Even before Dawn of the Planet of the Apes debuted in theaters last summer and became a box office smash, 20th Century Fox was already making plans for a follow-up film. Collider now brings word that the previously unnamed feature will go by the title: War of the Planet of the Apes. This remains unconfirmed by Fox, but stay tuned for updates as we learn them.
“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,” series star Andy Serkis said of the film last year. “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.”
Director Matt Reeves also chimed in about the movie previously, saying: “The notion of what we’re after with the third is to sort of continue that trajectory and see how he becomes a seminal figure in ape history. He almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses. A mythic status… We’re trying to play out those themes and continue to sort of explore it in this universe. Exploring human nature under the guise of apes.”
Reeves, who directed last year’s “Dawn,” will return for the sequel, the script for which he is co-writing with Mark Bomback. War of the Planet of the Apes is set for release on July 14, 2017.
