Even before Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opened in theaters this summer, 20th Century Fox was already making plans for a third film in the rebooted franchise, but after “Dawn” outgrossed the preceding “Rise” by over $225 million and became the highest-grossing film in the series, the studio might have begun thinking even bigger.
Speaking with MTV, Caesar himself, Andy Serkis, was asked about the setting for the upcoming third film and revealed that the next one may not be the conclusion to the franchise.
“It’s very, very early in where we choose to drop anchor in the next film. It could be five years after the event, it could be the night after the events of where we left ‘Dawn,’ so it’s very difficult to know where the story is going right at this moment because it’s being written as we speak. I know that part of the desire for Matt [Reeves] to do this next movie is about continuing the enjoyment of seeing these apes evolve. So I don’t think we’re going to see a situation where we’re jumping….It might be three films, It could be four. It could be five. Who knows? But the journey will continue. It might not necessarily be summarized or completely fulfilled in this next one. The point being, eventually we know that we’re going to end up back at ‘The Planet of the Apes,’ but whether it’s this film or not, I don’t know.”
The Untitled Third Planet of the Apes film will be directed once again by Matt Reeves, who is co-writing the script with Mark Bomback. It’s set for release on July 29, 2016.
