There was a lot of dismay from Planet of the Apes fans last December when it was announced that Disney, soon after getting hold of the property from Fox, were fast-tracking a relaunch of the franchise. Given the enormous success of the recent prequel trilogy, there wasn’t much interest in seeing it rebooted this quickly. The latest word on the production says that it won’t be a total reset, though, and more like the next stage of the same story. And this news comes our way via the director himself, Wes Ball.
In an interview with Discussing Film, Ball didn’t go into details about what he’s got planned, but did tease that his movie would be set in the same universe as the Rise/Dawn/War trilogy and that fans of those films can rest assured that they’ll enjoy his effort.
“We have a take. We have a way of staying in the universe that was created before us, but we’re also opening ourselves up in being able to do some really cool new stuff. Again, I’m trying to be careful here. I’ll say this, for fans of the original three don’t worry – you’re in good hands.”
As we all know, the movie industry’s stuck in limbo right now, with studios working out all the logistics of shooting in a post-pandemic world. In the case of the next Planet of the Apes, though, it might be (monkey) business as usual. Ball told Discussing Film that, due to the heavy-CG nature of the project, they could be ready to go “relatively soon.”
“Well, Planet of the Apes is moving forward and we have a giant art team cranking away on some incredible concept art. We’ve got the screenplay continuing to move forward, that will take the time that it takes and so that’s all good. Planet of the Apes is moving forward baby! Not only that, but we could actually be in virtual production relatively soon because it’s largely a CG movie.”
Based on the original five films that ran from 1968-1973, and following on from Tim Burton’s failed remake in 2001, Rise relaunched the universe with aplomb in 2011. Rupert Wyatt then handed the reigns of the franchise to Matt Reeves for 2014’s Dawn which, along with trilogy-closer War (2017), took things in an even more acclaimed direction. Reeves has since been hired by Warner Bros. to helm their Dark Knight reboot, The Batman. This will feature Planet lead Andy Serkis in the role of Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred.
Tell us, though, are you up for the new Planet of the Apes being connected to the Caesar trilogy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.