It’s Species v. Species in War for the Planet of the Apes Epic First Trailer

One of the most clever ways they’ve shown just how smart Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his fellow apes have become is by watching their mastery over other animals, specifically horses. Seeing Caesar and his crew atop horses, riding along a beach in Northern California, is how the first official trailer for 20th Century Fox’s War for the Planet of the Apes begins, reminding you just how far we’ve come from 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, when Caesar was just a baby chimpanzee and very much smitten with his human handlers.

Director Matt Reeves took the reins from Rupert Wyatt for Dawn of the Planet the Apes, his thrilling 2014 sequel that showed the aftermath of the first film, with Caesar leading the apes deep in the California forests after a simian plague wrecked havoc across the globe. That film ended with man and beast at the very start of a war, bringing us to Reeves’ upcoming film.  

In War for the Planet of the Apes, Caesar and his simian army are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel (Woody Harrelson). Unlike the previous two films, here the humans begin to get the upper hand, and apes suffer catastrophic losses, forcing Caesar to consider his most ruthless instincts and go on his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. This journey will bring him face to face with his sworn enemy, and the outcome will determine the fate of both their species. The film looks appropriately epic, the bloody denouement to a species-v.-species standoff that has been brewing for years.

Sarring alongside Serkis and Harrelson are Steve Zahn, Terry Notary and Karin Konoval. 

War for the Planet of the Apes opens nationwide on July 14, 2017.