Plot: A growing nation of genetically evolved apes, led by Caesar, are brought to the brink of war with the humans as they determine who will be Earth's most dominant species. It cannot be understated just how much of a surprise hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes was. The franchise reboot grossed over $480 million worldwide and was a hit with the critics. That's a far cry from the Tim Burton remake that came out ten years prior. Instead of simply rehashing the original story, the screenwriters came up with an entirely new concept that helped Rise to stand out on its own while still being a callback to the older films. The addition of Andy Serkis's superb motion-capture performance made audiences really take notice. Serkis was so good, many people were hoping he could somehow nab an Oscar nomination. While that did not happen, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes did give new life to a franchise that was long considered dead. While there was no way they could do a sequel to the movie without Andy Serkis, nearly everyone else involved with the first film has been replaced. No James Franco this time around, instead the cast is lead by Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, and Keri Russell, and the director of the first film, Rupert Wyatt, has been replaced by Matt Reeves, whose previous films include Cloverfield and Let Me In. Reeves managed to surprise many people with Let Me In, can he meet everyone's raised expectations for the second Apes film? U.S. Release Date: July 11th
