Matt Reeves’ DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Begins Principal Photography

Bananas all around because today Twentieth Century Fox announced that principal photography is underway on DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.

So here’s how the fall of man is going down…

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

Watch the trailer for RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.

Andy Serkis, celebrated for his performance in the last film, reprises his role as Caesar. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES also stars Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Public Enemies, The Great Gatsby), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises, The Harry Potter film series), Keri Russell (The Americans, Mission Impossible III), Toby Kebbell (The Prince of Persia, Wrath of the Titans, Rock N Rolla), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, ParaNorman), Enrique Murciano (Traffic, Black Hawk Down), Kirk Acevedo (The Thin Red Line) and Judy Greer (The Descendants, Three Kings, 13 Going on 30).

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In). The producers are Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Oblivion), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). Tom Hammel (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is executive producing.

Read my 2011 interview with Silver and Jaffa HERE.

Oscar®-winning visual effects house WETA Digital – employing a new generation of the cutting edge performance capture technologies developed for Rise of the Apes and Avatar – will again render photo-realistic, emotionally-engaging apes. The film’s key behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Michael Seresin, production designer James Chinland, and VFX Supervisors Joe Letteri and Dan Lemmon, VFX producers Ryan Stafford, editor Bill Hoy and Stan Salfas, and costume designer Melissa Brunning.

Twentieth Century Fox will release DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES worldwide on Memorial Day weekend, May 23, 2014.  RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which opened theatrically during the summer of 2011, grossed nearly half a billion dollars worldwide and caused an APE-ageddon in Los Angeles.

On May 22nd, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES’ Facebook page will officially be changing its name to DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. https://www.facebook.com/ApesMovies

We’ll let you know when the first poster and trailer hits for DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.