Planet of the Apes’ new film series is in development at 20th Century Fox Studios, with Owen Teague playing the lead role.
The next film series based on French author Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes is in development at 20th Century Fox Studios, following the trilogy starring Andy Serkis. It star Owen Teague has been signed to play the lead primate role aka Caesar in the new trilogy. Studio has given Wes Ball the responsibility of directing the trilogy. Wes Ball previously directed the dystopian sci-fi The Maze Runner trilogy starring Dylan O’Brien for 20th Century Fox.
The new Planet of the Apes trilogy with Wes Ball was already confirmed by the studio in 2019. Since then Wes has been busy writing the screenplay for the film which seems to have been completed. If the rumours are to be believed, the official title of the first film of the trilogy can be kept as The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Production for the film is expected to begin this month, so the star cast for the project has already begun. In this context, studio roped Owen Teague to play the primate role. It is not yet known what the story of the film will be.
Owen Teague, who joined the new Planet of the Apes, got his first breakthrough role in Stephen King’s novel adaptation in Warner Bros’ supernatural horror feature It, directed by Andy Muschietti ( The Flash ). He will next seen in another Stephen King’s adaptation, The Stand limited TV series for Paramount+. Later, Teague will next seen in A24 comedy-drama, Beth & Don. He previously seen in To Leslie directed by Michael Morris. Surely, 20th Century Fox’s big-budget Planet of the Apes will give Owen Teague a career boost.
Clearly, the previous trilogy under the leadership of Andy Serkis did wonders. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, directed by Rupert Wyatt in 2011, did a stellar business of about $482 million at the box office while the film’s budget was $93 million. Matt Reeves later joined the sci-fi franchise as director for the next two films. Matt Reeves directed 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017’s War of the Planet of the Apes. Both the films continued to perform well at the box office, which was respectively $710 and $490 million.
Although, the first original film on French author Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes was made in 1968. The lead primate role in the film was played by Charlton Heston and it was a huge hit at the box office. In view of the success of the original film, 4 parts were made in 4 years.
