First “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” Trailer Reveals Brilliant Apes, Feral Humans
The apes talk in the very first trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. We know what you’re thinking—well, sure, they also spoke in the last Planet of the Apes movie, director Matt Reeves’ excellent 2017 trilogy capper War for the Planet of the Apes—but in director Wes Ball’s new film, they speak with a fluency and clarity that surpasses the humans they’ve displaced at the top of the food chain.
As has been the case since this venerable franchise was rebooted with Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2014, and only getting more pronounced, the digital effects and mo-cap performances of the people playing the apes are astonishing. In the new film, set years after the death of the valorous chimpanzee Caesar (Andy Serkis), the apes have built a complex kingdom, the cities of man are now overgrown (and perhaps more beautiful because of it), and human beings have been pushed to the margins. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is several generations removed from the reign of Caesar, and a new, less-than-noble ape leader is building a formidable empire in which compassion and kindness, especially for the once-dominant species on the planet, are signs of weakness to be crushed.
The new ape to root for in Kingdom is Cornelius (Owen Teague), Caesar’s son, no less, who now lives in a very different world than his father did. Humans are essentially feral in this new film; the apes reign supreme both physically and intellectually, and yet power struggles within the ape community and an alliance with a young human could change everything.
That young human is played by The Witcher‘s Freya Allan. The film’s cast also boasts William H. Macy, Dichen Lachman, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, Sara Wiseman, and Neil Sandilands in the cast. Director Wes Ball made his name with The Maze Runner series, and he’ll bring his abilities with action set pieces and emotional stakes to bear on the new film.
Check out the trailer here. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes arrives in theaters on May 24, 2024:
Here’s the official synopsis:
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.
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Featured image: Courtesy Walt Disney Studios/20th Century Studios
