'Ant-Man' director to take sequel in 'very unexpected directions'

Ant-Man director Peyton Reed may not have officially signed on to direct the Marvel blockbuster’s sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which is set for release July 8, 2018. But the filmmaker says the negotiations for him to do so are “looking good” and Reed certainly sounds like someone who expects to return to the superhero’s micro-land.

“There were a lot of things we set up in the first one that we are going to pay off in the second,” says Reed of the film, which starred Paul Rudd in the lead role. “We have lots of documents of story stuff. We are all going to get in a room at some point — hopefully very soon — and start hashing it out.”

Reed replaced original Ant-Man director Edgar Wright after the Shaun of the Dead filmmaker departed the movie just a few months before production was set to begin. And now Reed admits he is keen to work on a project which he will control from the very start. “I really am looking forward to a movie where really I can help build it from the ground up,” says the director. I think we’ve established these characters and, as a moviegoer, I really want to see that happens to these characters. We’re going to take the second movie into some very unexpected directions.”

Ant-Man is out now on digital HD, and 3-D Blu-ray on Dec. 8.