Matt Reeves to direct "War for the Planet of the Apes" - Part 1

[Blitzkrieg]

http://deadline.com/2017/08/oscars-fox-best-picture-war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-1202158378/

This year they will be taking that further, hoping to land a nomination or award from a critics group or even SAG to get things rolling — and perhaps a concerted effort to get Serkis a special award. But that is just the beginning, as 20th will also target several crafts categories (production design, cinematography, costumes, music, sound, visual effects, makeup, etc.) to try and build a firewall within the Academy for the ultimate Best Picture nomination. With a heavy influx of new members from around the world, there will also be emphasis on the strong international appeal of the film, as well as the fact that it is the finale of Caesar and this critically acclaimed trilogy — the last two directed by Matt Reeves, who will also get a push in the directing and adapted screenplay categories (Reeves co-wrote with Mark Bomback).

Chernin also points out the film has gravitas and says in that respect voters should respond. “I actually think it’s a very Academy-like movie, and that it is one of the most moral movies that has been made this year. It’s a movie about what is morality about? What is the morality of leadership about? What is one’s soul about? How do you struggle with the balance between one’s fundamental humanity versus the desire for revenge? This is sort of what Caesar is struggling with — he is torn between his desire for revenge and his obligation and his responsibility towards the people he’s leading,” he observed. “In my opinion these are really important themes, the kind of themes the Academy voters have historically responded to.”

But it was evident early on that Fox thought it had something really special with War For The Planet Of The Apes, doing unusually early (for a summer blockbuster-type film) and frequent press screenings, as well as sending Reeves and others to a series of guild and Academy screenings usually more the fodder of fall contenders.

As one executive told me at the time, “We are really going for it with this one.”

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Honestly I would be rooting for War at the oscars, I saw it about 3 weeks ago abs still think about it.

 

[Luigi]

There's no chance that it loses the VFX Oscar. I'd say that its got a shot at the cinematography award as well.

 

[CB Fan]

Glad to see they are gonna push this in awards season and push to get Serkis that special achievement oscar he deserves.

 

[redhawk23]

There's no chance that it loses the VFX Oscar. I'd say that its got a shot at the cinematography award as well.

It stands a very good chance at losing the effects awards still. See Also: the 84th and 87th Oscar Ceremonies.

 

[scarlet-witch]

The VFX is this one far surpasses Dawn and Rise. If they don't win I'll be shocked. Fox better make a huge campaign for them.

 

[spiderman2]

So bluray news! https://www.**************.com/sci-...-next-month-special-features-revealed-a153694

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Day 1 purchase for me

 

[Drizzle]

That's pretty quick. Definitely gonna complete the trilogy.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I'll definitely be buying the blu ray on the first day.

 

[spiderman2]

So the movie like Just came out in China. Any one hear how it is doing there so far?

 

[scarlet-witch]

So the movie like Just came out in China. Any one hear how it is doing there so far?

What I could find, it made 20M on Friday.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottm...ina-apes-strong-with-20m-friday/#6f88ed314cab

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Cool, hoping China can push this to 500 million WW

 

[scarlet-witch]

Go China! Pick up the slack for the U.S

 

[Blitzkrieg]

https://twitter.com/ERCboxoffice/status/909428069563195393

Exhibitor Relations
@ERCboxoffice

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES finally opened in China, capturing $62M this weekend. Int'l total is now $287M.

Fantastic OW. Walk-up business seems strong. Won't lose too many theaters in the upcoming weekends. Looks set for a great haul in China.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Great news, this movie deserves to make more money.

 

[spiderman2]

So movie just came out in China over the weekend and its OW was about 59.8 million. WW is at about 430 should be able to get to 500+ not sure about 600. It still has not came out in Japan but with how long it has been out in most places I don't know how much if has left out side of China and Japan.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Cool, hope it at least makes it to $500 million WW

 

[DeadStroke]

I think this movie is better than Logan..
The ending was more emotional for me.

