The studios are really bombarding us with a lot of exciting stuff this week. Yesterday we got updates from HBO about two of its biggest series: the second season of the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, which screened its first trailer for members of the press and got a release window of summer 2024; and The Last of Us season 2, which is tentatively slated to begin production in early 2024.
But that’s not all! Later in the day, 20th Century Studios hit us with the first new trailer for their upcoming Planet of the Apes sequel, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. And it’s pretty epic:
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes trailer
Planet of the Apes is one of science fiction’s most enduring film franchises. The eponymous original 1968 film starring Charlton Heston spawned sequels and reboots aplenty. The most recent spate of Apes films starred Andy Serkis as the intelligent ape Caesar, and explored how the apes became the dominant species on Earth.
It looks like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will continue that thread, showing us the rise of an ape empire where humans are few and far between. The movie has a great cast that includes The Witcher star Freya Allan (Anya Chalotra), The Orville’s Peter Macon (Bortus) as a wise orangutan, Owen Teague, William H. Macy and more. It looks visually stunning, with gorgeous landscapes and some great ape animation that builds off of the Serkis trilogy of films.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes swings into theaters on May 24, 2024.
Watch The Boy and the Heron English trailer
In other trailer news, the English dub trailer for Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron has dropped. This is the final film from Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away director Hayao Miyazaki…except probably not, because trying to keep Miyazaki in retirement is impossible. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Boy and the Heron famously released in Japan with an almost non-existent marketing campaign and no trailers ahead of its release. But it’s been out for a bit now, so the details are out there for those who wish to find them. We won’t spoil it here, though; you can either watch the trailer, go in blind, or look up plot summaries as you see fit.
The movie features an incredible voice cast, which should come as no surprise. English dub Ghibli veterans like Christian Bale (Howl’s Moving Castle) and Mark Hamill (Castle in the Sky) return, alongside Robert Pattinson, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Florence Pugh, Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, Luca Padovan and Dan Stevens.
The Boy and the Heron comes out in theaters on December 8.
Watch the trailer for the new Marvel series Echo, starring Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin
Finally, Marvel has released a trailer for Echo, a new series revolving around the character of the same name introduced in Hawkeye and played by Alaqua Cox. Echo is a deaf superhero who fought Hawkeye in his show, but who will be going on a journey of redemption in her own series, which premieres on Disney+ in January.
A lot of this trailer is given over to Vincent D’Onofrio as the Kingpin, a villain he first played in Netflix’s Daredevil show. With a new Daredevil series on the way, it looks like Disney is trying to get his face out there.
All episodes of Echo will drop on Disney+ at once on January 10.
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h/t The A.V. Club