"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" Release Date Moves Up Two Weeks

The fourth installment of the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”, is coming sooner than expected.

Disney has moved up the release date for the new “Planet of the Apes” movie from May 24 to May 10 to avoid a crowded Memorial Day holiday weekend that also includes the release of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “The Garfield Movie”.

The Apes will now take on the Amy Winehouse biopic, “Back to Black” and will screen in Imax for the first two weeks of its release, marking a first for an “Apes” movie.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” was announced in September 2022 and is set many years after the conclusion of 2017’s "War for the Planet of the Apes".

The new entry picks up several years after the events of the last film, the fourth entry in the modern “Planet of the Apes” saga will be set several generations following his reign. 

Apes are now the dominant species, with humans living in the shadows. When a new tyrannical ape begins to build his empire, a young ape embarks on a journey where he will make choices that will define the future for both apes and humans.

"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" stars Freya Allan, Owen Teague, William H. Macy, Dichen Lachman, and Kevin Durand. It has been revealed that Teague will be playing Cornelius, the son of Caesar - who was the main character of the previous trilogy and was played by Serkis.

The cast is rounded out by Eka Darville, Travis Jeffery, Neil Sandilands, Sara Wiseman, Lydia Peckham, and Ras-Samuel Weld A'abzgi.

Wes Ball, known for “The Maze Runner” trilogy, is directing from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison. Jaffa, Silver, Joe Hartwick Jr., and Jason Reed produced the pic, with Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping executive producing.

Production for the film began in Sydney in October 2022 and wrapped in February 2023, which Ball announced by posting a behind-the-scenes clip from the set.

The franchise, based on a novel by Pierre Boulle, has amassed more than $1.7 billion at the worldwide box office. 

The original series consisted of six movies, which premiered between 1968 and 2001. The reboot series was then announced, and its first installment, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, was released in 2011. It was then followed by “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” in 2014 and “War for the Planet of the Apes” in 2017. 

Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in April 2019 and announced more films in the franchise would go into production.