Disney Is Officially Rebooting One Of The Greatest Sci-Fi Franchises Of All Time

The prequel series focusing on Caesar and his descendants proved to be very successful for Fox, but it wasn't as much of a success for Disney, who produced Kingdom. In fact, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' box office earnings only made it a moderate success with just shy of $400 million against a budget of $160 million. That was enough to turn a modest profit by Hollywood's arithmetic, but it was nowhere near the highs of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which made over $700 million.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes wasn't a reboot, as it did follow the events of Caesar's Planet of the Apes movies, but it was something of a fresh start for the franchise. It was intended as the start of a new trilogy, one focused on Noa and Freya Allan's human character, Mae. Based on its box office earnings, many fans of the franchise assumed the upcoming Planet of the Apes movie would be the second installment of that trilogy, but that no longer seems to be the case.

A recent report claimed that the upcoming Planet of the Apes movie would be rebooting the franchise once again. Director Matt Shakman and writer Josh Friedman are reportedly writing a new original story. While that's not an outright confirmation that the next Planet of the Apes movie will establish a new timeline or break away from the prequel story started by Caesar, it is an indication that it won't be a direct sequel to Kingdom, at least.

It now seems that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes didn't perform well enough at the box office to convince Disney to continue the plans for a full-scale trilogy. The Planet of the Apes franchise as a whole, however, has quite a bit of name recognition and staying power, so the next film in the franchise is still reportedly being developed. Whether that film reboots the franchise as a whole or simply moves to a new era in the prequel series to focus on new protagonists other than Noa and Mae remains to be seen.

The Next Planet of the Apes Movie Will Be A New Beginning For The Franchise

Regardless of whether the next Planet of the Apes movie properly reboots the franchise again or simply focuses on a new part of Caesar's prequel timeline, it will mark a major change for the franchise. If it's a proper reboot, that change will be very easy to see. Disney may decide to do another remake of the original film now that enough time has passed since Tim Burton's 2001 outing, thereby setting up another timeline separate from the prequels.

Shakman and Friedman may also decide to take their Apes movie to an entirely new part of the franchise. It has been nearly half a century since the original sequels, including Beneath the Planet of the Apes, have been revisited. There's still ample time to explore the world after Taylor's arrival on Earth, and there's also plenty of room to explore the interim years between War and Kingdom in the prequel series.

Even if this upcoming film doesn't reboot the franchise and simply goes to a new portion of the prequel series, it will still be a new beginning for Planet of the Apes. Kingdom will become a rare one-off film for the franchise, and all the plot threads it introduced while setting up a trilogy would have to be dropped. The new movie will also have to introduce new characters, (presumably) a new timeline, and new stakes for its human characters.

The decision to abandon Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has huge consequences for the franchise any way you slice it. Narratively speaking, the next Planet of the Apes movie will have to face the same challenges Kingdom did, of starting a new series without relying on established and beloved characters like Caesar, and it won't be able to use characters from Kingdom either.

There are also real-world implications of this decision. Disney wouldn't decide to scrap plans for a trilogy starting with Kingdom if it wasn't worried about the franchise's earning potential. This reboot, whether it's a full reboot or a soft one, is a sign that the Planet of the Apes franchise is on uncertain ground, and that its future is very much so dependent upon the next movie being able to outperform Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.