First Look At War For The Planet Of The Apes Teases Epic Battle

The first footage from ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ has been revealed and - fittingly for the film’s title - it shows a woodland battle raging between men and (presumably) apes.

Released by 20th Century Fox to announce a contest that will allow one lucky fan (US-only I’m afraid) the chance to appear as an ape in the upcoming sequel, the clip gives us our first behind the scenes look at the 2017 movie.

An exchange of gunfire and explosions can be seen and we catch a glimpse of an army of heavily armed human soldiers, who we expect are tooled up to take on the simian army. We also see performance capture king Andy Serkis in his mo-cap suit reprising the role of Caesar, the leader of the apes.

‘War of the Planet of the Apes’ is the third part in the ‘Planet of the Apes’ reboot that began with ‘Rise’ in 2011, and was following by the hugely successful ‘Dawn’ in 2014. Director Matt Reeves says the new movie will focus on the rise of Caesar in the world that will eventually lead us to the events of the 1968 ‘Planet of the Apes’.

“This is going to be the story that is going to cement his status as a seminal figure in ape history, and sort of leads to an almost biblical status.” Reeves told JoBlo, “He is going to become like a mythic ape figure, like Moses.”

The new film is currently shooting in Vancouver and will be released into cinemas July 2017.