- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has advanced its release date to May 10, 2024, to avoid competition with Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa.
- Director Wes Ball confirmed that new protagonist Noa, played by Owen Teague, will be joined by two other main characters: Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery).
- Ball mentioned potential sequels, stating they have “good ideas for what would come next” in terms of characters and story development.
The release date of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has been moved forward by two weeks, now set for May 10, 2024. This decision prevents direct competition with the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. As the first film in the Apes series to be released in IMAX, the advancement will potentially give it more space to make an impression before the release of Furiosa.
Set 300 years after Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes features a new protagonist named Noa, played by actor Owen Teague (Bloodline, Mrs. Fletcher, It, It Chapter Two). Director Wes Ball, who mentioned the possibility of sequels during an interview with EW, describes the character as being “on the threshold of becoming who he is going to be as an ape.”
Discussing the sequels, Ball said: “We don’t want to be presumptuous. Whether this movie is successful is up to the movie gods. But we certainly think there is a lot more story to be told, not just in the Planet of the Apes legacy of it all, but in terms of these characters we’ve created and the arcs that we’re thinking about. So, yeah, we’ve got good ideas for what would come next.”
Main character Noa will be accompanied by two friends, Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery), who were all “raised together” in what the film refers to as the “Dark Ages”. Ball explained that they form part of an “isolated tribe” who stumble across something “they don’t understand”.
On the story’s setting, Ball said: “In the time between the previous movie and this movie, this Dark Ages has happened where things have been lost. And in our movie, we’re going to rediscover them on this grand adventure.”
The film also features an antagonist called Proximus, played by Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Strain, Dark Angel), a chimpanzee who rediscovers electricity. Ball described him not as a typical villain, but rather an “adversary” with Lex Luthor-like intelligence, noting that “you understand him, you can relate to him in a way.”
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will now open in theaters on May 10, 2024.