The president of 20th Century Studios says another Planet of the Apes movie is coming as box-office-breaking franchises take priority.
Apes together strong indeed! After earning close to $400 million bananas with the Wes Ball-directed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, news about another movie in the evolutionary franchise is swinging our way! According to 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell, another Apes film is in the works for a 2027 release. Details about the project are scarce. However, it’s a fair assumption to think it’s a sequel to Ball’s box-office blockbuster, starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, and more.
Whispers about a new Planet of the Apes movie arrive alongside confirmation that 20th Century Studios is developing more Alien and Predator films. We already know Predator Badlands will be unleashed on November 7, 2025. However, Asbell says we’re getting two additions to the Predator franchise in 2025. The studio also plans to develop a sequel to Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus and maybe another chapter of the Alien vs. Predator series. Try to contain your excitement about that last project.
Asbell told The Hollywood Reporter that when 20th Century Studios figures out their future slate, the Avatar, Planet of the Apes, Alien, and Predator franchises are their top priorities. Once those plans are sorted, they can start considering which original films they’d also like to add to their schedule. The future of Alien was the first one he was directly asked about, and he replied, “We’re working on a sequel idea now. We haven’t quite closed our deal with Fede [Alvarez], but we are going to, and he has an idea that we’re working on. The two survivors, Rain and Andy, played by Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, were real highlights of the film. And so I always think of it like, ‘Wow, where do people want to see them go next?’ We know there’s going to be aliens. We know there’s going to be great horror set pieces. But I fell in love with both of them and I want to see what their story is.”
Further details about a new Planet of the Apes move remain a mystery. If Wes Ball remains in the director’s chair for the next Apes film, it could upset scheduling for his other projects, including a Mouse Guard movie, Ruiner, and the live-action adaptation of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda. We’ll keep our ears open for more details. Until then, do you want a sequel to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes? A trilogy, perhaps? Let us know in the comments section below.