‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Director Signs Deal With 20th Century Fox

After scoring a hit with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, director Matt Reeves is officially setting up shop over at 20th Century Fox.

Following the recent success of the latest Planet of the Apes flick, the boys and girls at the aforementioned studio decided to keep the filmmaker under their collective wing for the time being. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this agreement is in addition to the deal he signed with 20th Century Fox TV back in 2012.

Emma Watts, production president for the studio, explained:

“We are thrilled Matt has decided to make Fox his home. We have long admired his bold, intelligent approach to filmmaking. I know our collaboration on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is just the beginning of many great things to come.”

The director is already onboard to direct the follow-up to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a flick that’s tentatively scheduled to hit the big screen in 2016. Not surprisingly, Reeves is quite thrilled about the deal he put together with Fox. Variety reports that the filmmaker issued a statement of his own once the ink dried on the recent agreement.

“I couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership with Fox. Making ‘Dawn’ was an incredible experience for me because, despite its scale, I was allowed to make the film with true passion.”

It’s not altogether surprisingly that 20th Century Fox wants to make sure they secure the director’s services for an undisclosed amount of time. After all, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a pretty big hit for the studio this summer. According to the figures posted at Box Office Mojo, the flick has generated an extremely healthy $370 million worldwide. That number is likely to grow before everything wraps up.

The Inquisitr previously reported that the latest installment of the Planet of the Apes franchise almost featured a different ending. However, Reeves felt the extended conclusion took away from the emotional impact of the finale.

He told Slashfilm last month:

“[W]hat was different about the ending was that after the ending that you see in the final film, the idea was that the apes went out on a kind of exodus through the city and they gathered on the Golden Gate Bridge in order to look into the distance for the approaching warships. And I felt that it was taking us too far into the next movie. And almost starting the next movie and not letting the emotion of what had just happened, of what Caesar had just achieved and what Caesar had the price that he had paid.”

Are you surprised Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves recently inked a deal with 20th Century Fox?

[Lead image via Bing]