For once, inflation kind of feels like a good thing. Call it the “Oppenheimer” Effect or the continuation of a trend most recently proven by the success of “Dune: Part Two,” but mega-sized blockbusters sure feel like they’re delivering more bang for the buck these days. Audiences have continually shown how willing they are to sit through runtimes approaching three butt-numbing hours … provided the story justifies its length, of course. (Respectfully, size does matter sometimes.)
“Planet of the Apes” in particular feels like a fascinating case study in how the same franchise can reflect moviemaking tendencies from different eras over the course of several decades. The originals stand in stark contrast to the more modern sequels, with the 1968 classic featuring a relatively brisk 112-minute runtime — by far the longest of the initial five movies. The award for shortest, meanwhile, goes to “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” and its meager 88 minutes. Compare that to the new trilogy — if it feels like we’re ignoring Tim Burton’s disastrous 2001 movie, that’s because we absolutely are and you should, too — and it’s apparent which direction Hollywood has been heading towards. “Rise” may have only delivered 105 minutes of James Franco indirectly causing the end of the world as we know it, but both “Dawn” (131 minutes) and “War” (140 minutes) took much more epic-sized approaches to completing Caesar’s mythological arc.
We now know that “Kingdom” keeps that trend going and, honestly, we’re here for it. The more monkey business, the better. The newest film swings into theaters May 10, 2024.