Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Trailer Swings High

Movies

20^th Century Studios is monkeying around this week, releasing a trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the next installment in the long-running sci-fi franchise (albeit part of the rebooted continuity). This entry jumps forward several generations and finds apes becoming the dominant species on Earth and living harmoniously in Caesar’s vision until a dictator rises to power and an ape named Noa searches for freedom. Owen Teague stars as Noa, with Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy rounding out the main cast. Directed by Wes Ball, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will arrive in theaters on May 24, 2024 (Memorial Day weekend), and you can see the trailer below:

I’m hopeful for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. I had no interest in these movies when Rise of the Planet of the Apes was made, assuming they’d be inferior modern remakes/reboots/re-whatevers that missed what made the original work. But they surprised me by being excellent science fiction stories, especially the second one, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Matt Reeves, who directed the second and third, has moved on, with Wes Ball replacing him, and I have no opinion on that; other than this film, Ball has only directed the Maze Runner movies, which I haven’t seen. (Teen dystopia doesn’t appeal to me.) But the trailer looks great, with more of those excellent special effects that brought the apes to life in the last three movies. The key will be cracking a human story, which is what drove the previous films; to that end, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who wrote the first two entries, are back, which is a good sign. I like a lot of the cast; the only thing I’ve seen Owen Teague in is It, where he had a small part, and Freya Allan is fine in The Witcher (the actors aren’t the problem on that show). But William H. Macy is a legend, Peter Macon is excellent on The Orville, and Kevin Durand is always a good bad guy. Hopefully, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes kicks next summer’s movie slate off to a good start.