Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is just over a month away, and it looks like Wes Ball’s addition to the franchise is stacking up to be a significant hit. The last three Planet of the Apes movies did a good job reinventing the franchise for the 21st century, with the last two instalments, directed by Matt Reeves, especially acclaimed. While the Caesar trilogy has come to an end, the new film is set to follow the same continuity, only taking place generations later. In many ways, Kingdom seems more in line with the original series, with talking apes, led by Owen Teague’s Noa, at war with a primitive human society.
According to Deadline, the film is tracking for a $54-61 million dollar opening, which would put it on track with the last film, War for the Planet of the Apes, which opened with $56 million. It’ll be interesting to see how word of mouth is, as the amazing reviews meant that the last two films had serious legs at the box office. Ball’s film has been getting excellent buzz, with him even nabbing the highly coveted job of directing the Legend of Zelda live-action flick.
Tickets for the film went on sale yesterday, with pre-sale outlets listing the movie’s running time as 145 minutes. That actually sets a franchise record, but not by much. War of the Planet of the Apes ran 140 minutes, while Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was 130. By contrast, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (starring the now cancelled James Franco – remember him?) was only 105 minutes.
According to the official synopsis from Disney/ 20th Century Studios, “Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”
In addition to Owen Teague, the film also stars The Witcher’s Freya Allan, Kevin Durand and William H. Macy.
In the meantime, to get folks hyped, IMAX has released a new trailer for the film you can see below. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes out on May 10th. Are you looking forward to it?