The third film in 20th Century Fox’s reinvigorated Planet of the Apes franchise now has a title. It’s not official, but it does seem like the next film will take the franchise one step closer to the events in the original 1968 film.
Collider revealed today that the new film will be called War of the Planet of the Apes. It follows the events set forth in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which successfully revived the series, and 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
The new film will be directed by Matt Reeves, who also helmed Dawn. He did tell Collider back in July 2014 that he had an alternate ending in mind, but that would have “boxed in” the filmmaker when it came to make the follow-up.
“We actually did have an ending that went one step further, and I realized late in the game, ‘Wait a minute. I don’t want us to be boxed in in this way. I think we should be left with a more open—knowing that we were going to figure out what the next story is—I didn’t want to in a way narrow our options,’” Reeves told Collider. “I wanted to open them up.”
Planet of the Apes suddenly became a successful franchise again when Rise earned rave reviews and became an international hit. Dawn only pushed the envelope further, earning a whopping $708.8 million worldwide. The film again earned critical acclaim and even earned an Oscar nomination for its visual effects.
Fox currently has the next Planet of the Apes film set for July 14, 2017.