The first Planet of the Apes film was released 52 years ago. It’s been a huge influence onpopular cultureand has even spawned nine sequels, a few of which managed to rival the original in terms of critical and box office success.
Disneyis betting on the continued success of the film series with a new installment, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It’s set decades after the most recent entries, which starred Andy Serkis as Caesar, the first ape to gain human-like intelligence. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will revolve around a new ape, Noah, facing off with a new ruthless leader of a burgeoning ape society. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes should be available to purchase online in the near future, as long as it follows Disney’s release schedule for other 20th Century films. It’ll also be available to stream onHulueventually, but Disney hasn’t announced a specific date yet.
Of course, the last Serkis-led film came out in 2017, so it might be a good idea tobinge them allagain before diving in to the new movie.
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Planet of the Apes timeline: The chronological movie order explained
With 10 Planet of the Apes movies all similarly named, it can get really confusing trying to figure out the best order to watch them all.
You could go by the theatrical release date, although I think it’s more fun to watch the films chronologically, as you can watch the events unfold in a beginning-to-end timeline. There are the first five Planet of the Apes films, which were released between 1968 and 1973, and then the three modern movies from the 2010s that star Andy Serkis as Caesar, to go along with the latest film. The Serkis ones are connected to the original five (we explain how below), but to make things complicated, there is a standalone Planet of the Apes movie from 2001 starring Mark Whalberg. It’s a remake.
Confused? No worries. I made sense of this jumbled timeline below.
Spoilers:Follow this guide to watch the events in the Planet of the Apes movies unfold chronologically as they happened. However, at the bottom, you’ll find a bulleted-list version of this guide – plus additional watch orders, all with absolutely no spoilers.
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1Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Where it all begins
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
A scientist in San Francisco discovers a drug that can make apes as intelligent as humans while working on a cure for Alzheimer’s.
The first film on my watchlist sees James Franco star as Will Rodman, a scientist in the near future researching a cure for Alzheimer’s. The film opens when Rodman discovers a baby chimp that’s been exposed to an experimental drug. When the baby’s mother dies, Rodman takes it home to raise, naming him Caesar. Rupert Wyatt directed this film, and Andy Serkis plays Caesar via motion capture. It was written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
Make sure you keep an eye out for the news report about the spacecraft Icarus entering the Martian atmosphere – it’s an Easter egg alluding to Charlton Heston’s spacecraft in the original film.
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2Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Caesar leads a thriving ape society
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Caesar is leading an ape society in the forests outside of San Francisco 10 years after the Simian flu wipes out most of humanity.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up 10 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and sees Andy Serkis' Caesar leading a burgeoning civilization of apes in the Redwood forests outside of San Francisco. Most of humanity has been wiped out by the Simian plague, but remnants led by a man named Dreyfus (played by Gary Oldman) encounter the apes when they enter the forest to repair a Hydroelectric Dam.
Matt Reeves directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver returned to write the script for this film.
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3War for the Planet of the Apes
Caesar engages in a final conflict with the last of humanity
War of the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Matt Reeves returned to direct the final film in the Andy Serkis-led trilogy that focuses on the first intelligent ape Caesar and a final confrontation with humanity.
War for the Planet of the Apes picks up 2 years later with Caesar still leading his people. The fallout from Koba’s insurrection against him has caused an elite group of soldiers, led by Colonel J. Wesley McCullough (played by Woody Harrelson) to begin hunting Caesar’s apes. Caesar’s only hope to get his family away and stopping further conflict with humans is to cross a vast desert.
Near the end of the film, we see some of Caesar’s friends assure him that the burgeoning ape society he helped create will know everything he sacrificed for them – an important nod that helps explain why another ape will be named Caesar later in the timeline. There are plenty of other allusions that pop in the original films. McCullough’s group of oddly-culty soldiers call themselves the Alpha/Omega, which is the same name of a bomb worshiped by a cult of mutant humans in the 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes. They even use the same insignia seen on the bomb suggesting some type of connection between the two.
Matt Reeves returned to direct this film. He also helped write the movie with Mark Bomback.
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4Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
A new generation of Apes
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Set generations after the events War for the Planet of the Apes, a young ape named Noa must go against a new Caesar who’s leading the apes.
After the success of the most recent trilogy of new films, it was inevitable we’d see more from The Planet of the Apes.
The new film picks up a few generations after Andy Serkis' Caesar led the apes to safety, and they’re now emerging out into the world in search of the last remnants of human technology. The plot centers around a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague), who must go against a powerful leader named Proximus and adventure into the remnants of human society.
Wes Ball directed the film, while Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver returned to write the script after writing Rise and Dawn. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has been a roaring success at the box office, which should ensure we’ll be seeing more of the story from the Planet of the Apes. The film doesn’t have a streaming release date yet, but it should premiere to rent and buy online in the near future if it follows Disney’s release strategy for other 20th Century films.
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5Planet of the Apes
The original sci-fi classic
Planet of the Apes (1968)
The original Planet of the Apes stars Charleston Heston as an astronaut who crash lands on a mysterious planet. It was the sixth highest grossing movie of 1968.
