In the realm of classic Hollywood remakes, there are only a handful of good ones.  None as pleasantly wonderfully surprisingly good as Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.  We had to deal with that horrible 2001 Tim Burton flick, and it almost felt like 10 years just wasn’t long enough to get rid of the ‘meh’.  But 2011 and Rupert Wyatt brought us their updated and beautiful remake, and my faith in rebooting titles was momentarily restored.

This is why I have such high hopes for Rise‘s followup directed by Matt Reeves.  Gary Oldman and Kerri Russell are our leading humans, with Andy Serkis reprising his mo-cap role of the ape who started it all, Ceaser.  You’ll also see Terry Notary, Karin Konoval, and new cast members Toby Kebbell and Larramie “Doc” Shaw giving fully-realized physical performances, which were then animated into their ape characters with their emotive work fully intact. The mo-cap work played a huge part in the last film’s success, and it seems that Matt Reeves is pushing that element even harder this time around.

Fox released this short featurette on the filming of Andy and the rest of the mo-cap actors, and I have to say, HOLY CRAP.  The music heard over the featurette is brand new for the movie by Star Trek/LOST composer Michael Giacchino:

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes opens July 11th 2014.

And here is the newest poster: