With CinemaCon still marching on, some of the biggest rumbling have come from Las Vegas this week. Disney made a splash a couple nights ago, with Warner Brothers and Sony doing the same with Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, and more. Now, 20th Century Fox is taking the stage, and when discussing their upcoming slate of movies to start production, Co-Chairman and CCO Tom Rothman dropped a big hint at one ape-tastic sequel.
Today, Rothman spoke about various films set to begin production by summer’s end. The Wolverine, Steven Spielberg’sRobopocalypse, and Shawn Levy’s The Internship, which will reunite Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, were all mentioned, according to ComingSoon. Among them, he also mentioned the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Every one of the films mentioned has a 2013 release date, so is it safe to assume that the Apes will arrive around the same time? It’s hard to say. There’s no guarantee the film will hit in the summer, as it could in fact rock the holiday season. Andy Serkis has his own commitment with the second half of shooting for The Hobbit, but early reports have Serkis signed for the sequel. Due to his prior commitment for Peter Jackson, he could either get all of his filming out of the way early in order to get on production for Apes 2, or the sequel may have to wait while he’s in the Shire.
Director Rupert Wyatt hasn’t been confirmed just yet, but reports had claimed he was contracted, just like scribe Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who are currently writing the script now. Rothman expressed major interest in inking a deal with Wyatt for the second film, but it’s unclear where in the process that is.
Jaffa and Silver hinted what one element of the story was in an interview late last year, saying “We’re working on the sequel right now, to the prequel, and so the excitement is – I’m not gonna tell you, but – are they gonna talk or not? Part of the challenge was how to get across what was happening between the apes without words. In the end I think it was a good challenge for us. It created better storytelling.”
Serkis was also speaking about the film as in January the actor said, “I think where ever it goes – and it is in its infancy in terms of where we are taking the story – it will certainly have conflict and it will certainly have Caesar having to make decisions about managing his own kind and, also, the survivors of the virus and making sure they can co-exist. I believe that’s where it is going.”
We’ll keep you updated as information continues to develop.
What do you think? Is this the first announcement that the interquel will be coming next year? If so, who else do you hope returns?
