“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is being theatrically released on May 10. Deadline’s Anthony D'Alessandro is reporting that ‘Kingdom’ is tracking at a $54M-$61M opening weekend.
For comparison’s sake, 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” opened to $54.8M, 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” had a franchise-best $72.6M, while 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” settled with a $56.2M domestic opening.
Meanwhile, AMC is further adding that ‘Kingdom’ will be a lengthy affair. The runtime is 145 minutes (2 hours and 25 minutes), which would make it the longest movie in ‘Apes’ franchise history.
A few months ago, Jeff Sneider reported that ‘Kingdom’ was test screened in Burbank, California and that the overall consensus was not good:
Disney had a test screening of Apes recently and my sources tell me it went over very poorly. I heard the movie is a stinker.
Reeves did an admirable job directing ‘War’ and his absence here will surely be felt. Automatic red flag: Reeves is being replaced by Wes Ball, whose claim to fame is the tepid ‘Maze Runner’ trilogy. Given Ball’s track record, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sneider’s intel turns out to be true.
‘Kingdom’ takes place “years” after the events of “War for the Planet of the Apes”, with many ape clans having emerged in the oasis to which Caesar led his fellow apes, while humans have regressed into a “feral state”. The apes take the teachings of Caesar to enslave other clans in search of the last traces of a secret human technology. There’s also a subplot about another ape embarking on a journey to find freedom alongside a human girl.
Yesterday, 20th Century Studios and Disney released a new trailer for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” The cast this time around includes William H. Macy, Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon, Eka Darville, Dichen Lachman and Kevin Durand