War for the Planet of the Apes

It’s a good thing I wasn’t drinking coffee while I read last weekend’s Los Angeles Times article about the summer movie season; I would have done a spit take all over my computer.

The calendar may have four seasons, but Hollywood’s calendar only really has two at this point: summer and awards, and summer seems to last longer and longer ever year. Though the start of May has long been the unofficial kickoff of the S.M.S., 2017 has already seen a King Kong movie, a ghost in a shell, and the fate of Fast & Furious franchise. The change from April to May is something of a formality in 2017. Once the Oscars are over, the summer begins.

All movies of any genre are influenced in some ways by the movies that came before them, war movies especially. Kong: Skull Island made no secret of its homages to Apocalypse Now and The Thin Red Line, and War for the Planet of the Apes is attempting a similarly ambitious undertaking. Filmmaker Matt Reeves recently listed all of the movies he’d taken noted on for his Apes film: At Comic Con he said he’d used Platoon, The Thin Red Line, and Apocalypse Now as touchstones, and today he’s listed a few more.

The time for War is finally here…OK, sure, there’s been bloodshed and skirmishes and battles, but what’s happening in the third installment of the rebooted Apes franchise is flat-out warfare. As Andy Serkis’ iconic protagonist says in the new trailer for Matt Reeves’ sequel, Caesar didn’t start this war, and while you probably expect him to follow that up with, “but I’m going to finish it,” it hasn’t come to that just yet.

Five days ago, I denounced the banal evils of the recent trend of running trailers in promotion of trailers when covering the latest buzz for the upcoming Justice League movie. It would appear that the marketing executives at 20th Century Fox have not been reading my daily news writing (I know, I’m as shocked as you are), because they’ve returned today with an 18-second amuse-bouche for tomorrow’s brand new trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes. Give it a look above, it’ll only take a moment. Or, to be precise, 18 moments.

While the new Planet of the Apes movies haven’t done a whole lot to reference the originals, aside from Caesar himself and the Icarus in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the newest installment is going to bring a very important character in play who was originally introduced in the 1968 film.

As we prepare to polish off the crap sandwich that was 2016, we can allow ourselves some scant crumbs of hope as we look out over the slate of movies for the year to come. There are some exciting prospects on the calendar, with one of the more surprisingly excellent recent franchises making its triumphant return...

It’s been a minute (or several) since we’ve heard anything new from War For the Planet of the Apes, but Matt Reeves’ follow-up to 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes finally has an official synopsis — and just in time for its appearance at New York Comic Con next week. Oh, and by the way, War for the Planet of the Apes is heading to NYCC next week, which means we should be hearing a whole lot more about the exciting new sequel very soon.

As promised late last week when Matt Reeves debuted the official logo, War for the Planet of the Apes delivered a special announcement during this week’s episode of The Walking Dead — though you might have been a bit busy rolling your eyes at that whole Glenn thing. In case you missed it, the video has arrived online offering a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming sequel as well as an invitation to fans to audition for a small role in the film.

Filming is currently underway on War for the Planet of the Apes, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves returning to helm the third installment in the revitalized trilogy. Today, Reeves revealed the official logo for the upcoming film, and teased a special “announcement” to air this Sunday during The Walking Dead on AMC. Hmm, what could it be?