 

[spiderman2]

So the movie needs about 17 million more to reach 500 WW and comes out in Japan today October 13th. With how long it has been out in the other places at this point it has very little left out side of that ever it does in Japan. Hopefully Japan can get it to 500 still a disappointment that a movie like this is going to have such a big drop from the movie before. Dawn made like 708 million so you are talking about around a 200 million drop off. One of the odder boxoffice things I have heard a drop off of that much even though the movie was not considered like a disappointment or a reboot or any thing like that.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think this movie is better than Logan..
The ending was more emotional for me.

War is certainly up there this year. I would place it just above Logan at the moment and I loved Logan.

Just need to see if War stands up to repeat viewings like Logan did for me.

 

[kguillou]

Finally got to see this guys, wanted to catch it in theater but no one wanted to go see it with me, so finally bought this on VOD.

Wow.

What a film.

Much like last week's Bladerunner 2049, this is master class filmmaking. I'm still processing my overall feelings because, technically, I feel this is a 10/10 film. But, as a movie going experience...I feel this is maybe an 8/10. Already I can see why this didn't do well at the box office, much like Bladerunner, I could see this being the type of film that movie lovers LOVE but people expecting an entertaining blockbuster "Apes vs. man" film will be severely disappointed.

Also, holy frick is this movie dark. I mean relentlessly dark. This is the darkest, most bleak PG-13 film I've seen in recent memory. This is just barely a PG-13 movie. I could see a lot of people being very put off but the bleak nature of this movie and the fact that it is very meticulously paced. There's only two action sequences in this movie and there's really no war, in fact, I would say that this is a "War" in the psychological sense but this is not an action film, this is a psychological drama with a couple of action sequences that bookend it. So, in that sense, I could very much picture people being upset that this wasn't what the trailers depicted. Admittedly, even I at some points in the movie was growing a little anxious to get some action in, just so that there was some kind of relief and release from the constant growing tension.

Is this better than Dawn? No. Dawn, imo, was a damn near perfect movie: gripping, emotionally engaging, well paced, the perfect amount of action and VERY satisfying. WAR is a challenging film on many levels. It's expert film making and emotionally stirring, but is it satisfying? Is it a movie that I could watch over and over like Rise and Dawn? I don't know yet. But what I do know for now is that on a pure technical level, Matt Reeves stuck the landing and crafted on Hell of a finale that maybe wasn't the one we wanted per se, but the one we needed to see.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Got it on Blu Ray, but haven't had the chance to watch the special features yet.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

This not only stood up to repeat viewings for me, it got even better. This is one of the most powerful and moving blockbusters in years. It’s a truly great, emotional rollercoaster of a movie and I really hope the franchise can find a way to go on.

Reeves and Serkis definitely deserve awards recognition for me. And WB and Batman fans are very lucky to have the former on board as he is simply a brilliant film maker. In a year of great movies, War is the best of them of all so far for me. And one of the best trilogy closers ever made.

 

[redhawk23]

I know we've all seen a lot of effects breakdowns for this series over the years but this lecture from the SIGGRAPH visual effects conferences is pretty much the most in depth breakdown I've seen of how WETA models and and animates the apes. It's 26 minutes long but well worth watching all the way through.

https://youtu.be/txoEDIdbUrg

Pure goddamn wizardry.

Besides just having to carry out incredible animation and sculpting, modern effects work requires so much research into just straight up physics and biology, the way light scatters in different enviornments, the structure of hair, the spread of blood under bruised skin. Just incredible.

I honestly think the case of the recognition for Serkis's performance is rather complicated and that he and the other mocap actors should be recognized with some form of a special award. That's no sleight against their performances, I just think a special award would better recognize the specific work they do better than a standard acting award.

What is nuts is that neither of the previous apes films have won the VFX Oscar even when they've taken all of the effects industry specific awards.