War for the Planet of the Apes | |
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Directed by | Matt Reeves |
Written by |
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Based on |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Michael Seresin |
Edited by |
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Music by | Michael Giacchino |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
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Running time | 140 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $150–190 million [3] [4] |
Box office | $490.7 million [3] [5] |
War for the Planet of the Apes is a 2017 American science fiction action film [6] directed by Matt Reeves, who co-wrote it with Mark Bomback. The sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), it is the third installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise and the ninth film overall. [7] It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside Woody Harrelson and Steve Zahn. The film takes place two years after the events of Dawn and follows the conflict between apes and humans as it has escalated into full war, while Caesar sets out to avenge those he has lost.
Development for War for the Planet of the Apes began in January 2014, after 20th Century Fox viewed Reeves's cut of its predecessor; his return was soon confirmed, along with Bomback's. A conditional 2016 release date was announced in May 2015, which led to a closer and faster pre-production relationship between writer and director. The film shares similarities to Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), with emphasis on the effect of psychosocial development and interaction of apes and humans. Casting began in August 2015 and finished that October, with principal photography commencing soon thereafter and concluding in March 2016, with filming locations including Lower Mainland and the Kananaskis Range.
War for the Planet of the Apes premiered on July 10, 2017 at the SVA Theatre in New York City, and was theatrically released worldwide by 20th Century Fox on July 14 [8] to critical acclaim. Praise was directed at Reeves' direction, Serkis' performance, visual effects, themes, emotional weight, Michael Giacchino's score, and Michael Seresin's cinematography. War for the Planet of the Apes was a commercial success, grossing over $490 million, and received numerous awards and nominations, including nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Special Visual Effects at the 90th Academy Awards and 71st British Academy Film Awards, respectively. [9] [10] A sequel, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , was released in 2024. [11]
Two years following the battle in San Francisco, [lower-alpha 1] the "Alpha-Omega" human militia, aided by apes derogatorily called "donkeys" including a gorilla named Red, searches for Caesar's ape colony. The colony repels an attack on their outpost by a militia platoon. Caesar orders the apes to release the human survivors as a peacekeeping gesture. However, Red escapes after beating Winter. Caesar's elder son Blue Eyes and Rocket return from a scouting expedition to report they have found an oasis which could serve as a safer home. Later, the militia's Colonel leads a team to infiltrate the colony and kills Cornelia and Blue Eyes, mistaking him for Caesar. Cornelius, Caesar's younger son, manages to survive the attack.
Caesar, Rocket, Maurice, and Luca decide to serve as decoys while the tribe journeys to the oasis. In an abandoned village, Caesar kills a militiaman in self-defense and finds his mute daughter, whom Maurice befriends by giving her a rag doll. They encounter Winter, now working for the militia after giving away their hideout and confronts him. He reveals that the Colonel's forces are heading north to meet up with other military forces, and before Winter can alert the soldiers, Caesar kills him. Along their way, the group soon discovers several dead soldiers who have been executed by their own troops. A wounded survivor is revealed to be mute. Caesar's group chases someone who has stolen one of their horses and discover the thief is another intelligent ape, Bad Ape, who matured in isolation. He guides them to a former weapons depot-turned quarantine facility in the mountains that serves as the militia's base. A human patrol kills Luca. Caesar tells Maurice, Rocket, Bad Ape, and the mute girl to turn back. Caesar goes to the facility but is captured by Red. Caesar, discovering his tribe has also been captured and is being forced to build a wall, deduces that the militia is barricading the facility to fend off other human forces.
The Colonel reveals that the Simian Flu virus has mutated, causing infected humans to mentally devolve into primitive animals, depriving them of their intelligence. After killing his son, he ordered his own troops to kill any carriers before they could infect others. This led to a conflict with his superiors, who are still searching for a cure. Caesar is tortured and kept starving to force the tribe to work. The mute girl, named Nova by Maurice, sneaks into the facility to feed Caesar. Rocket allows himself to be captured to prevent Nova from being seen so he and Caesar can formulate a plan to escape. The Colonel later confiscates the doll Nova left for Caesar, but the other apes escape via an underground tunnel.
