The war between humans and apes has been looming ever closer over the course of the first two films in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, and now tensions appear to be at the breaking point in the final trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes, the upcoming third in the series.
20th Century Fox released the new preview of the movie this week, and it will be the final full-length trailer for the film before it hits theaters in July.
Set to be directed by Cloverfield and Let Me In filmmaker Matt Reeves, who directed the previous installment of the franchise, War for the Planet of the Apes pits Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes against a ruthless military leader played by Woody Harrelson. After a brutal escalation of their conflict with the humans, the apes are forced to take drastic measures to ensure their survival, and Caesar must grapple with his own inner demons while finding a way to end the war — a war that could determine the fates of both species.
The rebooted Planet of the Apes series has earned Academy Award nominations for the visual effects used in each of the first two installments of the franchise, with performance-capture effects used to bring the actors’ movements and voices to life on the screen in their ape counterparts. Serkis’ performance in particular has generated significant discussion regarding the recognition of performance-capture actors in the modern filmmaking.
Along with Serkis, the film features performance-capture cast members Steve Zahn as “Bad Ape,” Karin Konoval as the orangutan Maurice, Terry Notary as the chimpanzee Rocket, Judy Greer as Caesar’s wife Cornelia, Max Lloyd-Jones as Caesar’s son Blue Eyes, and Ty Olsson as the traitorous gorilla Rex. As for the human cast of the film, Harrelson is joined by Amiah Miller as Nova, and Gabriel Chavarria as Preacher.
War for the Planet of the Apes arrives in theaters July 14, 2017.
