After The Success Of 'Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes', What's Next?

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has been a huge success both critically and commercially, topping the box office in both the UK and America.The Fox studio has created a movie event bigger than its 2011 predecessor and has successfully shifted the lead focus away from a main human character to his ape counterpart - an impossibility some may have thought when the franchise lost Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ lead, James Franco.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and its impressive CGI has topped the box office

However, as cinema-goers bask in the film's enjoyability, producers are not resting on their laurels.

Rumours are circling that a Planet of the Apes 3 will be released in 2016 with director Matt Reeves taking the helm for a second time.

More: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review

But what are the possibilities with this sequel film? Where will we find Caesar and his colony and what will the human population be doing to ensure their survival?

While both Rise and Dawn have been excellent stand-alone films in their own right, they can also be plausibly viewed as ‘chapters’ in a long ape game. And it seems the long ape game is to merge this series of films to the 1968 original, in which a group of astronauts crash land on a planet in the distant future on which intelligent apes are the dominant species.

This was discussed by director, Matt Reeves, when he spoke to Flickering Myth.com: "To me there are many chapters of this mythic ape journey towards the original ’68 movie," he said.

So what about the bits in between, of which Apes 3 will surely fall into? We must assume that there will be another conflict between the apes and the humans. We must also assume there will be many more if there are many years to cover between Apes 3 and the original Planet counterpart. But how will this conflict play out?

_Next page: how will Caesar fare as commander-in-chief of an army he doesn't want?

Was the ‘army of others’ true and will they really travel to San Francisco? And, with Caesar thrust into the role of commander-in-chief of an army he doesn’t want and into a war he tried his hardest not to start - how will he fare?

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Caesar from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes played a pivotal role in the movie and could again in Apes 3_

Equally, what about Caesar himself? He was effectively the central character in Dawn and won the hearts of many an audience member. If Apes 3 is to move forward in time, can Caesar still play a pivotal role? Could we see the emergence of his son, Blue Eyes, who will eventually take over as head of the colony? Will he follow in his father’s footsteps or will he have his own plans, leading to further twists and turns in ape history?

__More: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes rules the box office__

Now for the humans. Their characters certainly played second-string to the characterisation of the apes in Dawn but, with the reference to James Franco’s character, could the third apes pave the way for further focus on the humans as we explore their own backstories and circumstances? What about a possible James Franco return, maybe even anti-ape following the loss of everything he knew and loved as a result of the Simian Flu? Could a new hostile relationship between owner and pet, or between beings once friends, destroy Caesar’s respect for humans and his desire for peace and trigger everything but World War III?

__So many questions, far too much speculation. But, if Rise and Dawn are anything to go by, we can almost be certain that Apes 3 will make for fantastic viewing.___