‘War for Planet of the Apes’ set photo has clues

The first unofficial set photo from War for the Planet of the Apes has us screaming, “You maniacs! You blew it up!”

Director Matt Reeves from Cloverfield and the last Apes movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, is at work on the next edition of the newly revived franchise.

Tweeting from the set, Reeves said his next movie will possibly have two characters riding a horse on a beach. Fans and writers online are all making the easy connection that this shot could be a direct reference to the final reveal of the Planet of the Apes movie, which features Charlton Heston screaming into the sand upon the reveal that he wasn’t on a different planet; the apes’ planet was Earth all along.

The last movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, reintroduced the world to the whole apes-riding-horses-while-shooting-guns action sequence.

And if you look carefully at the image, the actor in the motion capture suit standing on the beach is most likely an ape, and the two other actors on the horse also appear to be wearing what could be a mocap suit. So it’s good to see the Apes movies are continuing that trend.

But if you’re worried that this image could be implying a 1968 remake, rest assured. Reeves is not interested in remaking the classic film, however, he could see himself revisiting aspects of that movie.

“The idea would never be to remake the ‘68 film,” Reeves said in an interview with Joblo back in 2014. “There might be some of those events from another perspective, and obviously to also see them as events that grew out of everything that we’ve been watching from this new iteration. They wouldn’t be exactly the same either. So if, and when, we ever get there, which I think is an exciting notion, it would definitely not be a remake but it would be sort of a re-telling of those events from a new perspective. And the events themselves would probably be a bit different since they will have grown out of these films.”

Either way, it’s going to be a long time until we connect to the 1968 movie. War for the Planet of the Apes won’t premiere until July 2017.