Believe it or not, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was mostly shot outside of blue-screen sets

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes looks sprawling and gorgeous, and could easily be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters if it delivers a thrilling narrative as well. So, we’re not completely surprised to hear it was mostly shot on location, since, you know, the visual presentation isn’t a blurry, floaty digital mess.

The previous Planet of the Apes trilogy, started by director Rupert Wyatt and later continued/finished by Matt Reeves (who later moved on to work on The Batman), set a new standard for digital characters alongside the Avatar movies, so the fact Kingdom is looking fantastic – despite the creative changes behind the camera – is a very positive sign.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball (Maze Runner saga), who’s signed up to tackle The Legend of Zelda in live-action next, explained to Collider how they approached the demanding shooting process. “We probably had one blue screen set on the movie. For the most part, we’re out in real locations shooting with real actors,” he said. “They happen to be in these funny dots with this stupid camera in their face everywhere, which they eventually kind of forget about, but you make it like a live-action movie. You just have to image that, ‘Oh, that’s going to be an ape doing that in a year.’ That’s the whole thing. How do you give the spontaneity? That’s the thing for me.”