Hostile military forces arrive and attack the facility. Caesar escapes captivity and sneaks into the Colonel's cabin to kill him. He finds the now-mute Colonel succumbing to the effects of the mutated virus after handling Nova's doll. Caesar refuses to kill the Colonel himself, so he allows the Colonel to take his own life instead. The escaping apes are caught in the crossfire between the militia and the military. Caesar attempts to destroy a fuel tank to take out the militia from behind with grenades, but he is critically shot by Preacher, one of the militiamen he set free. At the sight of apes being gunned down and killed, Red has a change of heart and kills Preacher before being executed. Caesar blows the fuel tank and escapes the facility, causing an avalanche. Caesar, Nova, and the apes scale the trees to escape before the avalanche buries the facility and the human soldiers with it.
The apes resume their journey to the oasis. As they arrive, Maurice discovers Caesar's wound and promises that Cornelius will know who his father was and what he did for the apes. With his colony safe in their new home, Caesar peacefully succumbs to his wounds and passes away.
After seeing his cut of Dawn, 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment signed Matt Reeves to return as director for a third installment of the reboot series. In January 2014, the studio announced the third film, with Reeves returning to direct and co-write along with Bomback, and Peter Chernin, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver serving as producers. [24] [25] During an interview in mid-November 2014 with MTV, Andy Serkis said they did not know the next film's setting. "...It could be five years after the event. It could be the night after the events of where we left Dawn." [26] In May 2015, the title was first given as War of the Planet of the Apes. [27] By October 2015, it had been retitled as War for the Planet of the Apes. [14] When director Reeves and screenwriter Bomback came on board to helm Dawn, the film already had a release date, which led to an accelerated production schedule. However, with the third installment, Fox wanted to give the duo plenty of time to write and make the film. Taking advantage of this, the two bonded with each other more than before. [28]
In interviews for Dawn, Reeves talked about the inevitable war Caesar would have with the humans: "As this story continues, we know that war is not avoided by the end of Dawn. That is going to take us into the world of what he is grappling with. Where he is going to be thrust into circumstances that he never, ever wanted to deal with, and was hoping he could avoid. And now he is right in the middle of it. The things that happen in that story test him in huge ways, in the ways in which his relationship with Koba haunts him deeply. It's going to be an epic story. I think you've probably read that I sort of described it where in the first film was very much about his rise from humble beginnings to being a revolutionary. The second movie was about having to rise to the challenge of being a great leader in the most difficult of times. This is going to be the story that is going to cement his status as a seminal figure in ape history, and sort of leads to an almost biblical status. He is going to become like a mythic ape figure, like Moses." [29]
Toby Kebbell, who portrayed Koba in Dawn, had expressed interest in reprising his role or performing as other characters. [30] Plans to include Koba in a larger role in the film were abandoned early, with Bomback saying, "If you stayed until the very end of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, you hear Koba's breathing. We did that to give us a tiny crack of a possibility that we could revive Koba if we wanted to. Very early on in spitballing, we realized there was nothing more to do with Koba—certainly nothing that would exceed what he had done in the last story. But we knew we wanted to keep him alive as an idea. In playing out the reality of what happened at the end of the last film, Caesar would be traumatized by having to kill his brother. That would have resonance, and we wanted to make sure that did not get lost. So the answer was that we could go inside Caesar's mind at this point and revisit Koba that way." [31]
