Planet of the Apes Watching Order

This watching order is designed to give an outline of the entire Planet of the Apes movie franchise. It explains what order to watch the Planet of the Apes movies and looks at any connections between them.

This franchise is split into three mostly independent parts. The original series of films starts the franchise and tells a story that stands on its own. Then, a reboot of the first film was created and ended up having no connections to any other films. Finally, a full reboot series began, which is currently still going on.

Jump to: Original Planet of the Apes Series – First Planet of the Apes Remake – Planet of the Apes Reboot Series

Original Planet of the Apes Watching Order

The original Planet of the Apes series began back in 1968. This mostly consists of several movies but also includes TV shows.

For the most part, these all take place in a straightforward way. Each movie continues the story from the previous movie and generally builds on the ideas and concepts the series has already established. The use of time-travel in many of the movies means that these films often take place at unusual points in the overall timeline. However, watching them in the order they were released explains things in a way that makes sense.

The movies tell a complete story of their own. However, a live-action TV show elaborates on more from this world. It takes place around 400 years after the conclusion of Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

Notes

• The animated Return to the Planet of the Apes TV show has less of a direct connection to the rest of the series. It centers around the concept of astronauts traveling to a "Planet of the Apes".

Planet of the Apes 2001 Remake

In between the original Planet of the Apes series and the reboot series, another Planet of the Apes movie was released. This is a remake of the very first Planet of the Apes movie.

This film stands entirely on its own. As a remake of the first movie, no movie takes place before this one. In addition, sequels for this movie were never made. So, there isn't anything to watch before or after watching this.

Planet of the Apes Reboot Series Watching Order

The Planet of the Apes reboot series has no direct connections to the previous films. However, there are many thematic connections. Similar to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the entire reboot series focuses on how a "planet of the apes" became possible. In this way, you could view the whole reboot series as a prequel to the original Planet of the Apes movie.

The films in this reboot series are very straightforward. The first one introduces the premise and doesn't require viewing anything beforehand. Then, the next two films take place later. So all viewers have to do to understand the first trilogy of films is watch all of the movies in order.

Things get a little different with the forth film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This movie takes place generations after War for the Planet of the Apes and, because of this, is less connected to the first three films. With this in mind, it is easier to jump into Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes without having seen anything else first than it is to jump into Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or War for the Planet of the Apes.

All Watching Orders