Wes Ball’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is seemingly being turned into a trilogy over at 20th Century. Studio boss Steve Asbell is telling THR that the sequel is set for release in 2027. This means that production should begin sometime in 2026.
There’ll be another Apes in '27
A sequel comes as no surprise given that producing duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver recently said that they had nine more movies planned for the ‘Apes’ series.
‘Kingdom’ was a “test” for the franchise, and financially speaking, it mostly passed. The film earned $400M globally against a $160M budget. It helps that it was a good movie with wonderful world-building on the part of Ball. A continuation to the film seemed inevitable.
Matt Reeves did an admirable job directing 2017’s “War For the Planet of the Apes,” that was the very best one of the previous trilogy. We didn’t really need any more ‘Apes’ movies, but Ball did an efficient job of setting up new stakes in ‘Kingdom.’
Although Ball’s film was narratively old-fashioned, and felt a tad too familiar, the special effects in ‘Kingdom’ were second to none. Never once did my mind wander into thinking the apes were motion capture. The attention to detail, as with all of the ‘Apes’ movies, was staggering. In a way, that’s what continuously saved Ball’s film, the way it made you believe in the realism of this fantastical world.
With full awareness that the odds are against Ball to match Reeves’ previous films, I don’t mind having another ‘Apes’ trilogy in the works. Ball is currently working on his “Legend of Zelda” live-action movie, and that’ll be taking up most of his time next year which is when it is rumored to start production.