In August 2015, Deadline reported that Gabriel Chavarria had been cast as one of the humans in the film. [32] In September 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Woody Harrelson had been cast as the film's antagonist, and that Chavarria's role was supporting. [33] In October 2015, TheWrap reported that Steve Zahn was cast as a new ape in the film. [14] It was also announced that actress Amiah Miller was cast as one of the film's humans, with Judy Greer and Karin Konoval reprising their roles as Cornelia and Maurice, [13] [22] while Aleks Paunovic and Sara Canning were cast as new apes. [18] [17]
Principal photography on the film began on October 14, 2015, in the Lower Mainland in Vancouver, under the working title Hidden Fortress. [34] [35] Filming was expected to take place there until early March 2016. [36] Parts of the film were expected to shoot for up to five days in the Kananaskis in late January and early February. [37] In March, Serkis confirmed that he had finished shooting his portions. [38]
As with Rise and Dawn, the visual effects for War were created by Weta Digital; the apes were created with a mixture of motion-capture and CGI key-frame animation, as they were performed in motion-capture technology and animated in CGI. [39] [40] [41] [42]
At New York Comic Con 2016, Reeves explained that he and Bomback were influenced by many films before writing. He said, "One of the first things that Mark and I did because we had just finished Dawn was that we decided to watch a million movies. We decided to do what people fantasize what Hollywood screenwriters get to do but no one actually does. We got Fox to give us a theater and we watched movie after movie. We watched every Planet of the Apes movie, war movies, westerns, Empire Strikes Back ... We just thought, 'We have to pretend we have all the time in the world,' even though we had limited time. We got really inspired." [43] According to Reeves, the treacherous apes being nicknamed "donkeys" is both a reference to the video game character Donkey Kong and the fact that they are used as "pack mules". [44]
Additionally, during production, Reeves and Bomback sought broader inspirations from films like The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape . Feeling that there was a need to imbue Biblical themes and elements, they also watched Biblical epics like Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments . The influences and inspirations were made evident in the relationship between Caesar and Woody Harrelson's Colonel, a military leader with pretensions toward godhood. Reeves has compared their relationship to the dynamic between Alec Guinness's British Commander and Sessue Hayakawa's prison camp Colonel in Bridge on the River Kwai. Another comparison is in Caesar's journey to find the Colonel, flanked by a posse of close friends—a situation Reeves explicitly tied to Clint Eastwood's war-weary soldier in The Outlaw Josey Wales . [28] Influences from the film Apocalypse Now , notably Harrelson's character and his Alpha-Omega faction being similar to Colonel Kurtz's renegade army, were also noted by several journalists. [45] [46] [47] Harrelson has also acknowledged the similarities and inspiration. [48] In the third act of the film, the words "Ape-ocalypse Now" are written on a wall in the Colonel's prison camp.
On October 17, 2015, it was confirmed that Reeves' frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino, who composed its predecessor, would return to score for War for the Planet of the Apes. [49] For Caesar, Giacchino had written a few emotional themes that would focus on the character's emotional side, with Reeves' idea on turning Caesar into a sort of "mythical and historical character" and referred him to Exodus or Moses. Several themes were created on the character dynamics, his relationship with Nova and a theme for Colonel, had been produced into that process. [50] [51] The soundtrack was digitally released to iTunes and Amazon on July 14, 2017, [52] and in its physical form by Sony Classical Records on July 28, 2017.
