When Disney purchased 20th Century Fox last year, there were a lot of questions regarding what would happen to some of the legendary studio’s more notable franchises. Like, for instance, Planet of the Apes. The classic sci-fi series is too lucrative for Disney to just it let whither and die, so it wasn’t too surprising when recent reports claimed that the studio would be rebooting the property. But what is surprising is the pushback those reports received from the reboot’s director, as he insists that what he’s actually making is a sequel.
Wes Ball, who has been tasked with helming the next Planet of the Apes movie, took to Twitter recently to dispel the rumors about the direction of his upcoming film. “It’s never been easier for film journalists to actually get in touch with the actual people who actually know… but maybe it’s the point to NOT fact-check these days?” Ball wrote, clearly unhappy with the reports that claimed he was making a reboot. “Regardless. Don’t worry. I won’t ruin the surprises, but it’s safe to say Caesar’s legacy will continue…”
What Ball is saying here is that the 2010 reboot trilogy of Planet of the Apes, which starred Andy Serkis as the ape leader Caesar, isn’t dead after all. His new film will apparently be a continuation of that trilogy, which is certainly unexpected given that Caesar died in the last film, War for the Planet of the Apes. So how can the series continue without its star? Well, Ball only said that Caesar’s legacy will continue, which may imply that the ape has been dead for a while by the time the new movie rolls around. This may suggest that a reboot is in store, but not of the recent prequel trilogy. Instead, Caesar’s legacy may indeed continue in a new reboot of the very first Planet of the Apes movie, which takes place thousands of years in the future. This would keep the film in the universe established in the latest trilogy of films, while also allowing the franchise to remake the classic original film — which is presumably something that pretty much everyone can get behind.
Images courtesy of 20th Century Studios, GIPHY
