Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t come out for another month, but it’s already broken a franchise record. The new movie will have the longest run time of any film in the Planet of the Apes franchise, a fact that was recently revealed. This longer run time reflects the increasingly epic scope of the franchise.

The Biggest Planet Yet

As the fourth entry in the rebooted continuity, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will have a runtime of 145 minutes, continuing the trend of increasingly long films in the series. While the first film in the reboot era, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, came in at 105 minutes, runtimes have ballooned with each sequel passing the two-hour mark. The difference in runtimes between the reboot series and the classic Planet of the Apes films is stark, with Planet of the Apes being the only film in the original series to break the 100-minute mark.

300 Year Time Jump

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will continue the universe of the reboot trilogy but jump 300 years in the future and center around the relationship between a young ape named Noa and a human girl named Mae. The story will be closer to the original films, with humans being feral and subjugated by an established ape society. This will distinguish it from the trilogy that established the reboot universe, which focused on the rise of ape society.

Director Wes Ball has stated that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is intended to start a new trilogy. In much the same way Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War of the Planet of the Apes worked together to tell Casear’s story, this new trilogy will explore the challenges his ape society faces. As a film that has to bridge that trilogy to a new era and build the foundation for a new trilogy, its long runtime doesn’t come as a surprise.

All New Cast

Since Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is starting a new story, it will have a new cast. The two leads, Noa and Mae, will be played by Owen Teague and Freya Allen, respectively. The cast is rounded out with stars such as Kevin Durand, William H. Macy, Eka Darville, Peter Macon, and Dichen Lachman.

The Planet After Caesar

The reboot series was very popular, propped up by the phenomenal motion capture performance of Andy Serkis as Caesar. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will look to continue that success while moving away from its story and cast. It will be a test for the franchise to see if audiences will show up for such a long movie with a new cast and premise.

For fans of the reboot trilogy, it will be exciting to see the future of the ape society Caesar built. Meanwhile, fans of the classic 60s and 70s movies will finally get to see the ape-dominated world, which was missing from the reboot series. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes to theaters on May 10th, 2024.