More Alien and Planet of the Apes films confirmed by Fox

There'll also be more Maze Runner films as well as new Avatar and Kingsman releases

Disney had some surprising announcements to make at its first CinemaCon presentation after merging with Fox last month.

Both studios were present at the panel where it was announced that the franchises that will continue after the merger include Alien, The Maze Runner and Planet of the Apes.

The future of these franchises was uncertain ahead of the merger, let alone after it, but this confirmation will have people theorising about the direction new films could go in, most notably with the Apes series that seemed to draw to a conclusion with War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017.

It was also announced that the studios will proceed with new Avatar and Kingsman films, which are less of a surprise considering new films of each are currently in the works.

Whether this is a subtle confirmation that James Cameron’s planned fourth and fifth Avatar films will actually happen is unknown. He’s finishing work on two sequels that he’s filmed back-to-back.

Fox’s Emma Watts also teased the conclusion to the studio’s long-running X-Men franchise with new film Dark Phoenix, which she called “the perfect sendoff”.

Meanwhile, the future of Deadpool was also confirmed on the same panel.