guard and give director Wes Ball further opportunities at Disney. The new installment of Planet of the Apes will feature a new cast, possibly excluding Andy Serkis as Caesar. The success of the reboot trilogy under Matt Reeves' direction could help guide Ball's success. Wes Ball's canceled Mouse Guard movie could potentially be revived after the positive reception of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Ball may have more creative freedom moving forward and the success of his upcoming projects could establish him as a significant director in the action genre.

The highly anticipated Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes can potentially help reignite motivation for a previously canceled Disney movie. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be the fourth installment of the modern rebooted franchise that began with 2011's impressive...

Yesterday, I emerged from a personal errand, made the mistake of opening social media, and saw my particular corner of the internet in an uproar. They were finally making a live-action movie based on the beloved "Legend of Zelda" video game series ... and Wes Ball was directing it. And everyone seemed to be grumbling about that.

Granted, my particular bubble does not necessarily represent the wider world, but I honestly thought my particular bubble would know better. In fact, I've rarely been more disappointed in my particular bubble! My particular bubble is supposed to know a thing or three about movies and the people who make them. So the wave of negativity and instant cynicism I saw surrounding this announcement made me realize I was going to have to write the article you're reading right now. This is your fault. Sorry.

Anyway: Wes Ball is an inspired choice to direct a "Legend of Zelda" movie,...

The Pitch Meeting episode on Maze Runner: The Death Cure pokes fun at the YA tropes and flaws of the movie, including its questionable happy ending. Despite mixed reviews, the Maze Runner trilogy performed fairly well at the box office, bringing in over $949 million worldwide. Although Death Cure was supposed to be the conclusion, Disney announced plans for more Maze Runner movies in 2019, but there have been no updates on their progress since. However, with the resurgence of the YA genre, future films may still be possible.

With five years now gone since the trilogy capper hit theaters, Screen Rant's Pitch Meeting series is looking back at Maze Runner: The Death Cure. Based on James Dashner's novel of the same name, the final installment in the YA movie franchise saw Dylan O'Brien's Thomas and his friends racing to save Ki Hong Lee's Minho from Wcked and put...

Exclusive: HBO Max has put into development Misfit City, a series adaptation of the bestselling Boom! Studios graphic novel series created by Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith & Kurt Lustgarten and illustrated by Naomi Franquiz.

Popular writers Hannah Hafey and Kaitlin Smith will serve as creators and executive producers for the series, alongside Smith and Lustgarten.

Described as in the vein of The Goonies and Stranger Things, the project follows Wilder, a teenage girl smothered by her backwater hometown, but when Wilder and her friends discovers a centuries-old pirate map, she may find out that real adventure was in their tiny town all along.

Boom! Studios’ Stephen Christy, Ross Richie and Mark Ambrose will also executive produce with Mette Norkjaer co-executive producing.

Hafey and Smith wrote the 2018 Black List script Popular set up at HBO Max with Berlanti/Schechter Films and The Arlook Group producing. They’ve written projects for Universal, Illumination and most recently,...

Exclusive: CAA has inked screenwriter T.S. Nowlin.

Nowlin, co-wrote and adapted the first Maze Runner from the James Dashner YA novel, and received sole writing credit on sequels Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. Combined the trilogy grossed close to $950M.

The Florida State University grad is currently writing Netflix’s Bright II for Will Smith, and he co-penned the Legendary/Universal sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising which grossed $290.9M.

He also has an adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling novel Captains Courageous set up at Netflix and several projects in development with director Wes Ball, including Mouse Guard, which Deadline has covered exclusively. Mouse Guard is based on David Petersen’s Eisner-winning comic book series. The story takes place in medieval times and follows a brotherhood of mice sworn to protect the fellow rodents in their midst. Captains Courageous follows the adventures of 15-year old Harvey Cheyne Jr.

Exclusive: Wes Ball and his Oddball Entertainment banner are moving into a first-look deal at Paramount Pictures. It reunites him with Emma Watts, the Paramount Motion Pictures Group President who gave Ball his start when she headed Fox and he directed the Maze Runner trilogy for the studio.

