Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in theaters with an impressive box-office opening which all but guarantees we haven’t seen the last of those damn dirty apes. It remains to be seen how many more sequels we’ll get, but Planet of the Apes franchise producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who also wrote Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, told THR that they originally envisioned a nine movie arc for the modern franchise.

“When you first came up with this idea, the Apes franchise way back, you saw nine movies,” Silver said. “We thought, ‘This is crazy ambitious.’ But here we are. We’re at four.“

“I saw nine. I don’t know if we’ll make it to nine. I would love it,” Jaffa replied. “We’ve spoken to not just [director Wes Ball, writer Josh Friedman] and [producer] Joe Hartwick Jr., but to Steve Asbell and Scott Aversano at [20th Century Studios] about what these next movies can be.”

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes grew into one of the best trilogies out there, and I’ve got high hopes that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will serve as the beginning of its own excellent trilogy. As for what lies beyond? Who’s to say? Maybe we’ll finally reach the point of the original 1968 movie and witness astronaut George Taylor plummet through the atmosphere and crash land on the Planet of the Apes.

Although our own Chris Bumbray felt let down by the second half of the latest Apes movie, he did find plenty to enjoy. “[Wes] Ball ended up making a good Planet of the Apes movie; even if it’s not quite the masterpiece some of those breathless early reactions teased,” Bumbray wrote. “In my opinion, there’s never actually been a bad Planet of the Apes movie, as the premise is just so interesting. Kingdom tries to act as a bit of a bridge between the Caesar trilogy and the original Apes series from the sixties and seventies. They use some of the same iconic shots and locations, and the score by John Paesano nods at Jerry Goldsmith’s classic score for the original in a pretty pleasing way.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes “breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.” Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in theaters, so be sure to check out our ranking of the entire franchise and vote for your favourite Apes movie!

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