Wes Ball’s ‘Planet of the Apes’ Won’t Be a Reboot
While information surrounding Wes Ball’s upcoming Planet of the Apes movie for 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox) is scarce, one thing can be confirmed: the movie will not be a new reboot. When news first broke last December that the Maze Runner director would be helming the next Apes installment, it was unclear whether the project was meant to extend the previous film series or start with a fresh reboot entirely.
Ball took to Twitter to settle the confusion, responding to an article claiming the movie was in fact a reboot. Read the exchange below:
So Ball doesn’t reveal anything particularly juicy in his tweet. But by saying that the source didn’t fact-check their statement, he’s pretty much ruled out the possibility of a reboot. He does make it known that Caesar (Andy Serkis), the chimpanzee protagonist of the most recent reboot that starts with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, will somehow be involved in the new movie. Caesar is based on Roddy McDowall’s character of the same name in the last two movies in the original Apes series.
Serving as a prequel of sorts to that original series, 20th Century’s reboot begins at the moment of humanity’s downfall. “Caesar’s legacy” opens the door for all sorts of possibilities — it could mean that we pick up right after 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, or there could be a time jump far into the future where apes have dominated man.
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