Key Takeaways

• Disney plans to release a new installment in the Planet of the Apes film series in 2024, continuing the story of Caesar's son, Cornelius.
• Before the new movie hits theaters, it might be a good idea to binge-watch the previous films, which are available to stream. The series includes both the original films from the late 1960s to 1970s and the more recent trilogy from the 2010s, with Andy Serkis as Caesar.
• We've also included where the new movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, fits into the chronological timeline.

The first Planet of the Apes film released 52 years ago. It's been a huge influence on popular culture and has even spawned eight sequels, a few of which managed to rival the original in terms of critical and box office success.

Disney is betting on the continued success of the film series with a new installment, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, slated for release in May 2024. It will be a continuation of the three most recent entries, which starred Andy Serkis as Caesar, one of the first apes to gain human-like intelligence. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will revolve around Caesar's son, Cornelius, played by Owen Teague.

Of course, the last Serkis-led film came out in 2017, so it might be a good idea to binge them all again before the new movie hits theatres.

Planet of the Apes timeline: The chronological movie order explained

With nine Planet of the Apes movies all similarly named, it can get really confusing trying to figure out the best order to watch them all.

You could go by theatrical release date, although we think it’s more fun to watch the films chronologically, as you can watch the events unfold in a beginning-to-end timeline. There's the first five Planet of the Apes films, which released between 1968 and 1973, and then the three modern movies from the 2010s that star Andy Serkis as Caeser. The Serkis oness are connected to the original five (we explain how below), but to make things complicated, there is a standalone Planet of the Apes movi from 2001 starring Mark Whalberg. It's a remake.

Confused? No worries. We made sense of this jumbled timeline below.

Spoilers: Follow our guide to watch the events in the Planet of the Apes movies unfold chronologically as they happened. However, at the bottom of this guide, you'll find a bulleted-list version of this guide - plus additional watch orders, all with absolutely no spoilers.

1 Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Where it all begins

The first film in our watchlist sees James Franco star as Will Rodman, a scientist in the near future researching a cure for Alzheimer’s. The film opens when Rodman discovers a baby chimp that's been exposed to an experimental drug. When the baby's mother dies, Rodman takes it home to raise, naming him Caesar. Rupert Wyatt directed this film, and Andy Serkis plays Caesar via motion capture. It was written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.

Make sure you keep an eye out for the news report about the spacecraft Icarus entering the Martian atmosphere - it's an easter egg alluding to Charlton Heston’s spacecraft in the original film.

2 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Caesar leads a thriving ape society

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up 10 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and sees Andy Serkis’ Caesar leading a burgeoning civilization of apes in the Redwood forests outside of San Francisco. Most of humanity has been wiped out by the Simian plague, but remnants led by a man named Dreyfus (played by Gary Oldman) encounter the apes when they enter the forest to repair a Hydroelectric Dam.

Matt Reeves directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver returned to write the script for this film.

3 War for the Planet of the Apes

Caesar engages in a final conflict with the last of humanity