EXCLUSIVE: Right after 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment began screening his cut of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Matt Reeves has signed on to direct the third installment of the franchise. This time, he will write the script with Mark Bomback, one of the writers who scripted the sequel. Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa were the scribes who resurrected the franchise with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the Ruper Wyatt-directed film that grossed $482 million worldwide in 2011. The directing deal is done and the writer deals are being worked out right now. It is likely that Reeves will go right into the third film, a priority for the studio.

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The sequel is set to debut July 11, 2014, and it stars Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell, with Andy Serkis reprising his role as Caesar, the intelligent ape that led the breakout from a lab before much of the human race was wiped out at the close of the first film. The survivors square off against Caesar’s growing army in the second film. The pic is based on the Pierre Boulle novel, and was first turned into a film that starred Charlton Heston in 1968.

Peter Chernin is producing the series for Chernin Entertainment with Jaffa and Silver. Reeves, who helmed Cloverfield and the remake Let Me In, is repped by CAA, Howard Klein at 3 Arts and attorney Karl Austen.