Ball runs Oddball with Joe Hartwick Jr, and creative execs Henry Wyler and Mara Gagnon stay at a company whose deal at 20th Century Studios expired.

Mike Ireland and Daria Cercek, the recently named Paramount co-presidents said: “We’re are so happy to be able to partner with Wes and Joe as they bring their unique vision and craftsmanship to Paramount Pictures. Together, we will draw on our existing IP and library titles to reimagine beloved properties, as well as build original worlds like Wes has done so amazingly in the past. We can’t wait to see what comes of this collaboration.

Boom! Studios has hired former Marvel TV executive Mark Ambrose to serve as its head of television.

Ambrose will oversee all aspects of live-action and animated TV production and development for the comic book publisher’s studio. Additionally, Ambrose will look for new original series for the company to be developed as comic books and graphic novels to bring through the company’s first-look deals with Netflix for television, and Disney’s 20th Century Studios for film.

The company signed its first-look deal with Netflix back in May. Boom! currently has a feature film first-look deal with 20th Century Studios/The Walt Disney Company, where it will remain through January 2021. The next release for Boom! and 20th Century Studios will be supernatural thriller “The Empty Man.” A $150 million “Mouse Guard” movie was greenlit last year that had Matt Reeves and Wes Ball set to direct, but the project was ultimately...

The most recent additions to the Planet of the Apes franchise are some of the greatest blockbusters of modern times. Featuring stunning special effects, a deep, contemplative story, and an awe-inspiring central performance from Andy Serkis, it is no wonder that fans are concerned about Disney's Planet of the Apes plans. Thankfully, director Wes Ball, who will be helming Planet of the Apes 4 is here to put minds at ease.

"We have a take. We have a way of staying in the universe that was created before us, but we're also opening ourselves up in being able to do some really cool new stuff. Again, I'm trying to be careful here. I'll say this, for fans of the original three don't worry - you're in good hands.""The original writers and producers that came up with Rise and Dawn, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, they're also on board with this.

Thanks to the Fox buyout, Disney is taking the reins of the Planet of the Apes franchise, with The Maze Runner director Wes Ball stepping behind the camera. Ball recently opened up about when he expects to get back to work on his Planet of the Apes movie, and what the working environment will be like amid the ongoing global circumstances.

"The truth is, my heart goes out to everyone and the times we're living in are obviously historical. We'll be looking at these moments taught in schools in 20, 30, 50 years. So I'm trying to make the best of it and trying to understand the moment we're living through. As my job, I see it as being an entertainer and storyteller who tries to give people an escape from their everyday lives. That's still very much on my mind, still very much my motivation and directive."

Work on the new movie...

Maze Runner director Wes Ball has landed a new sci-fi film. Ball is set to direct the feature film adaptation of the sci-fi Claire North novel The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August for Amblin Partners, his first feature film project since 2018’s Maze Runner: Death Cure and since 20th Century Fox’s Mouse Guard adaptation fell through. Deadline reports […]

The post ‘Maze Runner’ Director Wes Ball to Helm ‘The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August’ for Amblin appeared first on /Film.

Boom! Studios, comics publisher behind some of the most acclaimed titles of the last 15 years, announced on Monday that they had agreed to a first look deal with Netflix for the next two years. “We generate 20+ new original series a year and are thrilled to partner with a streamer that is as prolific as we are,” said Boom!’s CEO and founder, Ross Richie. “Boom!’s unique partnership model benefits creators by positioning them to be packaged with high-end directors, screenwriters, and producers. We’re thrilled to continue our track record of translating our best-selling award-winning library with the best TV talent in the business but now with the undisputed leader of the new streaming era.”

The deal gives Netflix first crack at developing live action or animated series based on Boom! Comics like The Spire, Lumberjanes, or Giant Days. “Boom! characters are innately special, they’re colorful, diverse and...