The fourth film on our list started it all. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, it follows three astronauts as they awake from a crash landing on a mysterious planet. Eventually, one of the astronauts, George Taylor (played by Charlton Heston), is captured by advanced apes. Taylor joins forces with one sympathetic ape, named Dr. Zira (played by Kim Hunter), who studies him. Later, he goes into the Forbidden Zone desert to attempt to escape the apes holding him captive. That’s when he discovers the truth about the world the apes inhabit.
Franklin J Schaffner also wrote the screenplay for Planet of the Apes with help from Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame and Michael Wilson. The film is based on a French novel called la Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulles. Planet of the Apes was the eighth highest grossing film of 1968, bringing in 33 million dollars.
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6Beneath the Planet of the Apes
The last of humanity is worshiping a doomsday device
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes follows a new group of astronauts who are in search of Charleston Heston’s Taylor and the rest of his crew.
An astronaut named Brent (played by James Franciscus) is the only survivor of a ship sent to find the three astronauts from the first Planet of the Apes film. Soon after landing in the Forbidden Zone, Brent meets Nova, Taylor’s love interest from the first film. She is still wearing the astronauts' dog tags. She brings Brent to the ape city, where he meets Dr. Zira. She tells him about her time with Taylor.
Brent then goes back to the Forbidden Zone and finds an entrance to a New York City subway and a mutated race of humans worshipping a doomsday device. Ted Post took over directing duties for this film while Paul Dehn wrote the script. While it’s kind of been forgotten about in popular culture, Beneath the Planet of the Apes was a success at the box office, bringing in 18 million dollars while being the 16th highest grossing film of 1970.
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7Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Two apes travel back in time to 1973
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
This film follows apes from the two previous films, Dr. Zira and Cornelius, as they venture back in time to 1973’s version of Earth.
This film is where our apes' timeline really begins to go bananas. At the conclusion of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, we see the destruction of the planet by the Alpha and Omega doomsday device. However, before that happens, Dr. Zira and her husband Cornelius (played by Roddy McDowall) discover and begin to repair the original ship that brought Taylor to the Planet of the Apes.
The two apes use it to travel to 1973, or when the planet is destroyed. They become celebrities and are at the center of a government investigation as why Taylor’s ship suddenly reappeared with talking apes but no astronauts. Just as the government begins to suspect Dr. Zira hasn’t been truthful to the government, it’s revealed she’s pregnant. She and Cornelius must escape capture to save their child, Milo. Don Taylor directed the film and Paul Dehn returned to write the screenplay.
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8Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
A new Caesar rises to free the apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Zira and Cornelius' child is now a full grown ape named Caesar who leads an uprising among other abused apes.
In the year 1991, Zira’s child is alive and grown-up. He is portrayed by Roddy McDowall, who also starred as Cornelius in the previous film. Anyway, Zira’s child, newly named Caesar, was raised in hiding by Armando (played by Ricardo Montalban), the circus owner she left him with at the conclusion of the Escape from the Planet of the Apes. The film follows Caesar through a dark world in which cats and dogs have died off, and apes have become a common pet and even an abused source of slave labor. Caesar is the only ape who can speak in this world. Eventually, he becomes enslaved, and it leads to an uprising.
Zira must have named her child Caesar after Andy Serkis' character of the same name in the new trilogy of films. It’s obvious that the story for this film provided inspiration for the new trilogy, as the films showcase an intelligent ape abused by humans who must eventually turn against them to protect his own kind.
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9Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Apes and humans finally learn to live in harmony
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
The last of the 70’s Planet of the Apes films sees Caesar working to finally find peace between apes and men.
This film shows an older Caesar (played by Roddy McDowall) leading a society where apes and humans coexist after a nuclear war. But the society is being torn apart by threats from a militant faction of apes, led by Aldo (played by Claude Akins), who wants to make humans subservient. Caesar learns of tapes that exist in the Forbidden Zone that show his mother speaking about how conflict between ape and man caused the destruction of Earth. While in search of those tapes, Caesar also discovers a group of mutated humans, led by Governor Kolp (played by Severn Darden), who view the apes as a threat and set out to destroy them.
Between the tapes of his mother and lessons he learned along his journey to this point, Caesar understands that the only way to prevent the Earth’s destruction is by helping humans and apes to live together in peace, fulfilling the original Caesar’s final wishes. If you really think about it, Zira going back in time even saved humanity from the Simian Flu created by James Franco in the first film in this list.
J. Lee Thompson directed Battle for the Planet of the Apes. John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington wrote the screenplay.
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10Bonus: Planet of the Apes (TV series)
CBS series set after the original movies
Planet of the Apes - TV series
After the success of the 70’s films, a TV spin-off of Planet of the Apes aired for 14 episodes on CBS.
Yes, there is a Planet of the Apes TV series. It was broadcast on CBS in 1974. Featuring just 14 episodes, the series stars Ron Harper, James Naughton, Roddy McDowall, Mark Lenard, and Booth Colman but was canceled after a mere season due to poor ratings. It is based on the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes and its sequels. So, if you want to watch it, we suggest slotting it in after Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
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