The film was initially set for a July 15, 2016 release. However, in January 2015, Fox postponed the film's release date to about a year later on July 14, 2017. [53] [8]
Special behind-the-scenes footage for the film was aired on TV on November 22, 2015, as part of a contest announcement presented by director Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis. [54] The footage aired during The Walking Dead on AMC. [55] [56] The announcement allowed winners to wear a performance-capture suit and appear in a scene as an ape. [57] The announcement was released on 20th Century Fox's official YouTube page later the same day. [58]
At a New York Comic Con special event on October 6, 2016, Reeves, Serkis and producer Dylan Clark debuted an exclusive look at the film. [59]
Serkis has also mentioned that the film would be accompanied by a video game, for which he performed motion capture. [60] Titled Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier , the game was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in fall 2017. [61]
War for the Planet of the Apes grossed $146.9 million in the United States and Canada and $343.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $490.7 million, against a production budget of $150–152 million. [3] [5]
In North America, the film was projected to gross $50–60 million in its opening weekend; [62] [63] however, given its acclaimed status and strong word-of-mouth, rival studios believed the film had the potential to debut as high as $70–80 million. [62] [64] [65] War was closely monitored by analysts while the summer was witnessing a decline in ticket sales, a situation that they blamed on franchise fatigue for an overabundance of sequels and reboots (such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales , Transformers: The Last Knight and The Mummy ). However, box office analysts noted that well-reviewed films have tended to perform in-line with estimates ( Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 , Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Homecoming ). [66] [67] [68] The film grossed $5 million from Thursday night previews at 3,021 theaters, up 22% from the $4.1 million earned by its predecessor, and $22.1 million on its first day. It went on to debut to $56.3 million, topping the box office, albeit with a 22% drop from Dawn's $72.6 million debut. [69] [70] In its second weekend, the film grossed $20.9 million (a drop of 62.9%, more than the 50.1% fall Dawn saw), finishing 4th at the box office. [71] In its third weekend, the film made $10.5 million (dropping another 49.9%), finishing 6th at the box office. It was lower than the third weeks of both Rise ($16.1 million) and Dawn ($16.8 million). [72]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 363 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "War for the Planet of the Apes combines breathtaking special effects and a powerful, poignant narrative to conclude this rebooted trilogy on a powerful—and truly blockbuster—note." [73] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [74] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [75]
War for the Planet of the Apes received praise for the cast's performances (particularly Serkis'), Reeves' direction, visual effects, musical score, cinematography and its morally complex storyline. [76] Scott Collura of IGN awarded the film a score of 9.5 out of 10, saying: "War for the Planet of the Apes is an excellent closing act to this rebooted trilogy, but also one that does enough world-building that the series can potentially continue from here—and it's a rare case where, after three movies, we're left wanting more." [77] A. O. Scott of The New York Times said of the film, "War for the Planet of the Apes, directed by Matt Reeves, is the grimmest episode so far, and also the strongest, a superb example—rare in this era of sloppily constructed, commercially hedged cinematic universes—of clear thinking wedded to inventive technique in popular filmmaking," and lauded Andy Serkis's performance in the film, stating that "Andy Serkis's performance as Caesar is one of the marvels of modern screen acting." [78]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three and a half out of four stars, and said that Serkis performed "with a resonant power and depth of feeling that's nearly Shakespearean. Oscar, get busy: Serkis deserves the gold," and went on to say that "War for the Planet of the Apes—No. 9 in the simian cinema canon—is the best of the Apes films since the 1968 original." [79]
Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a B+ rating, and praised Matt Reeves's directing, saying "It's a given that an expensive 21st-century sci-fi movie with talking animals, exploding tanks, and jarring machine guns would look and sound great, but Reeves applies these effects with such a measured strategy that they're always working in service of a greater narrative agenda." Kohn went on to applaud the visuals and musical score, stating that "The breathlessly paced montage of flying bullets and angry monkeys raining down on terrified men, aided by Michael Giacchino's vibrant score, is a strong indicator of the next-level craftsmanship that distinguishes these movies from so many cacophonous Hollywood spectacles; not only is the action easy to follow, but you care for the motion-captured characters at the center of it, while the humans cower in fear." [80]