Netflix has just taken a major step forward in the comic book game. The streaming service has announced a new partnership with Boom! Studios, the comic book publisher behind Mouse Guard, Lumberjanes and many other original titles. Netflix had also previously acquired Millarworld, which is home to titles such as Kingsman and Kick-Ass. This new deal potentially makes them the biggest player when it comes to comic book adaptations outside of Disney, who owns Marvel, and WarnerMedia, who controls DC.

The first-look deal will see Netflix producing original movies and TV shows based on the titles produced by Boom! The publisher has been in business since 2005 and previously had a deal in place with 20th Century Studios. That deal is set to expire in January 2021 and things shifted after the Disney/Fox merger last year. Now, Boom! has set up shop at Netflix. Brian Wright, Vice President, Original Series at Netflix,...

Netflix and Boom! Studios, the comic book publisher behind acclaimed series like Lumberjanes and Mouse Guard, have struck a first-look deal for live-action and animated TV. The Boom Studios Netflix deal is not the first time the two companies have partnered up — David F. Sandberg’s Netflix film The Unsound was based on a Boom! graphic novel by Cullen […]

The post Netflix Strikes First-Look Deal with Boom! Studios Comic Book Publisher appeared first on /Film.

Netflix has struck a first-look deal with Boom! Studios, the comic book and graphic novel publisher behind franchises like “Lumberjanes,” “Something Is Killing the Children,” “Once & Future” and “Mouse Guard,” the company announced Monday.

Ross Richie, CEO and founder of Boom!, and Stephen Christy, president of development, will executive produce all shows that are developed through the pact.

Netflix and Boom! have been close collaborators in the past, having partnered on the upcoming film “The Unsound” directed by David F. Sandberg and based on the graphic novel by Cullen Bunn and Jack T. Cole.

Also Read: Fox News Contributor Bill Bennett Inaccurately Says Coronavirus 'Is Not a Pandemic' (Video)

Boom! also published a graphic novel series to coincide with Jim Henson’s “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” in 2019.

Besides Marvel and DC, the deal gives Netflix access to one of the largest libraries of controlled comic book IP whose...

Netflix has struck a first-look deal with Boom! Studios, the comic book publisher behind franchises including Lumberjanes, Something is Killing the Children, Once & Future, and Mouse Guard.

The deal covers live-action and animated series and comes after the streamer began worked with Boom! on a feature adaptation of The Unsound with Shazam! director David F. Sandberg in 2019.

Boom! Studios previously struck a first-look film deal with 20th Century Studios and the studio took a minority stake in the company. That first-look deal runs through January 2021 and the studio is releasing supernatural thriller The Empty Man in August. However, following the Disney merger, Boom!’s $150M animated movie Mouse Guard, directed by Wes Ball, was cancelled and the company moved beyond 20th Century Studios, setting up projects across town including feature film Memetic with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg producing and The Batman screenwriter Mattson Tomlin at Lionsgate and a slew of TV projects to Amazon,...

Netflix has signed a first look television deal with comic book and graphic novel publisher Boom! Studios.

Under the deal, Boom! will develop live action and animated series. Boom! Studios CEO and founder Ross Richie and president of development Stephen Christy will executive produce all shows developed through the pact.The company is behind comic book franchises like “Lumberjanes,” “Something is Killing the Children,” “Once & Future,” and “Mouse Guard.”

“We generate 20+ new original series a year and are thrilled to partner with a company that is as prolific as we are,” Richie said. “Boom!’s unique partnership model of controlling the media rights to our library benefits creators by positioning them to be packaged with high-end directors, screenwriters, and producers. We’re thrilled to continue our track record of translating our best-selling award-winning library with the best TV talent in the business but now with the undisputed leader of the new streaming era.

Netflix has signed another comic book publisher to its sprawling roster.

Following a prolonged negotiation, with other companies bidding, the streamer has inked Boom! Studios to a first-look deal.

