Wes Ball’s next directional feature, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, will serve as another reboot attempt of the franchise after Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). The previous Apes trilogy revolved around Caesar and his teachings, which mainly focused on maintaining peace among apes and learning how to coexist with humans peacefully. However, Kingdom will take the franchise in a whole new direction, according to Wes Ball. And it will surely not become one of Disney’s victims.
In his recent interview with Empire, Ball confirmed that Kingdom will not be ‘Disneyfied’ and will be different from previous Apes instalments. “We haven’t kiddified it, or Disneyfied it, if I’m allowed to say that!” he said. This scenario means that audiences will not get a watered-down version of Kingdom. Instead, we can expect the film to be as gripping and hard-hitting as the last three Apes entries.
Given the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney, many people have shown their concerns about the odds of the latter studio restricting prominent Fox franchises like X-Men, Planet of the Apes, Fantastic Four, and more to the PG-13 environment. Most of the MCU projects fall under the PG-13 rating. While this strategy has turned out immensely beneficial for the studio, especially in the last decade, the complaints about MCU’s PG-13-rated projects losing their quality and relying more on humour have increased as well.
Ball has also revealed that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will have a “younger spirit” mainly due to Noa, the film’s protagonist, who believes in Caesar’s teachings. He also added that the film takes inspiration from ‘Star Wars’ and will be more adventurous in terms of scope. Noa’s journey in the film will share similarities with Luke Skywalker’s journey in Episodes IV, V, and VI.
Since its inception, the Planet of the Apes franchise has managed to find ways to reinvent itself, allowing it to impress fans of the original Apes entries and attract new viewers. And we should expect that Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will honour the franchise’s legacy. It will come out in theatres on May 24, 2024. Stay tuned for more updates.