While sci-fi franchises like Star Trek may be dormant at the box office right now, properties like Alien have had great runs at the box office—good news for 20th Century Studios looking to make more out of their established IP.
One other franchise that managed to overperform at the box office this year was The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and it’s very likely that moviegoers are going to be seeing more CG monkeys on the big screen moving forward.
New Planet of the Apes Trilogy Confirmed?
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the latest Apes movie was said to have been a ‘crucial’ test for the Disney-Fox merger, and it managed to pass with flying colors, having grossed $400 million at the worldwide box office. This was apparently ‘enough to fulfill filmmaker Wes Ball’s dream of a new trilogy.’
While no official announcement of a sequel has been made, fans should expect some kind of announcement from 20th Century Studios soon; maybe after they’ve finished hyping up their other upcoming releases.
What Could the Sequel Be About?
By the time Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes starts, it’s been established that the apes have become the dominant species on the planet because of their intelligence, and the humans have been reduced to filthy scavengers.
By the end of the movie, however, the human girl, Mae, is revealed to come from a group of intelligent humans who are keeping themselves (and their knowledge) safe in a satellite bunker. They are still vulnerable to the Simian flu, but it’s been confirmed that other intelligent humans still exist around the world and they can communicate now.
With the main theme of co-existence being at the center of the movie, it could look to be another war between the humans and the apes. Though the apes have learned how to make crude technology, the humans—at least the ones who are left—are still able to wield their superior tech. Then again, apes are physically stronger and immune to the flu; humans are still weaker and vulnerable to sickness.
Since both races are capable of great good and great evil, it’s going to be interesting to watch those themes clash as they further delve into the lore of this newly established Planet of the Apes timeline.
Could they Bring Time Travel Back?
The first Planet of the Apes featured an iconic time travel twist, and the Tim Burton movie flipped it on its head when they had Mark Wahlberg traveling to what he thought was the future to a modernized world run by apes.
When it comes to the new films though, the time travel element has been dropped, and it’s mostly been just jumping forward in the timeline, showing the slow takeover of the world by the apes as well as the extinction of the humans.
With Kingdom having jumped forward several hundred years, maybe there’s room for a sci-fi time-travel element to be introduced; but if the story wants to keep pushing forward with the co-existence theme, maybe it would be best to just stick to the present and have the humans and apes come to an understanding.
No release date has been announced for the next Planet of the Apes movie.