Under the terms of the pact, Boom! — the company behind Eisner award-winning franchises including Lumberjanes, Something Is Killing the Children, Once & Future and Mouse Guard — will produce live-action and animated series based on its library of titles. This gives Netflix access to what sources describe as one of the largest libraries of controlled comic book IP outside of Marvel and DC. While other comic book publishers have a ...

Below you'll find some animation that was created on on the Unreal engine showing how Fox's cancelled Mouse Guard movie could have looked like.

Its production was canceled due to the merger of Disney and Fox.

Similar to Redwall, Mouse Guard is an American bi-monthly comic book series written and illustrated by David Petersen and published by Archaia Studios Press.

Differently from American standard comics size, it is published in a square format.

Check out it out:...

Fans were really not sure about recent reports that the upcoming movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise would be a reboot. With the trilogy that began back in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes having been so well-received it did not make much sense to many why the studio would decide to reboot instead of continuing the story of Caesar and his son, Cornelius. Well. director of the new movie, Wes Ball, has now clarified things a little via social media.

"It's never been easier for film journalists to actually get in touch with the actual people who actually know... but maybe it's the point to Not fact-check these days? Regardless. Don't worry. I won't ruin the surprises, but it's safe to say Caesar's legacy will continue..."

Taking a shot at movie journalists, Ball calls out for more fact-checking rather than reporting rumors. Where is the fun in that?...

Wme just signed Wes Ball and his Oddball Entertainment partner Joe Hartwick. The duo is in the early stages of rebooting the Planet of the Apes franchise for 20th. They will produce, and Ball will direct.

Ball is best known for directing the Maze Runner trilogy that collectively grossed around $950 million worldwide. He also was public about the disappointment of seeing the movie he developed for so long, the $170 million CGI animated Mouse Guard, get unplugged last April, two weeks before start of production. The film was a casualty of Disney’s acquisition of Fox and the studio didn’t see taking the risk on a new branded mouse with skills closer to Bruce Lee than Mickey Mouse. Ball posted about 10 minutes of footage that reflected his vision for the movie. He tried to set it elsewhere, to no avail.

Ball had been repped by Paradigm.

It’s the second...

Last March, Emma Watts, Fox vice chairman and president of production at Twentieth Century Fox Film, was a new recruit to Team Disney, shepherding her crew as they were ingested by another studio. She went along for the ride, hoping for the best.

Last week, after 22 years at Fox, Watts bid Disney good-bye, leaving in charge senior executives Scott Aversano, Mike Ireland, and Steve Asbell. While she ran Fox as a studio, she leaves behind a glorified Disney label. Her resignation memo stated her need to “pursue new opportunities.”

While that’s boilerplate language for high-profile executive exits, here it has the added benefit of being true. “They cut her off at the knees,” said one agent. “Fox remains as a pod for Jim Cameron. It’s another sign of the diminishment and Disneyization of that company. They’re dismantling it.”

When Watts started at Fox as a creative executive more than two decades ago,...

Last March, Emma Watts, Fox vice chairman and president of production at Twentieth Century Fox Film, was a new recruit to Team Disney, shepherding her crew as they were ingested by another studio. She went along for the ride, hoping for the best.

Last week, after 22 years at Fox, Watts bid Disney good-bye, leaving in charge senior executives Scott Aversano, Mike Ireland, and Steve Asbell. While she ran Fox as a studio, she leaves behind a glorified Disney label. Her resignation memo stated her need to “pursue new opportunities.”

While that’s boilerplate language for high-profile executive exits, here it has the added benefit of being true. “They cut her off at the knees,” said one agent. “Fox remains as a pod for Jim Cameron. It’s another sign of the diminishment and Disneyization of that company. They’re dismantling it.”

When Watts started at Fox as a creative executive more than two decades ago,...

The planet hasn't seen the last of CGI apes. It's been revealed that Disney's 20th Century Fox is moving forward with a new Planet of the Apes movie with Wes Ball, the filmmaker behind the successful Maze Runner franchise. Details on the project, for the time being, are slim but this is one of the first major Fox properties that Disney acquired in the massive $71.3 billion merger earlier this year that has been taped for development.

