Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Movies, Sony | Tagged: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, legend of zelda, wes ball

Wes Ball Wants To Direct Legend Of Zelda & Another Planet Of The Apes

Wes Ball hopes that he'll be able to direct another Planet of the Apes film and the live-action adaptation of Legend of Zelda.

The review embargo for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes came down, and right now, it's coming up pretty positively. Between that and the decent domestic and international early box office numbers, it looks like the trilogy that 20th Century and Disney wanted this film to kick off could become a reality. There is still a chance that this film won't do well enough to justify another movie, but the ending does indicate that there are other stories to tell. It sounds like director Wes Ball is open to telling them, even if it means his schedule is about to get very busy. Ball might be finishing up the press for Kingdom, but it was also recently announced that he would be directing the live-action adaptation of Legend of Zelda for Nintendo and Sony. That project sounds like it is still in the early days and doesn't have a release date, but it sounds like Ball wants to have his cake and eat it. Or, in this case, direct another Planet of the Apes and direct Legend of Zelda, as he explained in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "Yeah, hopefully, I'll be able to do both," Ball replied. "That's the honest truth, and we'll see if that's going to be possible or not. It really depends on how well this movie does, but I've tried not to put too many eggs in that basket, so we'll see how it goes."

One of the big worries heading into this film was that it would put all of the eggs in the "this is going to be a trilogy" basket and wouldn't have any story or conclusion of its own, but Kingdom threads the needle about as well as you can expect a film to. As for Legend of Zelda, Wall isn't saying much and seems worried about saying anything at all. Ball was asked about the project and what tone this film could be compared to if it would lean more toward Lord of the Rings or more Game of Thrones, which is still a limiting metric if we're being honest, but we didn't ask the question. Ball seemed hesitant to answer and replied, "I'm very aware of that, and I will be making moves so that we're not just Lord of the Rings lite. But that's probably more than I should say, actually." If we must keep up with the comparisons to other pieces of media, it sounds like this is probably closer to the tone of the original book of The Hobbit or maybe The Chronicles of Narnia. These were games for kids, after all, and I can't believe there is a rational human in the world who would have thought this film would ever go anywhere near the Game of Thrones end of the fantasy spectrum.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Release Date, Summary, Cast List

A new entry in the studio's global epic franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, will open exclusively in theaters nationwide on May 10, 2024.

Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar's reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously, and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is directed by Wes Ball (the Maze Runner trilogy) and stars Owen Teague (IT), Freya Allan (The Witcher), Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), Peter Macon (Shameless), and William H. Macy (Fargo). The screenplay is by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Avatar: The Way of Water) and Patrick Aison (Prey), based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, and the producers are Wes Ball, Joe Hartwick, Jr. (The Maze Runner), Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Jason Reed (Mulan), with Peter Chernin (the Planet of the Apes trilogy) and Jenno Topping (Ford v. Ferrari) serving as executive producers.

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