Speaking with Collider, Andy Serkis teased that the seeds of a third installment in this series are planted in the second film - which DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and LET ME IN helmer Matt Reeves is returning to direct.
Serkis states that…
The idea would be that this will segue into a third movie, which would lead us back to the origins, and lead us back to the very, very first movie. So we have yet to complete another cycle. This film is about survival. In the next film, the conflict between apes and man intensifies.
This comment in interesting to me for several reasons. In saying ‘very, very first film’, is Serkis referring to 2011’s RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES? Or, is he referring to 1968’s picture - whose (contemporary) ill-fated space mission was not-so-subtlety alluded to during a TV newscast in the 2011 movie?
I love that they’re employing a ‘loop’ / ‘cycle’ of some sort here…again. That gag in the original sequence of films was brilliant in a number of ways, and I can’t wait to see how The Powers That Be address matters this time around - and to see how literal the connection between these new films and the classic series may or may not become.
More on APES, and as well as some thoughts on his directing a forthcoming JUNGLE BOOK adaptation can be found in a video HERE.
—————-
Glen Oliver
"Merrick"