According to a new report, 20th Century Fox, which Disney now owns, has tapped Wes Ball to develop a new Planet of the Apes movie, with the intent being for him to direct. Fox had a great deal of luck rebooting the franchise in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was directed by Rupert Wyatt. The movie chronicles the origins of how the apes began their takeover of the planet,...

Disney is expanding the “Planet of the Apes.” The studio has signed “Maze Runner” director Wes Ball to helm a new movie for the franchise.

On an earnings call in August, CEO Bob Iger stressed that the classic franchise is a project that the studio plans to reboot as soon as possible, given the success of its previous films. Though some pics within the Fox pipeline have gone through the pre-production process, this would mark the first major IP from the Fox library that Disney is developing on its own since the Fox-Disney merger.

The most recent trilogy (ending with 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes”) was a big box office success and earned some of the franchise’s best reviews, dating back to the original 1968 film starring Charlton Heston.

Previously, Disney was forced to put Ball’s adaptation of “Mouse Guard” into turnaround as part of the fallout of the merger.

A blonde Kristen Stewart and company fight for their lives in the new trailer for Fox's Underwater. The film follows a crew of researchers who have to find a way to survive after their underwater laboratory is devastated by an earthquake. Unfortunately, something much more vicious has woken up below the earth's surface, and they are trapped with it.

Underwater stars Kristen Stewart (American Ultra), Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist), T.J. Miller (Deadpool), and Vincent Cassel (Jason Bourne) with William Eubank in the director's chair. Eubank's previous directorial works include science fiction dramas The Signal and Love.

The action thriller follows Norah Price (Stewart), a member of an underwater research crew. When their subterranean lab is destroyed by an earthquake, they're left with few options. They're losing oxygen, their machinery doesn't work, and they're 5,000 miles from land. In the trailer, they decide to walk across the bottom of the ocean...

Idris Elba is one of the biggest celebrities right now. Between his acting chops and honor of receiving People's 2018 Sexiest Man Alive Award, it's no wonder he has such a strong fan following. Elba's had plenty of roles to show off his thespian skills, and even the characters he's portrayed in otherwise awful movies still often shine as the best part of the project.

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It's also possible that Elba's number-one role is yet to come. While the jury's already shaky on Cats, in which Elba is set to play Macavity, he's also going to voice Celanawe in the animated adaptation of the incredible Mouse Guard graphic novel, star in the next Suicide Squad film and appear in several other upcoming projects.

Exclusive: Despite a wave of rumors she might be headed for the executives suites of Paramount or Warner Bros, Emma Watts is staying put at Fox/Disney. Deadline hears that the vice chairman and head of production is in the middle of formalizing a plan with the studio to stay on in the future and continue to steer Fox’s film division. There was no comment or confirmation from Disney.

Sources familiar with what’s going on there tell me that while Watts had to give up the Marvel properties that include Deadpool to Kevin Feige, her decision to continue was certainly incentivized by continuing to oversee the Avatar sequels generated by James Cameron. Those films will go a long way toward showing whether or not Disney’s acquisition of Fox was a good idea. Watts, I’m told, will be key to the relationship with Cameron, who has four...

Emanating from their studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, The History of Bad Ideas sees hosts Jason, Jeff and Blake talk about all things geeky on their podcast. Whether it’s rumours of the latest comic book movies, debating who really is the worst villain of all time, discussing the latest comic issues or just wondering about life in general, you are sure to have a fun time with them! In theory.

If you haven’t listened to the show before – why not? – you can check out previous episodes of The History of Bad Ideas podcast on iTunes and look out for new episodes here on Nerdly each and every week…

Episode 289: The Doughy Episode!

The Hobi Gang is melting away in the summer heat but that won’t stop them from talking the latest in pop culture news! The guys determine how they die in Star Wars, discuss how not...