War for the Planet of the Apes was released on Digital HD on October 10, 2017, and on Blu-ray and DVD on October 24, 2017, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. [81]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
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Academy Awards | March 4, 2018 | Best Visual Effects | Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, and Joel Whist | Nominated | [82] |
Annie Awards | February 3, 2018 | Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production | Daniel Barrett, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Emile Ghorayeb, Luisma Lavin Peredo, and Alessandro Bonora | Won | [83] |
Art Directors Guild | January 27, 2018 | Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film | James Chinlund | Nominated | [84] |
British Academy Film Awards | February 18, 2018 | Best Special Visual Effects | Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, and Joel Whist | Nominated | [9] |
Chicago Film Critics Association | December 12, 2017 | Best Original Score | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | [85] |
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | January 11, 2018 | Best Action Movie | War for the Planet of the Apes | Nominated | [86] |
Best Visual Effects | Won | ||||
Georgia Film Critics Association | January 12, 2018 | Best Actor | Andy Serkis | Nominated | [87] |
Best Original Score | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | |||
Golden Reel Awards | February 18, 2018 | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Dialogue / ADR | various [lower-alpha 2] | Won | [88] |
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Effects / Foley | various [lower-alpha 3] | Nominated | [89] | ||
Golden Trailer Awards | June 6, 2017 | Best Motion/Title Graphics | War for the Planet of the Apes: 20th Century Fox, Wild Card | Nominated | [90] [91] |
Best Summer 2017 Blockbuster TV Spot | Nominated | ||||
Hollywood Film Awards | November 5, 2017 | Hollywood Visual Effects Award | Dan Barrett, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, and Erik Winquist | Won | [92] |
Hollywood Post Alliance | November 16, 2017 | Outstanding Visual Effects - Feature Film | Dan Barrett, Anders Langlands, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Luke Millar, Erik Winquist, and Weta Digital | Won | [93] [94] |
Houston Film Critics Society | January 6, 2018 | Best Actor | Andy Serkis | Nominated | [95] [96] |
Best Original Score | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | |||
Best Visual Effects | War for the Planet of the Apes | Nominated | |||
International Film Music Critics Association Awards | February 22, 2018 | Score of the Year | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | [97] [98] |
Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film | Michael Giacchino | Won | |||
Film Music Composition of the Year | "End Credits" from War for the Planet of the Apes by Michael Giacchino | Won | |||
San Diego Film Critics Society | December 11, 2017 | Best Visual Effects | War for the Planet of the Apes | Won | [99] |
San Francisco Film Critics Circle | December 10, 2017 | Best Actor | Andy Serkis | Won | [100] [101] |
Best Original Score | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | |||
Satellite Awards | February 10, 2018 | Best Film Editing | William Hoy | Won | [102] |
Best Original Score | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | |||
Best Sound | War for the Planet of the Apes | Nominated | |||
Best Visual Effects | Nominated | ||||
Saturn Awards | June 27, 2018 | Best Science Fiction Film | Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver | Nominated | [103] [104] |
Best Director | Matt Reeves | Nominated | |||
Best Actor | Andy Serkis | Nominated | |||
Best Special Effects | Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Joel Whist | Nominated | |||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | January 21, 2018 | Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture | War for the Planet of the Apes | Nominated | [105] [106] |
Seattle Film Critics Society | December 18, 2017 | Best Original Score | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | [107] [108] |
Best Visual Effects | Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Dan Barrett, and Joel Whist | Won | |||
Teen Choice Awards | August 13, 2017 | Choice Movie: Summer | 20th Century Fox | Nominated | [109] |
Visual Effects Society Awards | February 13, 2018 | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | Joe Letteri, Ryan Stafford, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, Joel Whist | Won | [110] |
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature | Eteuati Tema, Aidan Martin, Florian Fernandez, Mathias Larserud for "Bad Ape" | Nominated | |||
Dennis Yoo, Ludovic Chailloleau, Douglas McHale, Tim Forbes for "Caesar" | Won | ||||
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature | Chris McLaughlin, Ryan Salcombe, Seungjin Woo, Francesco Dell'Anna for "Hidden Fortress" | Nominated | |||
Phillip Leonhardt, Paul Harris, Jeremy Fort, Thomas Lo for "Prison Camp" | Nominated | ||||
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature | David Caeiro Cebrian, Johnathan Nixon, Chet Leavai, Gary Boyle | Won | |||
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature | Christoph Salzmann, Robin Hollander, Ben Morgan, Ben Warner | Won | |||
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | December 8, 2017 | Best Motion Capture Performance | Andy Serkis | Won | [111] |
Best Motion Capture Performance | Steve Zahn | Nominated |
