Disney's upcoming film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which is a sequel to the most recent trilogy of films in the franchise, may still be released despite the currently ongoing writers' and actors' strikes.
The upcoming film, which has a current theatrical release date of May 24, 2024, will continue the story from War for the Planet of the Apes and star The Witcher's Freya Allen in the lead role.
Fans were also given a first look at the movie back in September 2022, when an official still image was released.
Due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes that are ongoing, many film productions in the United States were entirely stopped, causing the release dates of those movies to be delayed. As a result, many fans are currently worried about the status of this sequel.
Disney Confirms the Planet of the Apes Release Date
Disney recently shared its official list of "upcoming theatrical releases," which lays out each of the company's movies that will hit theaters between September 2023 and June 2024.
On the list is 20th Century Fox's upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes sequel, with a release date of May 24, 2024.
This means that Disney is still planning on premiering the movie on its original release date despite the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which already delayed many major productions such as Gladiator 2 and Venom 3.
Many expected Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes to be one of the titles that would get affected by the strikes since the actors are not legally permitted to promote the film in any capacity, and since no writers or actors would be present for reshoots.
It is also important to note that the "upcoming theatrical releases" list did not include Deadpool 3, which was supposed to come out on May 3, 2024.
That means that Disney is apparently planning to delay it from that current release date, so fans can expect some sort of official announcement regarding that soon.
Could Planet of the Apes Still Get Delayed?
It is always possible that Disney could change its mind and make the decision to delay Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but since the House of Mouse has now officially listed it along with its release date on an official schedule, it seems fairly set in stone.
Production on the film was reportedly set to wrap up all the way back around the beginning of February, so it is quite possible that the cast and crew got everything filmed and won't need to do any reshoots at this point.
It is also a bit promising that Disney isn't delaying the movie from its current release date because the company officials may be theorizing that the strikes will be over by that time.
As previously mentioned, the actors and writers can't promote any of the projects they have worked on during the strikes, but if they are done by then, everyone will be back to the way it was before.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set to hit theaters on May 24, 2024.
