Published May 7, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT It's also a bit ironic that the Fantastic Four director will heading this movie Image: 20th Century Studios Sign in to your Polygon.com account After finding success with The Fantastic Four: First Steps , director Matt Shakman and writer Josh Friedman will be heading up the next Planet of the Apes movie, according to a report from Deadline . While Shakman will be a newcomer to the franchise, Friedman previously wrote 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , which built upon Matt Reeves’ reboot trilogy from the 2010s. While the details about this new movie are unclear, my hope is that it at least takes place in the same universe established by Reeves. According to Deadline's report, the next Planet of the Apes film "will mark a return to the planet where apes are the superior species ruling all." Deadline's sources say Shakman's Apes sequel won't be a continuation of 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , but a new, original story.…