Sixty years after French author Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes debuted, the American movie franchise finds itself celebrating its 55th year with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. That’s six decades of the best sequel titles in film history–the franchise every other franchise looks to for title ideas. It’s been a long stretch–seven years since we last saw the apes on film, although the franchise has produced some good tie-ins, like the great Death of the Planet of the Apes novel (reviewed here), the late J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of the Planet of the Apes (reviewed here), some killer cover art by epic cover artist Ryan Sook (see it here), and more, like boxed sets of the movies, trading card guides, and games (find them here), and even action figures.
The next trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes leans into the apes large and in charge like we saw in the latter part of the original run of films. The film isn’t yet rated, and not likely to go the way of Bone Tomahawk, but it’s time to round up the humans in this entry. Don’t even pretend this is the last movie in the franchise–it needs to have that spaceship from the past to land in its last scene, right? Check out this latest trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes:
Billed as the final chapter, director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark’s 2017 film War for the Planet for the Apes wrapped a trilogy of reboot films focused on star Andy Serkis as Caesar. The story continued two years after the events in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (directed by Reeves), the sequel to the first of the reboot series, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (co-produced by Clark). So unlike many franchises these days, the same people were creating the beginning, the middle, and the end. But we haven’t heard the last from the infamous apes of Earth’s future.
The movie stars Owen Teague (It, The Stand), The Orville’s Peter Macon, Altered Carbon’s Dichen Lachman, Swamp Thing’s Kevin Durand, Jessica Jones’ Eka Darville, Freya Allan (The Witcher), and William H. Macy (Fargo, Mystery Men, Jurassic Park III).
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes originally had a May 24, 2024, release date, but it’s been moved up to avoid competing with the Memorial Day releases. Look for it May 10, 2024.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
