Summary
2024’sKingdom of the Planet of the Apesmoved thePlanet of the Apesfranchise forward both in time and in world-building, and givenKingdom’s reception and box office return, the plot for the series' next movie should be obvious. Set 300 years afterWar for the Planet of the Apesin the overallPlanet of the Apesfranchise timeline,Kingdomintroduced a new set of characters along with a new setting, the eponymous seaside kingdom. The story revolves around two key characters: Noa, a young ape from a peaceful clan, and Mae, a mysterious yet intelligent young woman.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' box office returnfell short of its three predecessors, but is not considered a flop by any metric. Therefore, it’s all but certain that the series will continue the story of the looming conflict between Mae (Freya Allan) and Noa (Owen Teague) which was teased inKingdom of the Planet of the Apes' ending. While there were plenty of threads left for the sequel to pick up, one element of the greaterPlanet of the Apesnarrative seems like the obvious crux of the next movie in the series.
Planet Of The Apes’ Anti-Caesar Tease Is Exactly What I Want To See For Kingdom’s Sequel
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Noa actor Owen Teague provided a highly intriguing tease for his character’s future at San Diego Comic Con.
The Next Planet Of The Apes Should Lean Heavily Into Sci-Fi And Introduce Time Travel
It’s time to advance ape society out of the Stone Age
Part of what made thePlanet of the Apesreboot series of the 2010s so intriguing was how it depicted the progress of Caesar’s ape society. Caesar began with a group of apes at a sanctuary and turned them into a fully-functional civilization, complete with doctors, coordinated hunting, and rudimentary education. While modern guns played a major role in all three movies for Caesar’s apes,they were mostly reliant on Stone Age-level technology to build their civilization. That mostly continued inKingdom of the Planet of the Apes, in which Proximus Caesar made a major leap forward by weaponizing electricity.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesis set at a time that appears to be several centuries behind when the original movie was set, so time travel will be essential in connecting the original and reboot narratives–if that is in fact the plan.
The next movie in theApesfranchise needs to take a huge turn towards the sci-fi elements of the original movies, specifically regarding time travel.Time travel is a cornerstone of the entirePlanet of the Apesfranchise, and so far through four movies, the reboot series has not addressed it aside from an Easter Egg inRise of the Planet of the Apes. With Freya Allan’s Mae reintroducing satellite communication and advanced human technology to the narrative, it’s time for the franchise to get back to its true sci-fi roots.
Planet Of The Apes Finally Revisiting Time Travel Would Help The Franchise’s Box Office
The franchise needs a shot in the arm to bring people back
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apeswas on many “most anticipated movies” lists heading into 2024, yet it managed to underperform expectations at the box office despite essentially kicking off the summer blockbuster season. To be fair, the first three movies of the reboot series averaged over $560 million at the box office, so even if it came up short of that benchmark,Kingdomwas a modest success.Kingdomwas intended to kick offa newApestrilogy, and assuming their success it’s easy to envision moreApesmovies after that.
However, starting everything off with a movie that underperformed at the box office doesn’t exactly fast track the trilogy to a green light. TheApesfranchise would benefit from a sci-fi infusion to pivot off the familiar, albeit successful, formula that has held through the first four movies of the reboot.Introducing time travel and more advanced technology to the narrative can reinvigorate the series, and ideally bring more people back to the box office who are looking for something fresh out of the franchise.
It was a victim of the box office climate
PerBox Office Mojo,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesfinished its theatrical run with a box office gross of roughly $397.4 million. That placed it more than $80 million behind the next-closest box office return from the reboot series (Rise of the Planet of the Apes'$481.4 million). It’s generally accepted that a movie needs to make double its budget to break even to account for marketing costs, andthrough that lensKingdomwas a modest success. Unfortunately, setting a modern franchise low with the first movie in a planned trilogy doesn’t inspire confidence in any studio.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011
$481.4 million
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2014
$710.6 million
War for the Planet of the Apes
2017
$490.7 million
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
2024
$397.4 million
However, there were quite a few factors at play that led toKingdom’s disappointing box office return. The most significant factor washow soft the box office itself was at the timeKingdomhit theaters. Fresh outings from established franchises likeKingdomandFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagawere considered disappointments despite almost entirely positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, and even high-budget star vehicles likeArgylleandThe Fall Guyflopped. Simply put,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' box office failure was likely a product of the environment rather than any shortcoming of the movie itself.
Planet Of The Apes Risks Becoming Too Repetitive After 4 Incredible Movies
Kingdomteased another war between apes and humans
As important as the box office is to any franchise, thePlanet of the Apesfranchise needs to lean into time travel for a more significant reason: its overall quality. The Caesar reboot trilogy was a wild success both critically and financially, and it has only become more highly-regarded as time passes. Likewise,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesis viewed by many as a worthy next step in the franchise, even if it never quite reached the heights ofDawnorWar. However,Kingdom’s ending increased the risk of the series becoming repetitive.
ThePlanet of the Apesfranchise needs to lean into time travel in its next movie to keep the franchise from becoming stale and repetitive.
WhenKingdomended, Noa and Mae had arrived at an uneasy truce, although their final conversation occurred with a cocked and loaded gun behind Mae’s back. It’s fairly clear that Mae and her fellow surviving intelligent humans view the apes as a threat, and intend to take the world back from them.That puts the narrative on a crash course for another human and ape war, which was the ultimate conflict in the Caesar trilogy. The franchise needs to lean into time travel instead to keep the franchise from becoming stale and repetitive.
Cast
Set several years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the next installment in the Apes saga. Ape clans have taken up residence in the oasis that Caesar sought to colonize, but humans have reverted to their animalistic nature in their absence. Now battling between enslavement and freedom, outliers in the Ape clans will take sides in a newly burgeoning society.
