We now know when we will return to the Planet of the Apes. In an interview with THR, 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell revealed that another installment in the long-running sci-fi franchise is going ahead, with a follow-up to this year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes all set to be released in 2027. Discussing some of the studio’s biggest franchises, including Alien, Predator, and Avatar, Asbell laid out exactly what the plans are when it comes to both tentpole IP projects and original movies.
“Right now it’s looking like next year, half the slate. Job one was figuring out these franchise movies first and coming up with the right cadence of Avatar, Apes, Alien and Predator specifically. Getting those right was the first part, which we’ve done now. And so that idea is to be able to say, “Okay, we know when the Avatar movies are coming. We know now about Predator. There’ll be another Apes in ‘27, let’s just say.” So knowing where we can plan those franchises, it helps us look to see and ask what kinds of original movies in terms of genre do we want to test the marketplace with?”
Now, it is worth noting that Asbell adds, “let’s just say” to end his thought. But a release window of 2027 sounds about right for another Planet of the Apes outing, considering that there was a three-year gap between previous entries Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes, and a seven-year gap between that movie and this year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. So, while we will be waiting a little while, director Wes Ball will get the chance to realize his plans for the iconic sci-fi series.
Director Wes Ball Has Big Plans for a New Planet of the Apes Trilogy
For his part, director Wes Ball has always envisioned Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as the beginning of a new trilogy, with the filmmaker saying there’s a lot of room for “great drama,” and that he plans to slowly unveil a “much larger world” as the series continues.
“So, we have an idea where we wanna go and there’s lots of room for great drama. Literally, doors have opened at the end of this movie that hopefully reveal a much larger world that we get to explore in this movie, full of drama, full of conflict, all that kind of stuff. Fingers crossed. We’ll see.”
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Planet of the Apes 9-Movie Saga Now Planned, Kingdom Box Office Bodes Well for Sequels
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is king of the box office, which should bode well for the several sequels now being planned.
Directed by Wes Ball, written by Josh Friedman, and starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes picks up decades after Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes and finds a tyrannical ape leader building his empire. You can check out the official synopsis for the latest Planet of the Apes sequel (and prequel) below.
“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.”