After the malaise that greeted Tim Burton’s 2001 reimagining, folks were hardly enthusiastic about Planet of the Apes being dusted off and rebooting again. At least, that was the case until Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves combined to deliver what’s indisputably one of the modern era’s finest trilogies.
Billions of dollars at the box office and much critical acclaim later, you’d have thought the sci-fi franchise would have been left alone for a little while given the massive expectations that inevitably come with picking up after Rise, Dawn, and War. However, it was announced in April 2019 that The Maze Runner‘s Wes Ball was tackling a new Apes adventure, with the latest reports offering the title of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
The most recent update has touted a further two installments to craft the second simian trilogy in little over a decade. It might not be the most surprising development, but fans aren’t unanimously sold on the prospect of another trio of far-flung blockbusters so soon.
Of course, any and all doubts would be assuaged should Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes live up to the last three, but we’re a long way away from finding that out. Regardless, the filmmaker’s Maze Runner series did give him the experience in adapting popular properties into a trio of successful films, so we’d be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. That being said, it’s a tall order to recapture the phenomenal efforts put forth by his immediate predecessors.