Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes marks the 10th movie in the sci-fi franchise about intelligent apes dominating feral humanity in Earth’s distant future.
The latest blockbuster is the first in a new trilogy set 300 years after the last film, War for the Planet of the Apes.
That movie concluded with ape leader Caesar leading his people to their promised land, where they have since built a civilisation under a monarchy.
The other sequel titles in the franchise have been front-loaded with Beneath, Escape, Conquest, Battle, Rise and Dawn.
But it turns out that Kingdom wasn’t the original title for this latest instalment in the series.
Speaking with Comic Book, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball was pitched that perhaps a future sequel could be called Fall of the Planet of the Apes.
Liking this idea, the filmmaker suggested Winter of the Planet of the Apes too before sharing what Kingdom’s original title was.
He said: “Empire of the Planet of the Apes. That was my original title. We couldn’t do it, we just couldn’t.”
The director didn’t go into why they couldn’t call the movie Empire of the Planet of the Apes in the end.
But perhaps it’s because we’ve already had Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Godzilla v Kong: The New Empire hit cinemas in the last month or so.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is released in UK cinemas on Thursday.