According to screenwriter Rick Jaffa, a version of the spaceship from the 1968 Planet of the Apes under the name Icarus was in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) as a deliberate hint to a possible sequel readapting the events of the original film, something the end of War also implies, featuring a younger version of the character Nova. [112] During an interview of Andy Serkis with MTV in mid-November 2014, Serkis talked about possible sequels: "It might be three films, It could be four. It could be five. Who knows? The journey will continue." [113] By October 2016, it was reported that a fourth Planet of the Apes film was being discussed. [114] [115]
Shortly before the release of War in July 2017, Reeves said that he expressed interest in making more Apes films and that Steve Zahn, who played Bad Ape in the film, had set up a story for further sequels. [116] [117] [118] Writer Mark Bomback hinted that more films would be possible, saying, "Truthfully, we haven't had those kinds of conversations. I've been working on these films for about seven years now. I'm ready to take a breather and let things rest a bit." [119]
In April 2019, following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, Disney announced that future Planet of the Apes films are in development. [120] [121] [122] [123] [124] [125] It was also confirmed in August 2019 that any future installments would take place in the same universe first established in Rise. [126] That December, it was reported that Wes Ball would write and direct the then-untitled Planet of the Apes film. [127] In February 2020, it was reported that the film will be produced by Joe Hartwick Jr. and David Starke. Later that same day, Ball confirmed that he would be directing the film and that it was set after the events of War, following "Caesar's legacy". [128] [129]
In May 2020, Ball revealed that Josh Friedman wrote the screenplay, while Jaffa and Silver returned as producers. He also said that, while the film will be set in the same universe as Rise, it is not a direct sequel to War, saying that the film "will feel" like a follow-up to the overall Rise trilogy, but at the same time, the filmmakers will "do some really cool new stuff". Ball also said that the film could begin virtual production soon despite the COVID-19 pandemic due to it being a mostly CGI film. [130] In a March 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter , 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell stated that production would start between the late summer or early fall of 2022. [131]
In August 2022, Owen Teague was cast in the lead role. [132] The following month, the title was announced to be Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Freya Allan was cast as the human lead with Peter Macon co-starring, and the film was confirmed to be released in 2024. [11] [133] [134] Production for the film began in October 2022 in Sydney at Disney Studios Australia. [135]
Andrew Clement Serkis is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series (2011–2017), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Baloo in his self-directed film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy filmsThe Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), also portraying Kino Loy in the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022).
Steven James Zahn is an American actor. His film roles include Reality Bites (1994), Out of Sight (1998), Stuart Little (1999), Daddy Day Care (2003), Shattered Glass (2003), Sahara (2005), Chicken Little (2005), the Diary of a Wimpy Kid trilogy (2010–2012), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), The Good Dinosaur (2015), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). On television, Zahn appeared as Davis McAlary on HBO's Treme (2010–2013), and as Mark Mossbacher in the first season of the HBO satire comedy miniseries The White Lotus (2021), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Zahn won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film Happy, Texas (1999).
Judith Therese Evans, known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She rose to prominence for her supporting roles in the films Jawbreaker (1999), What Women Want (2000), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Elizabethtown (2005), 27 Dresses (2008), and Love & Other Drugs (2010).
Mark Bomback is an American screenwriter, originally from New Rochelle, New York. Bomback is a graduate of Wesleyan University, where he studied English Literature and Film Studies.
Matt Reeves is an American filmmaker who first gained recognition for the WB drama series Felicity (1998–2002), which he co-created with J. J. Abrams. Reeves came to widespread attention for directing the hit monster film Cloverfield (2008). He also directed the vampire drama Let Me In (2010), and the critically acclaimed science fiction sequels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He directed the superhero film The Batman (2022), which stars Robert Pattinson as the title character.
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, loosely based on the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, and Linda Harrison. In the film, an astronaut crew crash-lands on a strange planet in the distant future. Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which apes have evolved into creatures with human-like intelligence and speech. The apes have assumed the role of the dominant species and humans are mute creatures wearing animal skins.
