Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a 2024 American science fiction action film directed by Wes Ball and written by Josh Friedman. It is the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot film series and the tenth film overall, serving as a standalone sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). The film stars Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy. It takes place many generations after the events of War and follows Noa (Teague), a young chimpanzee hunter who embarks on a journey alongside Mae (Allan), a human woman, to determine the future for apes and humans alike.
Development on a new Planet of the Apes film began in April 2019, following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, with Ball attached as writer and director that December. Much of the screenplay was written during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with casting commencing in June 2022, following the screenplay's completion. Teague was cast in the lead role that August, with the film's title and additional casting announced in the following months. Principal photography began in October 2022 in Sydney and wrapped in February 2023, with a budget of $120–160 million.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on May 2, 2024, and was released by 20th Century Studios in the United States on May 10. The film grossed over $397 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, though it was ultimately deemed inferior to its predecessors. It received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 97th Academy Awards. A sequel is in development.
Plot
Generations after Caesar's death, apes have become the dominant species on Earth, while surviving humans have become feral.
Noa, a young chimpanzee from a falconry-practicing clan, prepares for a coming-of-age ceremony by collecting eagle eggs with his friends, Anaya and Soona. A human scavenger follows Noa home and inadvertently cracks his egg during a scuffle, before fleeing. While searching for a replacement egg, Noa encounters ape raiders with electric staffs. While Noa hides from them, the apes follow his horse back to his clan. Noa hurries home to find his village burning; the gorilla general Sylva kills Noa's father, Koro, before dropping Noa from a high platform.
Noa awakens to find that his clan has been abducted. He buries Koro and sets out to rescue his clan. Noa is joined by Raka, an orangutan, who tells Noa about Caesar. The apes notice the human scavenger is following them and Raka offers her food and a blanket, naming her Nova. When the trio encounters feral humans with zebras, Sylva's raiders attack them. Noa and Raka rescue Nova, who to their surprise, is intelligent and can speak. She reveals that her name is Mae and that the raiders took Noa's clan to a beachfront settlement outside an old human vault. As they cross a bridge, they are ambushed by Sylva. In the ensuing fight, Raka saves Mae from drowning, but is swept away by the rapids. Noa and Mae are captured and taken to the apes' settlement.
Noa reunites with his clan and is introduced to the apes' king, Proximus Caesar. Proximus has enslaved other clans, forcing them to work on opening the vault so that he can access the human technology locked inside. Proximus invites Noa to dinner with Mae and Trevathan, another speaking human, who teaches Proximus about human history. Proximus believes that Noa's intuitiveness could help open the vault and warns him that Mae only has her own agenda. Noa confronts Mae, demanding the truth in exchange for help. Mae discloses knowledge of a hidden entrance to the vault and seeks a book capable of restoring speech to humans. Noa agrees to help her enter and destroy the vault. Noa, Mae, Soona and Anaya secretly plant explosives around the sea walls that protect the settlement. Trevathan catches them and intends to warn Proximus, but Mae strangles him to death.
The group enters the vault, finding weapons and Mae's "book", which is actually a satellite decryption key. The apes discover picture books depicting humans as the once-dominant species and apes in cages at a zoo. As the group makes their way out of the bunker, they are confronted by Proximus and his followers. Lightning, one of Proximus's lieutenants, threatens to kill Soona, but Mae kills him with a handgun and triggers the explosives; flooding the bunker with the apes inside. Mae flees the settlement while the apes climb to higher ground through the bunker. Noa is pursued by Sylva, whom he traps and leaves to drown. Noa then escapes the bunker but is attacked by Proximus. Noa leads his clan in summoning their eagles to attack Proximus and send him falling from a cliff into the sea.
As Noa's clan returns to rebuild their home, Mae arrives to bid farewell to Noa, secretly holding a handgun behind her back. She explains that she destroyed the bunker to prevent the apes from obtaining its weapons. Given their disparities, Noa and Mae question whether apes and humans can co-exist peacefully. As Noa takes Soona to look through a telescope that he had found, Mae travels to an intelligent human settlement at a satellite base. She delivers the decryption key which allows them to reactivate the satellites and make contact with another human settlement.
