Fox will release Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on DVD and Blu-ray on December 2 and the film’s talent is out doing interview rounds in promotion, beginning with Matt Reeves talking about the future of the franchise, as the film’s protagonist, the ape Caesar (Andy Serkis), is developing into something of an “ape Moses”.
“The first one is sort of how [Caesar] goes from humble beginnings to becoming a revolutionary,” Reeves told Coming Soon. “In Dawn, he really rose to occasion of becoming a leader in really challenging and difficult times. The notion of what we’re after with the third is to sort of continue that trajectory and see how he becomes a seminal figure in ape history. He almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses. A mythic status… We’re trying to play out those themes and continue to sort of explore it in this universe. Exploring human nature under the guise of apes.”
[amz asin=”B00MH8DU9Q” size=”small”]So where does that take us? Well, Serkis recently spoke with MTV and suggests this next Apes film might not be the last.
“It’s very, very early in where we choose to drop anchor in the next film,” Serkis said. “It could be five years after the event, it could be the night after the events of where we left Dawn so it’s very difficult to know where the story is going right at this moment because it’s being written as we speak. I know that part of the desire for Matt [Reeves] to do this next movie is about continuing the enjoyment of seeing these apes evolve. So I don’t think we’re going to see a situation where we’re jumping… It might be three films, It could be four. It could be five. Who knows? But the journey will continue. It might not necessarily be summarized or completely fulfilled in this next one. The point being, eventually we know that we’re going to end up back at The Planet of the Apes, but whether it’s this film or not, I don’t know.”
I don’t think anyone really expected the third film to be the last one in the franchise given how many films there were even in the first go round with the Apes and I don’t think anyone really wants them to end. As much as I wasn’t really a fan of Dawn, I like the fact Fox seems committed to the franchise, allowing it to be something a little different and outside the box. Hopefully that trend continues and Reeves and Co. are allowed to explore new and interesting space.
As of now, Planet of the Apes 3 is set for a July 29, 2016 release date.
