War for the Planet of the Apes



War for the Planet of the Apes is an upcoming American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Mark Bomback and Reeves. It is a sequel to the 2014 film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the third installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot series. The film stars Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Gabriel Chavarria, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Judy Greer, Amiah Miller and Terry Notary. Principal photography began on October 14, 2015 in Vancouver.

The film is scheduled to be released on July 14, 2017.

Premise
Following the events of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Caesar and the apes are embroiled in a war against an army of humans. As the apes suffer heavy losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts as he resolves to avenge his kind. The war pits Caesar against the humans' leader, a ruthless Colonel, in an encounter that will determine the fate of their species and Earth's future.

Apes

 * Andy Serkis as Caesar
 * Steve Zahn as "Bad Ape"
 * Karin Konoval as Maurice
 * Judy Greer as Cornelia
 * Terry Notary as Rocket
 * Max Lloyd-Jones as Blue Eyes
 * Aleks Paunovic as Winter
 * Alessandro Juliani as Spear
 * Sara Canning

Humans

 * Woody Harrelson as the Colonel
 * Gabriel Chavarria as Preacher
 * Amiah Miller as Nova
 * Chad Rook as Boyle

Development
After seeing his cut of Dawn, 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment signed Matt Reeves to return as director for a third installment of the reboot series. On January 7, 2014, the studio announced a third installment with Reeves returning to direct and co-write along with Bomback. Peter Chernin, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver will produce. During an interview in mid-November 2014 with MTV, Andy Serkis said they did not know the next film's setting. "…It could be five years after the event. It could be the night after the events of where we left 'Dawn.'" In May 2015, the title was revealed as War of the Planet of the Apes.

In interviews for Dawn, Matt Reeves talked a bit about the inevitable war Caesar would have with the humans; "As this story continues, we know that war is not avoided by the end of Dawn. That is going to take us into the world of what he is grappling with. Where he is going to be thrust into circumstances that he never, ever wanted to deal with, and was hoping he could avoid. And now he is right in the middle of it. The things that happen in that story test him in huge ways, in the ways in which his relationship with Koba haunts him deeply. It’s going to be an epic story. I think you’ve probably read that I sort of described it where in the first film was very much about his rise from humble beginnings to being a revolutionary. The second movie was about having to rise to the challenge of being a great leader in the most difficult of times. This is going to be the story that is going to cement his status as a seminal figure in ape history, and sort of leads to an almost biblical status. He is going to become like a mythic ape figure, like Moses." Toby Kebbell, who portrayed Koba in Dawn, has expressed interest in reprising his role or performing as other characters.

In August 2015, Deadline reported that Gabriel Chavarria was cast as one of the humans in the film. In September 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Woody Harrelson had been cast as the film's antagonist, and that Chavarria's role was small. In October 2015, TheWrap reported that Steve Zahn was cast as a new ape in the film, retitled as War for the Planet of the Apes. It was also announced that young actress Amiah Miller was cast as one of the film's humans, with Judy Greer and Karin Konoval reprising their roles as Cornelia and Maurice, while Aleks Paunovic and Sara Canning were cast as the new apes. Chad Rook later joined the film's cast in November 2015.

At New York Comic-Con 2016, Reeves explained that he and Bomback were influenced by many films before writing. He said, "One of the first things that Mark and I did because we had just finished Dawn was that we decided to watch a million movies. We decided to do what people fantasize what Hollywood screenwriters get to do but no one actually does. We got Fox to give us a theater and we watched movie after movie. We watched every Planet of the Apes movie, war movies, westerns, Empire Strikes Back... We just thought, 'We have to pretend we have all the time in the world,' even though we had limited time. We got really inspired."

Filming
Principal photography on the film began on October 14, 2015 in the Lower Mainland in Vancouver, under the working title Hidden Fortress. Filming was expected to take place there until early March 2016. Parts of the film were expected to shoot for up to five days in the Kananaskis in late January and early February. In March, Serkis confirmed that he had finished shooting his portions.

Music
On October 17, 2015, it was confirmed that Michael Giacchino, the composer and writer of the soundtrack for Dawn, would return to compose the current film's score.

Release
The film was initially set for a July 29, 2016 release. However, in January 2015, Fox postponed the film's release date to July 14, 2017.

Marketing
A special behind-the-scenes footage for the film was aired on TV on November 22, 2015 as part of a contest announcement presented by director Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis. It was aired during The Walking Dead on AMC. This announcement allows winners to wear a performance-capture suit and be in a scene as an ape. On the same day, the announcement was later released on 20th Century Fox's official YouTube page.

At a New York Comic Con special event on October 6, Reeves, Serkis and producer Dylan Clark debuted an exclusive look of the film.

Serkis also mentioned that the film will be accompanied by a video game, for which he is performing motion capture.

Sequel
During an interview with MTV News in mid-November 2014, Andy Serkis talked about possible sequels: "It might be three films, It could be four. It could be five. Who knows? The journey will continue." In October 2016, it was announced that a fourth Planet of the Apes film is already being planned.