With Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes now in UK cinemas, the director’s attention is now fully on his next project: The Batman. In an interesting new twist, though, Reeves has revealed that he’s getting set to start from scratch on the story of that movie.

Previously, a screenplay had been put together by Ben Affleck and DC’s Geoff Johns, with Affleck’s Caped Crusader to battle Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke in a movie that at one point had Affleck on directing duties. As the workload became too much, Affleck dropped the directing gig, and now Matt Reeves is the one tasked with helming the first cinematic solo outing for Batfleck.

On the script for the film, Reeves told MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, “It’s a new story. We’re starting again.” He would elaborate a little further to Uproxx, explaining, “I can fail for every single reason because of myself. I don’t want to fail because of something that I don’t believe in in the first place – because I’m not going to know how to do it. I can respect that somebody else might know exactly how to do it. Like there are plenty of things that I’m not the right director for and I love to go see those movies. I love to see what people can do. But I can only do what I can do, and so I have to work from that perspective for self-preservation. It’s not out of any kind of like, ‘My way or the highway!’ It’s because that’s the way I have to do it for me to feel confident in my choices.”

In fairness, you can easily see Reeves’ point; if you’re tasked with directing a film whose story you’re not happy with then you’re going to be facing an uphill battle to get fully invested in the job. Still, this doesn’t bode too well for Warner Brothers and The Batman, as obviously starting again on the script will push things back a little in terms of getting cameras rolling.

Adding to this, the notion of restarting the script and story means that pretty much all bets are off. As in, maybe Deathstroke might be scrapped as the villain of the piece, or it could even be that Affleck himself may choose not to return to the cape and cowl after this November’s Justice League.

As ever, expect more on The Batman as it continues to develop.

With reports this week claiming that Daniel Craig has indeed agreed to return as 007, Christopher Nolan has now been talking about how he’d love to direct a James Bond picture at some point in the future.

Speaking to Playboy and the idea, Nolan enthused, “A Bond movie, definitely. I’ve spoke to the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson over the years. I deeply love the character, and I’m always excited to see what they do with it. Maybe one day that would work out. You’d have to be needed, if you know what I mean. It has to need reinvention; it has to need you. And they’re getting along very well.”

Many have long championed the Memento, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy helmer as a perfect fit to tackle Britain’s greatest spy over the past decade or so, and those same fans will be extremely encouraged to see Nolan speak so fondly of Bond. Whether anything more comes from this down the line, we’ll have to wait and see.

Up next for Nolan is Dunkirk, in UK cinemas from July 21st.

Ever since Mad Max: Fury Road roared to the big screen in 2015, there’s been constant talk of sequels, prequels, and potential spinoffs. One such mooted project was a picture focussing on Charlize Theron’s Furiosa, and now the actress herself has been discussing the possibility of that happening.

Speaking to Variety, Theron enthused, “I’d love to. There were three scripts. They were written as backstories to Max’s character and to Furiosa’s character. But at the end of the day, this thing lives and breathes with George. I think Warner Brothers knows that. We are all waiting for him to show us the way.”

Of course, the George she’s referring to is franchise creator and director George Miller. Previously, there were reports of three further Mad Max movies being lined up, with Mad Max: The Wasteland initially announced by Miller. All has gone a tad quiet on the Max front in recent months, though, but at least we know that Theron is still keen to get going on Furiosa should that film finally start to move forward.

As ever, expect more on this if and when it develops. In the meantime, Charlize Theron can be seen headlining Atomic Blonde later this month.

After his dabbles with Westerns, Quentin Tarantino is now starting to move forward on his next project – and it’s one that’s set to have a brutal horror edge to it, by all accounts.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, QT’s next movie is to be based around the infamous Manson Family murders. While no names are known for definite at this early stage, it’s believed that Tarantino is already in talks with several A-list talents about joining what should prove to be a unique new take on a truly shocking and sickening event. Early names being mooted are Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence, with the plan to start shooting next summer.

No title has been revealed just yet, although Tarantino has already finished up the screenplay and will indeed be directing, too. Harvey and Bob Weinstein will again work with Quentin to produce the picture, and the current plan is to shop the movie to studios for co-financing and co-distribution purposes in a way similar to Inglourious Basterds.

For those unfamiliar with the real-life Manson Family murders of 1969, that traumatic and tragic event saw Charles Manson initially order a group of his followers to attack a Benedict Canyon, LA residence that he believed was owned by a record producer who had rejected him. In reality, the house was occupied by director Roman Polanski’s pregnant wife, Sharon Tate. Over the space of several hours, the Manson followers would torture and kill Tate and four of her friends.

As ever, expect more on all of this as we get it.