By Holly Connell

Pre-production• After the release of the first film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, director Rupert

Wyatt stated the possibility of making a sequel. “I think we're ending with certain questions, which is quite exciting. To me, I can think of all sorts of sequels to this film, but this is just the beginning.” In addition screenwriter and producer Rick Jaffa also commented that the first film Rise of the Planet of the Apes introduced many clues to a future sequel. • In November 2011, Andy Serkis was the first to have announced of closing a

deal for the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, reprising his role of Caesar, the ape leader. Also every film they have a different human main character for example in Rise it was James Franco, Dawn is Jason Clark and in War of the Planet of the Apes will most likely be Woody Harrelson.

Press Release• In this sequel to 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', almost a decade has passed since

the outbreak of the virus which then spread across the globe. The human population has mostly died off from the Simian Flu virus and from violence, while the ape population has thrived and grown. A montage of news reports is shown, with footage of escalating violence among humans who have contributed to the chaos.

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 3-D uses the same ground-breaking technology as Fox’s Avatar. Such as 1,200 special effects shots just of the apes

Awards• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Visual Effects - 2015 • Satellite Award for Best Editing - 2015• Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects - 2015• Empire Award for Best Actor - 2015

Official Front cover

Release date :17 July 2014

Historical Context• Planet of the Apes is an American science fiction media

franchise, consisting of films, books, comics and television series. From it’s origins of the French author Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La Planète des Singes, translated into English as both Planet of the Apes and Monkey Planet. Then shortly after the film release in 1968 it was a huge success initiating numerous sequels and tie-ins. • The first 5 films (Planet, Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle

for the Planet of the Apes) were all produced during the late 60s + 70s they were known for incorporating hot topics of the day in to the films such as racism, nuclear destruction, warfare vs diplomacy, slavery and reconciliation

General Facts

Release date • UK – 17 July 2014• US – 26 June 2014

Production companies• 20th Century Fox• TSG Entertainment

• Chernin Entertainment

Distribution companies

• 20th Century Fox• Big Picture 2 Films

• Geo Films• Warner Bros

• Film 1

Director

Matt Reeves

Main Cast• Andy Serkis - Caesar• Jason Clarke - Malcolm

• Gary Oldman - Dreyfus

• Keri Russell -Ellie

Box OfficeBudget: $170,000,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend: $72,611,427 (USA)Gross: $208,543,795 (USA)

Filming Locations

• San Francisco• New Orleans

(USA)• Vancouver

(Canada)

InstitutionsThe production companies who helped develop the film were: • Ingenious Media (other films include Avatar, Hairspray and

X-Men• Soho VFX – visual effects (other films The Shallows,

Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Conjuring 2)• TSG Entertainment – filmography (other films are

Deadpool, Joy and Avatar 2)• Chernin Entertainment (Hidden figures, Mike and Dave

Need Wedding Dates and War for the Planet of the Apes)

Production• When Joe Letteri, the visual effects supervisor for both Rise and Dawn was

interviewed about how this film was different visually from others before. He answered that the biggest change was the ability to film in extremely remote locations. He went on to say this filming was so different from previous as it is set in a really isolated forest all the gear and technology used had to be robust and wireless.

• The digital effects work cost around $60-80+ million, due to the outdoor locations for almost all the filming.

• The visual effects for Dawn were done by Weta Digital. Not only used for the apes, but Weta created other digital animals, such as a herd of elk, a grizzly bear, and CG doubles of the live horses.

Marketing• The marketing budget for the film was $170 million. • A viral marketing campaign for the film launched in July 2014 included a "simian

flu" website. A partnership with 20th Century Fox constructed a mobile/PC game Plague Inc. It allows players to create and customize a simian flu virus to infect the world and eradicate humanity whilst helping apes survive.

• During the World Cup game an Argentina match against Holland, the trailer for the film was shown at advertisement break at half time. Even though the clip was released online in June many of 9.7 million people watching the game said it was their first time viewing.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRPkO_hKxUk• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aHdDBbXiHQ

Simian Flu trailer

Merchandise

Advertisement• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dweN_7vhhk

Who are they Targeting?

• The second film in the series is darker than the first, including higher amounts of violence and inappropriate language therefore the film is rated 12, because of this brands such as McDonalds will not advertise the film for example in happy meals. This may decrease overall popularity especially with the younger generation. However, this could possibly become more widespread if this seems more appealing to older groups as more violence could be more exciting.

Compared to Rise of the Planet of the Apes the posters for Dawn

are actually a lot more dark and bleak, this could just confirm to the audience this film is going to be more suitable for more mature viewers.

Online Presence• Their online presence includes multiple social

media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with many other fan accounts.

• They also included an interesting advertisement strategy which went viral.  The ad did not just show the trailer of the film but included the Simian virus which the main aspect of the film why apes have taken over.

Online quiz which ape are you?

http://www.dawnofapes.com/#blue-eyes

Exhibition and Exchange• The released dates for the film ranged from 26 June 2014 in the US all the way to 6

November 2014 in Netherlands. Also Dawn hit the second biggest opening of the summer in 2014.

• A reason why this film was released in July is because it is mid way through the summer holidays therefore it is more likely for more a larger proportion of people to see the film if it during the holidays.

• The film was released or both 3D and normal screening, unfortunately the film was not released as an IMAX because competition from the blockbuster Transformers: Age of Extinction.

• It is available to stream on YouTube, Google Play and Netflix.