Planet of the Apes is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a post-apocalyptic world in which humans and superintelligent apes clash for control. The franchise started with French author Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel La Planète des singes, translated into English as Planet of the Apes or Monkey Planet. Its 1968 film adaptation, Planet of the Apes, was a critical and commercial hit, initiating a series of sequels, tie-ins, and derivative works. Arthur P. Jacobs produced the first five Apes films through APJAC Productions for distributor 20th Century Fox; following his death in 1973, Fox controlled the franchise.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Wyatt and written by the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is a reboot of the Planet of the Apes film series and its seventh installment overall. The film stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, and Andy Serkis. In the film, Caesar (Serkis), a chimpanzee genetically enhanced and raised by William Rodman (Franco), goes from living in captivity to eventually leading an ape uprising against humanity.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 2014 American science fiction action film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Mark Bomback and the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), it is the second installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise and the eighth film overall. It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film takes place 10 years after the events of Rise and follows human survivors as they battle to stay alive in the wake of a deadly pandemic, while Caesar tries to maintain control over his expanding ape community which could lead to an all-out war between apes and humans.
The Imaginarium, also known as Imaginarium Productions, is a production company linked to a digital performance-capture studio The Imaginarium Studios, founded by actor-director Andy Serkis and film producer Jonathan Cavendish in 2011. The studio is dedicated to the invention of believable, emotionally engaging digital characters using performance capture technology. It specialises in applying motion capture technology in film, television and video games. Since 2011, it has provided performance capture for international films including Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015).
Wes Ball is an American film director and producer. He is best known for directing the Maze Runner film trilogy (2014–2018), based on James Dashner's series of novels of the same name, as well as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot series.
English actor Andy Serkis has been featured in various films, television series, and video games. Serkis started acting in the late 1980s with small roles on the television series Morris Minor and His Marvellous Motors (1989), and The New Statesman (1989) before being cast as Owen in Streetwise from 1989–1992. He then appeared in films such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Career Girls (1997), Pandaemonium (2000). In 2001, he was cast as the voice of Gollum in Peter Jackson's epic fantasy adventure film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Serkis reprised this role in the sequels The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) as well as the 2012 prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. During that time, he also co-starred in the films The Escapist (2002), 13 Going on 30 (2004) and lent his voice to the 2006 animated film Flushed Away.
Supreme Leader Snoke is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was created by J. J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt for the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which he is introduced as the Supreme Leader of the First Order, a military junta formed from the fallen Galactic Empire. In the films, Snoke is a CGI character voiced and performed by Andy Serkis using motion capture.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a 2021 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Venom. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the second film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe and the sequel to Venom (2018). The film was directed by Andy Serkis from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, based on a story she wrote with Tom Hardy, who stars as Eddie Brock and Venom alongside Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, and Woody Harrelson. In the film, Eddie and the alien symbiote Venom must face serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson) after he becomes the host of an offshoot of Venom named Carnage.
Caesar is a fictional character in the Planet of the Apes franchise. He is the leader of the apes in both the original and reboot series. Caesar is portrayed by Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973); his likeness is reprised in the comic series Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes (2016). Andy Serkis portrayed the character in the reboot series, consisting of Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).
Koba is a fictional character in the Planet of the Apes franchise, who is portrayed by Christopher Gordon and Toby Kebbell. He is a bonobo gifted with intelligence from the ALZ-113 virus who joins Caesar's ape colony. Following his brief introduction in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Koba evolves into the main antagonist of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as he betrays Caesar to become dictator of the ape colony and wage war on a nearby group of humans, only for Caesar to kill him and reclaim his position of leader. He also reappears posthumously as the overarching antagonist of War for the Planet of the Apes.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a 2024 American science fiction action film directed by Wes Ball and written by Josh Friedman. A stand-alone sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), it is the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise and the tenth film overall. It stars Owen Teague in the lead role alongside Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy. The film takes place 300 years after the events of War and follows a young chimpanzee named Noa, who embarks on a journey alongside a human woman named Mae to determine the future for apes and humans alike.
War for the Planet of the Apes (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album for the 2017 film of the same name directed by Matt Reeves. The film is the sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and the third installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise. The film score is composed by Reeves' frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino, and was digitally released through iTunes and Amazon on July 14, 2017 by Sony Classical Records. It was later released in physical formats on July 28. The score received critical acclaim from critics and fetched numerous accolades.
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