In December, it was announced that Wes Ball had won the job of making a new “Planet of the Apes” film for Disney/Fox. However, even though we knew the filmmaker was attached, we didn’t actually know if the film would be a reboot of the concept or an actual continuation of the series that was spearheaded, in recent years, by writer-director Matt Reeves. Well, thanks to Ball, we kinda/sorta know the answer.
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After a report over the weekend that Ball’s ‘Apes’ film would be a reboot of the franchise, the filmmaker took to social media to set the record straight. And after scolding the original report for getting the details wrong and running an erroneous rumor, the filmmaker dropped a hint at what fans might expect from the new film that’s currently developing.
Ball tweeted, “Don’t worry. I won’t ruin the surprises, but it’s safe to say Caesar’s legacy will continue…????”
This is the first confirmation that we’ve seen from anyone officially involved with the project that the new ‘Apes’ film will actually be a continuation of the story that was told in the previous trilogy that became a critical darling and fan favorite.
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However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the new film will be a direct sequel or anything like that, trying to somehow compete or piggyback off of the work done recently by filmmaker Matt Reeves. The source material for the ‘Apes’ films is robust, to say the least. There are plenty of directions that Ball could go that would honor the foundation set by Reeves and Co, but also go off in wild new directions.
That’s not to say that Ball is going to reinvent the wheel, but it is exciting to think about what the filmmaker could bring to the franchise that differentiates itself from the previous films. I think it’s fair to say that fans would probably prefer a new story than some direct sequel to “War for the Planet of the Apes.”
There’s still no word on when Disney/Fox is hoping to release a new ‘Apes’ film, but we’ll definitely be interested to see where this goes.