Who are the directors of the ‘Planet of the Apes’ movies?

Due for release this week, Kingdom of the Planet the Apes is the latest film in the long-running Planet of the Apes franchise – a saga which has now spawned a total of 10 pictures since its opening movie came out to critical and commercial success back in 1968.

Kingdom of the Planet the Apes is directed by Mazerunner’s Wes Ball, who has spoken of the pressure he felt to deliver a “worthy instalment to this long legacy of movies”. Ball is the seventh director to take charge of a film in the nearly 60-year-old franchise, which began with Franklin J Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes.

“A triumph of artistry and imagination”

Based on the plot of French author Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La Planète des Singes, the maiden movie starred Oscar winner Charlton Heston as one of a group of astronauts who crash-land on a strange and apparently distant planet. There, they discover highly-intelligent apes who are the planet’s dominant species; the apes run a civilisation in which humans are a primitive, enslaved race.

Schaffner, who went on to win an Academy Award for 1970′s Patton, was praised by critics for his direction of Planet of the Apes. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Kevin Thomas described the film as “a triumph of artistry and imagination”, adding: “It is at once a timely parable and a grand adventure on an epic scale. Provocative as it is entertaining, it is a true screen odyssey.”

In the five years after Planet of the Apes’ release, four sequels followed: 1970′s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, directed by Ted Post; 1971′s Escape from the Planet of the Apes, helmed by Don Taylor; and the J Lee Thompson-directed movies Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).

Burton remake marks return of Planet of the Apes

After a nearly three-decade hiatus, the franchise then returned in 2001, when Tim Burton directed a remake of the original film. Featuring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter, the new Planet of the Apes failed to earn the critical plaudits that its 1968 counterpart had received. “Tim Burton made a film that’s respectful to the original, and respectable in itself, but that’s not enough,” Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. “Ten years from now, it will be the 1968 version that people are still renting.”

2001′s Planet of the Apes enjoyed a more positive reception at the box office, however. Its $68.5 million opening weekend in the United States was bettered only by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that year. In total, according to Box Office Mojo, the film took over $360 million worldwide.

Rebooted Planet of the Apes series begins in 2011

Ten years after Burton’s remake, a rebooted Planet of the Apes series kicked off with Rise of the Planet Apes, directed by Rupert Wyatt. (A ‘reboot’, Screen Rant’s Daniel DiManna explains, differs from a remake or a sequel as it is “entirely new with little to no connection to what came before [in the franchise]”. ) In 2014 and 2017, Matt Reeves directed a pair of sequels to the 2011 film: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes. Now, Ball has added a third.

When is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes released?

Starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon and William H. Macy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is due out in the US on Friday 10 May 2024. The movie was originally slated for release on Friday 24 May, but its distributor, 20th Century Studios, revealed in January that it would be bringing the picture out two weeks early, to avoid clashing with heavyweight Memorial Day weekend releases such as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

What is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes about?

According to 20th Century Studios, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is “set several generations in the future”, following the end of the reign of Caesar, a leader of the apes who appears in several previous instalments of the franchise.

The studio adds: “Apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: watch the trailer

What has Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ critical reception been like?

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has received mix reviews. Daily Telegraph critic Robbie Collin has described the movie as “surprisingly marvellous”, noting: “Sincerity and conviction are now rare qualities in the blockbuster field, but this is a film that puts its monkey where its mouth is.”

The BBC’s Caryn James, however, says: “Behind the impressive CGI, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the definition of generic, all two hours and 25 minutes of it.” Rolling Stone’s David Fear, meanwhile, dismisses the movie as “the emptiest of monkeyhouses”.