In today’s time, the film industry is coming out with movies left, right, and center. Thus, studios have to go out of their way to promote their films just to draw attention to them. We haven’t forgotten about Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and the incredible marketing that came before it, have we? And now, Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the latest entry into the list of films with unique promotion strategies.
20th Century Fox seems to have adopted out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ marketing. On Wednesday, three characters from the upcoming movie were seen riding horses on a beach in San Francisco. Yes, you read that right. A video has been going viral showing three actors dressed up as apes taking their horses on a stroll by the beach.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Marketing Team Knocks It Out of the Park
On Wednesday, three people were seen donning costumes from the Planet of the Apes franchise as they comfortably sat on their horses and enjoyed a nice, calm ride on a beach in San Francisco. The trio was also spotted on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, earlier this week.
If you are just as confused as the people on the beach, then let us tell you that no, apes have not taken over our world just yet. This was simply a part of the marketing campaign for Wes Ball’s upcoming film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
The clip went viral on social media, and rightly so. It’s not every day that you get to see what it would be like if Planet of the Apes became a reality! Needless to say, fans on social media have been going crazy over the stunt. Take a look at what they had to say about the viral video:
This is taking marketing to whole new level.
— O.Akinfenwa (@o_akinfenwa) April 24, 2024
Woah actual marketing
— a dull boy (@adullboy1) April 25, 2024
Just some Apes enjoying a stroll on the beach.
— Dark Web Informer (@DarkWebInformer) April 24, 2024
This is awesome, idk what I'd think if I saw this 😆
— iBoss302 🔪🩸 (@iBoss302TTV) April 25, 2024
The marketing team: pic.twitter.com/Hjy9nTOoQJ
— brandon nezamoodeen (@BNezamoodeen) April 24, 2024
This just took fans’ excitement to a whole new level, putting a ton of pressure on Ball and the studio’s shoulders.
Wes Ball Says His Film is Not a Direct Sequel
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes after 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes and is the fourth installment in the reboot franchise and the tenth film overall. However, the film will not act as a direct sequel to the events of War for the Planet of the Apes and will instead take place years and years after.
The film will see the story fast forward 300 years after Caesar’s death and Ball tells us exactly why.
While attending Collider’s Directors on Directors panel, Ball stated that he was hesitant about making Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes a direct sequel as he knew it would unfairly get compared to the “perfect trilogy” that came before it.
“Actually, I was a little hesitant at first, to be honest, and then I had this idea. What I was worried about was if it was a straight part four, a direct sequel, it somehow felt unnecessary. It was sort of unimaginative in a way. It felt like it would be unfairly sort of compared to that perfect trilogy that came previously in the last 10 years.”
Then, Ball had an Eureka moment where he decided that his film didn’t need to be a direct sequel and could just do its own thing.
“We came up with this idea to stay in the same universe,” Ball added. “We’re still a part of Caesar’s world, but we’re cutting many, many years later, after the fact, where you get to really explore what’s become of Caesar, what’s become of his legacy, his ideas… So, could we do this thing where we are both a sequel and a prequel, essentially? We find ourselves sort of in the middle, honoring where we came from with this great reboot that happened with the Caesar trilogy, and start making our way to that ‘68 version where apes are talking and have democracy and all this crazy stuff. So, that was kind of the approach that we took.”
From apes peacefully enjoying their lives to a new tyrannical leader building his own empire, the upcoming film sounds like the perfect addition to the popular franchise!
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes releases in theatres on May 10, 2024.
