Some of the most exciting elements of the recent trilogy of Planet of the Apes movies was how it explored the conflict between humans and super-smart primates, but with 300 years having passed since that trilogy, the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will explore an entirely new tone, which is teased in a brand-new photo from the movie. While speaking with Empire Magazine, producer on the upcoming sequel Joe Hartwick recalled how the jump forward in time will allow the film to explore entirely new themes without having to sacrifice any of the entertainment value that audiences will be expecting. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be landing in theaters on May 24, 2024.
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“The last couple of movies concerned Caesar’s burden,” Hartwick detailed to the outlet. “Much like The Dark Knight, they felt heavy — super-enjoyable, but super-intense. We’re going in a different direction. Noa still has a burden, but it’s wrapped in a different level of adventure, mostly because the character hasn’t been exposed to the outside world before. So we’re seeing him see the world for the first time.”
While the original movies used makeup to transform actors into super-smart apes, resulting in iconic character designs, recent entries into the series have pushed visual effects further, thanks in large part to motion-capture performances from various actors, including Andy Serkis as Caesar. VFX Supervisor Erik Winquist went on to tease some of the sequences audiences can expect from the sequel.
“It was apparent on the page that this was going to be tricky in a number of instances, where you’ve got wet apes,” Winquist described of the adventure. “You start getting into the need to deal with how the water affects the fur and how the fur affects the water. Thankfully we just came off a film called [Avatar: The Way of Water], so we’ve been able to harness a lot of the experience and the tech that went into that film.”
The new movie is described, “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.”
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague (IT), Freya Allan (The Witcher), Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), Peter Macon (Shameless), and William H. Macy (Fargo).
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be landing in theaters on May 24, 2024.
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