‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Trailer Previews a Post-Caesar Era | Video

A new “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” trailer was teased during the Super Bowl on Sunday, and you can watch the full video above. The latest entry in the legendary franchise arrives on May 10.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is set nearly 300 years after the events of the last movie, 2017’s outstanding “War for the Planet of the Apes.” A new ape leader, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), has used the teachings of Caesar to enslave other ape clans, but has obscured the truth about how apes came to be the dominant species and how humans played a role in it.

At this point in history, humanity has regressed into a primitive state, but there is one human (Freya Allan) who appears to be smarter than the others. A young chimpanzee named Noa discovers that Proximus is hiding the truth and decides to stand up against the ruler’s enslavement of humans, pitting himself in a race against time to find a way to save the ape society – and the remains of humanity.

Directed by Wes Ball (director of the “Maze Runner” films and the upcoming live-action “Legend of Zelda” movie) and written by Josh Friedman, Patrick Aison and the team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the movie also stars William H. Macy, Travis Jeffrey, Lydia Peckham, Neil Sandilands and Peter Macon.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” continues a franchise that began in 1968, with the film based on the science fiction novel from French author Pierre Boulle. That film, which starred Charlton Heston as an astronaut who crashed on a severe alien world populated exclusively by apes (spoiler alert: it was earth in the far future).

That first film inspired four more movies – 1970’s “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” 1971’s “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” 1972’s “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” and 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes.” It also led to a live-action television series, 1974’s “Planet of the Apes,” plus an animated series, 1975’s “Return to the Planet of the Apes.” There was also a splashy remake in 2001 from Tim Burton.

This new series of films began in 2011 with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which replaced human actors in suits with performance-capture computer imagery. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was followed by “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” in 2014 and “War for the Planet of the Apes” in 2017 (both of the latter films were directed by Matt Reeves). “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is the first film in the franchise released by Disney, following their acquisition of 21^st Century assets in 2019. Will it start a new trilogy? Only one way to find out.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” opens on May 10.

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