The previous films in the revived Planet Of The Apes franchise tended to go pretty heavy on the apes, but lighter than you might expect on the planet—having applied, across the three films in the reboot franchise, a fairly slow build-up toward going full “Charlton Heston in a leather loincloth.” Now, though, the first real trailer for the unwieldy-titled Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is finally here, and, yeah, this is a world where you can see Roddy McDowell looking comfortable in eight pounds of simian make-up while riding on a horse.
Said equines are in obvious abundance, actually, as the film picks up many years after 2017’s War For The Planet Of The Apes, now following Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee who owns not just a horse, but also, apparently, a bird, the ultimate ape status symbols. Meanwhile, a bunch of humans—who’ve gone Nova-style feral over the last however long its been—get hunted by more militaristic apes, who also are horse-owners. (Do you think the horses in this universe notice they’re being ridden by apes now, or is it all the same to them, at least until the inevitable rise of the Planet Of The Horses?)
In addition to Teague, the film also stars Freya Allen, Peter Macon, and Kevin Durand, who gets to give the big “I am the bad guy of this movie” bit when he declares “What a wonderful day!” to his assembled followers, which is actually pretty chill, as far as “I am your new monkey warlord” speeches go. Arriving fully seven years after the last film in the franchise, Kingdom is being directed by Maze Runner trilogy director Wes Ball, and is currently aimed at a May 24, 2024 premiere date.