Cast
Apes Owen Teague as Noa, a young chimpanzee hunter and the heir to his falconry ape clan Kevin Durand as Proximus Caesar, a chimpanzee monarch who leads a coastal colony clan of apes in search of human technology and preaches an altered version of Caesar's teachings Peter Macon as Raka, a wise and virtuous Bornean orangutan scholar who becomes an ally of Noa and has a vast knowledge of Caesar's true teachings Lydia Peckham as Soona, a young female chimpanzee and Noa's love interest Travis Jeffery as Anaya, a young male chimpanzee and Noa's best friend Sara Wiseman as Dar, Noa's chimpanzee mother Neil Sandilands as Koro, Noa's chimpanzee father and the leader of the falconry ape clan Eka Darville as Sylva, a western lowland gorilla and the chief commander in Proximus's army and Proximus's second-in-command Ras-Samuel Weld A'abzgi as Lightning, a chimpanzee lieutenant in Proximus's army, Sylva's second-in-command and Proximus's third-in-command Kaden Hartcher as Oda, a chimpanzee in the falconry ape clan
Additionally, Karin Konoval and Terry Notary appear in the prologue, reprising their roles as Maurice the Bornean orangutan and Rocket the chimpanzee from the previous three films, while Caesar also appears in a silent cameo before his cremation.
Humans Freya Allan as Mae, a young woman who joins Noa on his journey while having her own agenda. She is given the name "Nova" by Noa and Raka William H. Macy as Trevathan, an opportunistic human who styles himself as Proximus Caesar's chief advisor and teaches him human history Dichen Lachman as Korina, a human leader of the human satellite base
Production Pre-production and writing In October 2016, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) director Matt Reeves said that he had ideas for a fourth film in the Planet of the Apes reboot series. In mid-2017, as War was released, Reeves and co-writer Mark Bomback expressed further interest in sequels. Reeves said that Steve Zahn's character, Bad Ape, established a primate world "much larger" than just Caesar's group of apes, adding that there are apes "who grew up without the benefit of Caesar's leadership" and suggesting that conflict would arise if Caesar's apes should encounter such outsiders. Bomback felt that "there was probably only one more big chapter left to tell", explaining how Caesar "came to be this Moses figure in the Apes world". He suggested that other filmmakers might work on the sequel and that it could take place hundreds of years after War. Despite this, he clarified that there had not been conversations on a potential sequel, expressing his desire to "take a breather and let things rest a bit."
In April 2019, following the Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios announced that further Planet of the Apes films were in development. In August, it was confirmed that any future installments would be set in the same universe first established in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). In December, it was announced that Wes Ball would write and direct the film, after having previously worked with Reeves on a film adaptation of Mouse Guard. After that film was canceled by Disney following the merger, the studio approached Ball on developing a new Planet of the Apes film.
In February 2020, Ball confirmed that the film would not be a reboot, instead chronicling "Caesar's legacy". Joe Hartwick Jr. and David Starke were also confirmed to serve as producers. In April, it was announced that Peter Chernin, who produced the previous installments through Chernin Entertainment, would serve as executive producer. The film will be one of the company's last films before it leaves 20th Century for Netflix. The next month, it was revealed that Josh Friedman would co-write the script with Ball, and that Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver would return to produce the film after doing so for the previous installments. Ball and Friedman would discuss the script through Zoom video calls, a routine which continued as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Instead of a direct sequel to War, Ball stated that the film would feel more like a follow-up to the previous films, and commented that the film could begin virtual production soon in spite of the pandemic due to the fact that much of the film contained computer-generated imagery (CGI).
In March 2022, 20th Century president Steve Asbell stated that he was expecting a screenplay draft shortly, aiming for production to begin by the end of the year. By June, Oddball Entertainment and Shinbone Productions were also set to produce the film, while the search for the main star was underway following the script's completion the previous month. The film's title was revealed to be Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in September 2022, with the film revealed to take place many years after the events of War. Jaffa, Silver, and Patrick Aison joined the writing team, with Ball no longer credited as screenwriter. Jason Reed and Jenno Topping were also announced as producer and executive producer, respectively, while Starke was no longer expected to serve as producer.
Ball stated the film was set during the "Dark Ages", where the apes rediscover lost items from the past in "this grand adventure"; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes takes place 300 years following Caesar's death. He felt the protagonist Noa was neither a child nor adult, but a figure placed in "extraordinary" circumstances and living in a nomadic ape tribe. Teague also stated that Noa doesn't have a self-perception of identity but was inspired by Caesar's legacy and message of "apes together strong". He compared the antagonist, Proximus, to that of inventor Thomas Edison as he had rediscovered electricity, which was knowledge lost during the Dark Ages. Durand felt that the name Proximus Caesar was a self-proclaimed title, as his goal was to ensure the continued prosperity of apes despite subverting Caesar's original teachings. He had the idea to change the timeframe after taking inspiration from the film Apocalypto (2006), as it had provided him an opportunity for a "whole new trajectory". Hartwick Jr. stated that the film was focusing on Noa exploring the world for the first time.