Filming on the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has been ongoing for a while now, on location in New Orleans, Louisiana, and up north in Vancouver, BC, as you might know.
Despite that, 20th Century Fox has just released an official plot synopsis for the next installment in the Planet of the Apes series in a press release, announcing that production on the film has begun, and it also confirms the full cast, to boot.
The first film, directed by Rupert Wyatt was great, and hopefully director Matt Reeves can give us a decent sequel. The story they are telling is a step in the right direction.
Here's the official press release:
Twentieth Century Fox announced that principal photography is underway on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.
Andy Serkis, celebrated for his performance in the last film, reprises his role as Caesar. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes also stars Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Public Enemies, The Great Gatsby), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises, The Harry Potter film series), Keri Russell (The Americans, Mission Impossible III), Toby Kebbell (The Prince of Persia, Wrath of the Titans, Rock N Rolla), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, ParaNorman), Enrique Murciano (Traffic, Black Hawk Down), Kirk Acevedo (The Thin Red Line) and Judy Greer (The Descendants, Three Kings, 13 Going on 30).
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In). The producers are Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Oblivion), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). Tom Hammel (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is executive producing.
Oscar®-winning visual effects house WETA Digital – employing a new generation of the cutting edge performance capture technologies developed for Rise of the Apes and Avatar – will again render photo-realistic, emotionally-engaging apes. The film's key behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Michael Seresin, production designer James Chinland, and VFX Supervisors Joe Letteri and Dan Lemmon, VFX producers Ryan Stafford, editor Bill Hoy and Stan Salfas, and costume designer Melissa Brunning.
Twentieth Century Fox will release Dawn of the Planet of the Apes worldwide on Memorial Day weekend, May 23, 2014. Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened theatrically during the summer of 2011, grossed nearly half a billion dollars worldwide.
So we got confirmation that James Franco won't be returning as Caesar's ‘dad', Dr. Will Rodman (and at the same time a man who developed a virus that decimated humankind), and that the plot will turn focus from father-son drama to Caesar's experience as the leader of apes.
Also, the script (initially written by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa) has been revised by Mark Bomback, although it is not yet apparent how substantial that rewrite is. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens on May 23rd, 2014.
