Is The Fantastic Four Director Matt Shakman Skipping Sequel For New Planet Of The Apes Movie?

Earlier

this month, it was announced that filmmaker Matt Shakman is set to direct a new film in The Planet of the Apes franchise for 20th Century Studios. Last year, he made The Fantastic Four: First Steps the highest-grossing Fantastic Four film as the film went down a retro-futuristic path. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn were cast as the new superheroes Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing and Human Torch. However, a new report reveals that Shakman will not be directing the sequel and will move on to a new franchise.

Matt Shakman won't be back for The Fantastic Four sequel

On The Hot Mic podcast, Jeff Sneider shared that Matt Shankman is not coming back to The Fantastic Four. There could be many factors to Shakman's decision, including scheduling. The Fantastic Four sequel might take some time before it goes on the floors and Shakman has already picked his next project. Right now, Marvel's feature film lineup includes Spider-Man: Brand New Day in July, Avengers: Doomsday in December and Avengers: Secret Wars, a year later on Dec 17, 2027.

Shakman seems to be moving on temporarily and there is no confirmation yet on when The Fantastic Four sequel is set to begin. After First Steps grossed $521.9 million globally, a sequel was announced. The characters of Reed Richards (Pascal), Sue Storm (Kirby), Ben Grimm (Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Quinn) are also coming back for the upcoming Avengers films and will play a key part. Marvel Studios probably wants to make sure that the characters are not overused in the features.

More about Matt Shakman's The Planet of the Apes film

Shakman and screenwriter Josh Friedman are working on the new The Planet of the Apes film. Friedman also wrote the screenplay for First Steps and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which came out in 2024. Shakman is also joining the franchise as producer alongside Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The franchise continues to pit talking primates against humans.

Matt Shakman's filmography

Shakman has worked on some of the biggest shows on TV recently, including Succession, The Good Wife, Game of Thrones, The Boys and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. He had also directed Marvel Television's most popular TV show WandaVision with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. The filmmaker has also directed episodes of Apple TV's upcoming series Wild Things with Jude Law and Andrew Garfield in the lead as magicians Siegfried & Roy.