Report: Wes Ball Confirms 30 to 40 Minutes of Deleted Scenes in ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes‘ has now arrived in theaters.

Director Wes Ball has shared some news: the film contains 30 to 40 minutes of deleted scenes. Ball hopes to release a director’s cut someday.

Will ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ get a Director’s Cut?

According to Ball, the film had 30 to 40 minutes of cut material, and he believes it was a shame to cut. These scenes may have provided context to the story and characters. Also, he confirmed that in the DVD release, some scenes will be added.

Speaking to Collider, Ball said, “There’s also probably about 30 or 40 minutes of deleted scenes that aren’t in the movie. It was too much of a movie. Some of it was a shame to cut; some of it would have never worked, but all of it was great to kind of give context to the story and characters.” Ball added, “It’s just stuff that fell away, as is the endless kind of desire to make it as tight as it could possibly be. But a lot of that stuff will be on the DVD and stuff.”

Ball also revealed that the deleted scenes include a few minutes of fully finished, unused VFX, and he hopes to include them in a Director’s Cut of the film sometime later. Ball used the movie’s set and visual effects, set against lush backgrounds to give a ‘lived-in’ feel similar to Avatar’s Pandora.

Ball said, “I actually have three minutes of finished VFX that got cut. We’re still debating whether or not there’s appetite to have an ‘extended cut,’ or something, with that little bit of footage.”

Directed by Ball from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison. The film stars Owen Teague as Cornelius, the chimpanzee son of Caesar, along with Freya Allan, Peter Macon, Eka Darville, Kevin Durand, Travis Jeffery, Neil Sandilands, Sara Wiseman, Lydia Peckham, Ras-Samuel Weld A’abzgi, William H. Macy, and Dichen Lachman.

The franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ is now playing in theaters. Get your tickets and experience it for yourself! (Watch the trailer)