War for the Planet of the Apes is a 2017 American science fiction action film[7] directed by Matt Reeves, who co-wrote it with Mark Bomback.

The film takes place in 2028, two years after the events of Dawn and follows the conflict between apes and humans as it has escalated into full war, while Caesar sets out to avenge those he has lost.

Development for War for the Planet of the Apes began in January 2014, after 20th Century Fox viewed Reeves's cut of its predecessor; his return was soon confirmed, along with Bomback's.

Casting began in August 2015 and finished that October, with principal photography commencing soon thereafter and concluding in March 2016, with filming locations including Lower Mainland and the Kananaskis Range.

Caesar's young son Blue Eyes and Rocket return from a scouting expedition to report they have found an oasis that could serve as a safer home.

That night, the Colonel of Alpha-Omega leads a team to infiltrate the colony and kills Cornelia and Blue Eyes, mistaking the latter for Caesar.

As they follow the Colonel, Caesar's group discovers several dead soldiers who have been executed by their own troops; a fatally wounded survivor is revealed to be mute, just like the girl.

A human patrol kills Luca, and an enraged Caesar tells Maurice, Rocket, Bad Ape, and the mute girl to turn back.

The Colonel reveals that the Simian Flu virus has mutated, causing infected humans to mentally devolve into primitive animals, depriving them of their intelligence.

Caesar blows the fuel tank, causing an avalanche that buries both armies and flees up the trees with the rest of the apes and Nova.

After seeing his cut of Dawn, 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment signed Matt Reeves to return as director for a third installment of the reboot series.

In January 2014, the studio announced the third film, with Reeves returning to direct and co-write along with Bomback, and Peter Chernin, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver serving as producers.

[15] When director Reeves and screenwriter Bomback came on board to helm Dawn, the film already had a release date, which led to an accelerated production schedule.

[45] Additionally, during production, Reeves and Bomback sought broader inspirations from films like The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape.

The influences and inspirations were made evident in the relationship between Caesar and Woody Harrelson's Colonel, a military leader with pretensions toward godhood.

Reeves has compared their relationship to the dynamic between Alec Guinness's British Commander and Sessue Hayakawa's prison camp Colonel in Bridge on the River Kwai.

Another comparison is in Caesar's journey to find the Colonel, flanked by a posse of close friends—a situation Reeves explicitly tied to Clint Eastwood's war-weary soldier in The Outlaw Josey Wales.

[29] Influences from the film Apocalypse Now, notably Harrelson's character and his Alpha-Omega faction being similar to Colonel Kurtz's renegade army, were also noted by several journalists.

[49] On October 17, 2015, it was confirmed that Reeves' frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino, who composed its predecessor, would return to score for War for the Planet of the Apes.

[54][9] Special behind-the-scenes footage for the film was aired on TV on November 22, 2015, as part of a contest announcement presented by director Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis.

[59] At a New York Comic Con special event on October 6, 2016, Reeves, Serkis and producer Dylan Clark debuted an exclusive look at the film.

[63][65][66] War was closely monitored by analysts while the summer was witnessing a decline in ticket sales, a situation that they blamed on franchise fatigue for an overabundance of sequels and reboots (such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Transformers: The Last Knight and The Mummy).

However, box office analysts noted that well-reviewed films have tended to perform in-line with estimates (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

[75] War for the Planet of the Apes received praise for the cast's performances (particularly Serkis'), Reeves' direction, visual effects, musical score, cinematography and its morally complex storyline.

[76] Scott Collura of IGN awarded the film a score of 9.5 out of 10, saying: "War for the Planet of the Apes is an excellent closing act to this rebooted trilogy, but also one that does enough world-building that the series can potentially continue from here—and it's a rare case where, after three movies, we're left wanting more.

"[77] A. O. Scott of The New York Times said of the film, "War for the Planet of the Apes, directed by Matt Reeves, is the grimmest episode so far, and also the strongest, a superb example—rare in this era of sloppily constructed, commercially hedged cinematic universes—of clear thinking wedded to inventive technique in popular filmmaking," and lauded Andy Serkis's performance in the film, stating that "Andy Serkis's performance as Caesar is one of the marvels of modern screen acting.

"[78] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three and a half out of four stars, and said that Serkis performed "with a resonant power and depth of feeling that's nearly Shakespearean.

Kohn went on to applaud the visuals and musical score, stating that "The breathlessly paced montage of flying bullets and angry monkeys raining down on terrified men, aided by Michael Giacchino's vibrant score, is a strong indicator of the next-level craftsmanship that distinguishes these movies from so many cacophonous Hollywood spectacles; not only is the action easy to follow, but you care for the motion-captured characters at the center of it, while the humans cower in fear.

[130] In a March 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell stated that production would start between the late summer or early fall of 2022.

[132] The following month, the title was announced to be Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Freya Allan was cast as the human lead with Peter Macon co-starring, and the film was confirmed to be released in 2024.