Corona | Coming Attractions

Keri Russell is the second cast member added to the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes sequel. She will play the female lead in the movie, but her character details and story arc remain unknown right now. Presumably she will be one of the San Francisco scientists trying to build opposition to the planet's new ruling class, the intelligent apes led by Caesar.

20th Century Fox has chosen Matt Reeves to direct Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, filling the void that Rupert Wyatt created when he departed the production last month.

Reeves directed the mega-monster movie Cloverfield and the American remake of Let the Right One In, titled Let Me In.

Fox still remains confident that it can make its Memorial Day 2014 release date for the Planet of the Apes reboot sequel.

The only star known to be cast in the second movie is Andy Serkis, the actor who delivered the Oscar-nominated motion-capture performance of the ape Caesar. It's unknown whether James Franco will return in Dawn or that if the screenplay has a part for his character.

According to a report, director Rupert Wyatt has dropped out of helming the Planet of the Apes sequel. The problem, it seems, is that Wyatt felt that he was under too much of a hard deadline to meet the second Apes movie release date, still scheduled for May 23, 2014.

If Wyatt has indeed exited the movie that gives Fox only a short window to find a replacement and then get filming underway.

Today the Planet of the Apes sequel not only got its official title (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), it also received a release date: May 23, 2014.

Scott Z. Burns, who wrote Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum, has been brought in by the studio to rewrite the script for the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel.

Great news for those that liked the ingredients for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Fox has closed a deal to bring back actor Andy Serkis for the sequel, to reprise his role as Caesar. Also coming back are Rise screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, as well as director Rupert Wyatt.

Now that Rise of the Planet of the Apes is out and having grossed an impressive $54 million dollars in its opening weekend, director Rupert Wyatt is talking with the press about his ideas for a sequel -- and where we might see the evolution of the talking ape go.

"There’s so much we could do… The ideas I’ve had are all sorts of things, ranging from Full Metal Jacket with apes," explains the director. "You could start this story again eight years from where we left off, the next generation of apes, those that have come from our protagonists, perhaps going in to a conflict with humans and showing real fear, in the same way as going into war for young soldiers in this day and age, telling their story. Or how apes are taking over cities, and being moved into human environments and having to interact with them and deal with things that are part of our culture and understand and evolve through them. Spies that are in the employ of the apes, working against humans and humans maybe existing underground, because that’s a way they can avoid the virus, coming up above ground wearing gas masks, and maybe that’s what dehumanises them."

Wyatt has said that he would like to return to the nascent franchise and direct the next Apes movie.