It sounds like audiences will once again return to the Planet of the Apes, as the box office and critical success of this year’s latest installment in the decade-spanning franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, has ensured that director Wes Ball will get to craft his planned trilogy. The revelation came as part of a summer box office round-up by THR, with the report discussing how franchises and “big brands” have “helped push year-to-date domestic grosses to more than $5.4 billion” which, while still down 13% on last year, is “better than expectations for this point in 2024.”

According to the report, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was seen as “a crucial test in the post-Disney merger,” and the movie thankfully passed after grossing nearly $400 million at the worldwide box office against its $160 million budget. This was more than “enough to fulfill filmmaker Wes Ball’s dream of a new trilogy,” the report states.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is currently the eighth highest grossing movie of the year, something which was no doubt achieved by giving the sequel a good run in theaters, rather than quickly shifting the movie to digital release as seems to be the strategy of many studios over the last few years. Now, thanks to being given the time to grow and garner a solid box office return, the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apessaga will get to continue. Much to the delight of fans.

For his part, director Wes Ball has always envisioned that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apeswould launch a new trilogy, with the filmmaker saying back in February that he had left the door ajar for more adventures. He revealed to Comicbook.com at the time...

"I don't want to say we end on a cliffhanger, but we certainly end on a new door opening essentially that will allow us to keep going if we want it to, if we were successful enough to.”

Directed by Wes Ball, written by Josh Friedman, and starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes picks up decades after Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes and finds a tyrannical ape leader building his empire. Now, one young ape must embark on 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.

As well as big box office returns, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was met with critical acclaim, with MovieWeb’s own Richard Fink excited for the next chapter in the trilogy.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes not only builds off the foundation laid forth by the Caesar trilogy but also blazes an exciting new path that moves the franchise in directions that nobody has truly grappled with in a new first installment in an exciting new trilogy.”