The long-running “Planet of The Apes” franchise will be getting a new installment with “Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.” This upcoming film is directed by Wes Ball (“The Maze Runner”) from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison. Plot-wise, it will serve as a bridge between the Matt Reeves-directed prequel trilogy and original series from the 1970s. [Editor’s note: because other than the pretty impressive makeup from Tim Burton‘s 2001 “Apes” film, we should all forget it happened.]
But that’s not to say “Kingdom” is just filler to get from the point line to the next. In a recent interview, Ball explained how it’s an adventure movie, that is tonally different from the darker, more recent, trilogy. All while, of course, retaining what fans love about the “Planet of The Apes” franchise.
“When I first started on it, I said, ‘I feel like Apes needs a little bit of Star Wars’,” Ball says. “It’s all still very grounded in reality, but it is essentially a quest narrative. Our main character – the young, impressionable Noa (Owen Teague) – meets characters along the way and becomes awakened as he winds up in a place that will test him, and he ultimately becomes his true self.”
However, Ball did clarify that “Kingdom” isn’t meant to skew towards a significantly younger audience. Even citing Mel Gibson’s 2006 film “Apocalypto” as an influence. “We haven’t kiddified it, or Disneyfied it, if I’m allowed to say that!” he explains. “But we have brought a younger spirit to it.”
Making “Kingdom” walk the age-old line of bringing a new spirit to a long-established IP while keeping its lore intact. “I wanted to do a big leap forward in time,” Ball reveals, without saying how long “Kingdom” will take place after 2017’s “War.” “It’s significant enough that Caesar is still a spirit in the movie, but most of his living relatives are not in this picture. If the last three movies were the Stone Age, here we get to see what happens when they enter the Bronze Age.”
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is set to hit theaters on May 24th, 2024. You can check out the teaser below:
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