Now that director Rupert Wyatt has exited the Planet of The Apes franchise. Fox is now on the hunt for a new director to replace him with the 2014 release date looming. Deadline reports that Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) is on the top of their list along with other candidates that include Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim, Hellboy), Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick), J Blakeson (Alice Creed), Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter) and Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible).
Reeves has left the Twilight Zone film which was setup at Warner Bros., so there's a good chance he'll sign on. Guillermo is also a solid choice as he's a genre nut and could really amp up the action aspect for the sequel. Johnson's jump into science fiction with Looper could make him a decent candidate. Only problem is that Rian usually only directs projects he writes himself. I assume if he signs on he'll be making script rewrites which would only be a benefit to the project.