Earlier this week, director Wes Ball’s long-brewing Mouse Guard movie was officially pronounced dead thanks to the Disney/Fox acquisition, leading Ball and others involved with the project to give us a glimpse into the work they’d done developing the movie. Now Mouse Guard has unfortunately found a new companion in cancellation in the form of Fox’s […]

The post ‘Alien Nation’ Remake is the Latest Casualty of the Disney/Fox Acquisition appeared first on /Film.

Disney has decided to pump the brakes on the long-talked about Alien Nation remake. At the end of last year, Jeff Nichols revealed that he was nearly finished with the final draft of his "epic" script. Nichols has been attached to write and direct the remake of the 1988 classic for over three years now and it looks like the project may be dead after looking at what Disney has been doing to other Fox properties like Mouse Guard and plenty of others.

The Alien Nation remake has been "put on hold rather than being put into turnaround." This comes just three months after the Disney and Fox deal closed. While putting it on hold has a better ring to it, the chances of it actually hitting the big screen under the Disney umbrella are more than likely slim at this point in time. However, there is a chance the project...

Disney has decided hit the pause button on Fox’s remake of 1988’s science-fiction thriller “Alien Nation.”

Fox signed director Jeff Nichols in 2016 to write and direct the project. That deal was announced two days before Nichols’ “Loving” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Nichols was re-teaming with “Loving” producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Sarah Greene for the new “Alien Nation” movie.

The original “Alien Nation” was set in Los Angeles after 300,000 members of an enslaved alien race — the Newcomers — landed in the Mojave Desert. James Caan starred as a police officer partnered with an alien, played by Mandy Patinkin.

“Alien Nation,” produced by Gale Anne Hurd and Richard Kobritz, was a moderate success with a $25 million gross. Fox launched a spinoff TV series, starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint, which ran for 22 episodes during the 1989-90 season before it was canceled.

The “Alien Nation” movie project is being put on...

A little over ten weeks after Deadline broke the stunning news in April that Disney had canceled his epic $170 million animated film Mouse Guard two weeks before production began, director Wes Ball this week seemed to reconcile that his dream project was really over, at least for now.

He has been fighting over two months to find a new home for the film, but earlier this week he tweeted: “Yes sadly, its true. Our #mouseguard movie is dead. Seems it’s too big a risk. It’s a damn shame really. We had something special. To my hella talented cast/crew: I’m sorry I couldn’t push this one through. The past year with you all has been a blast. May the Guard prevail!”

He also posted around ten minutes of footage from his movie that was done for pre-viz purposes (you can watch above), this before he was...

The Maze Runner's Wes Ball had been developing an adaptation of David Peterson's "Mouse Guard" comic series for 20th Century Fox and was just weeks away from kicking off production. The film would have taken place in a world of sentient mice who live in the medieval era and revolved around the Mouse Guard, a brotherhood of mice who have sworn to protect…...

Mouse Guard has been officially canceled. Director Wes Ball shared the news on social media, along with some test footage and a look at how much work has gone into the project. The movie had been in development for over a year at Fox and was quickly shelved when the Disney deal went through. This has been happening frequently with certain Fox projects, but Mouse Guard was put on the back burner just two weeks before production was officially set to begin. It appears the process of shopping the movie to other studios yielded no results.

Disney never gave a reason for flushing Mouse Guard, which had a pretty hefty budget of $170 million. The movie was set up to use motion capture and a lot of CGI for the mice and other animals. The video Wes Ball shared shows some test footage and a lot of storyboards for the canceled movie.

The more I see of Mouse Guard, the more impressed I am with the amount of high-quality work that went into the adaptation's pre-production ... and the more pissed off I am that Disney axed it. The collateral damage from the $71.3 billion buyout of Fox, where the Wes Ball-directed film was previously set up, not only scuttles the adaptation of writer-illustrator David Petersen's medieval mouse tale, it also cuts the legs out from under the artists, animators, and other below-the-line specialists who were hoping to continue work on it. On the …...