According to The Wrap, Brian Cox is reuniting with director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) for 20th Century Fox's Rise of the Apes.

Cox is presently in final negotiations to play the nefarious owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility with no compassion for the animals that live there.

The script was written by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa.

Rise of the Apes is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

WETA digital is going to render photo-realistic apes for the first time in the history of the franchise, as opposed to actors in ape costumes.