Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes did well enough at the box office where, apparently, Disney is going to move forward with two more movies to complete Wes Ball’s trilogy.
The flick, released in May, has grossed nearly $400 million at the box office.
According to THR, that’s good enough for Disney who through 20th Century Studios will greenlight two more Planet of the Apes movies.
“The one bright spot of May was Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, one of the numerous film properties Disney’s film empire inherited after the larger acquisition of Fox assets in 2019,” the site says in its box office report. “Apes was a crucial test in the post-Disney merger, and it passed; the movie grossed nearly $400 million globally, enough to fulfill filmmaker Wes Ball’s dream of a new trilogy.”
THR also adds further down in the article: “Disney insiders are especially pleased about such titles as Apes and Aliens because those were properties that came from 20th Century Fox and were more difficult to pull off in terms of reviving older brands with less of a built-in crowd than, say, Deadpool.”
Wes Ball is supposed to direct the live-action Legend of Zelda so when the new Apes movies get underway remains to be seen.
“Apes entering into their Bronze Age”
In a recent Reddit thread from a few months ago while promoting Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Wes Ball responded to a fan’s question about his approach to the film. The fan asked whether the new film would follow in the stylistic and narrative footsteps of the last trilogy, especially the two films directed by Matt Reeves, or whether it would branch out into something new.
Wes Ball’s answer highlighted his initial skepticism about taking on another Apes film as explained, “Yes. I’ve spoken about this before, but I was very skeptical about doing another Apes film at first. I felt the last trilogy was a perfect 1,2,3… beginning, middle, end. I wasn’t interested in doing a shameless part 4. At the same time I didn’t really want to abandon the Caesar storyline/universe.”
However, it wasn’t long before new ideas started to form, ideas that excited Ball and allowed him to reimagine how the story could continue without merely repeating what came before.
“A week or so later I had a few sudden ideas that got me really excited… a way into a new story that would allow us to stand on our own two feet while still honoring the trilogy and the original ’68 movie,” he explained. “We are sort of a distant sequel and a prequel that way. I grew up watching that original ’68 film so those images are etched into my mind. I was confident my love of the movies would keep me on the right path even as we forged into new territory.”
Ball elaborated on how the new film would explore fresh thematic ground, marking a significant evolution for the apes themselves.
“I’ve always said the last three movies were apes in their Stone Age. I thought it would be awesome to think about Apes entering into their Bronze Age,” he said. “Witness them developing cultures and rituals and disparate clans of apes progressing along in different ways. Also seeing how Caesar’s legacy had evolved, changed, been manipulated, etc. The distance opened up just a ton of stuff for us to explore.”
