The release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ 4K Blu-ray edition includes an unedited, non-ape version of the movie, and fans are impressed by the first look.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes came out in May 2024 to critical acclaim, continuing the streak of impressive Planet of the Apes reboot movies. After the release, it was announced that the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition would be coming in August 2024, and with it, a full unedited version.
The “raw cut” as it became known would feature the stars in motion capture suits, filmed on the real-life sets. The footage would be screened side-by-side with the final version, giving viewers a chance to witness how much work went into creating the world of the apes.
It’ll be the first time an entire movie has been released in such a way, with director Wes Ball saying [via Entertainment Weekly]: “Around the latter half of post, it struck me how fantastic it would be to share this experience with fans like myself – those who relish peeking behind the curtain of movie making.”
First look at the 'KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES' raw cut Film + Raw Footagepic.twitter.com/yodRiZPI9g
— ScreenTime (@screentime) August 23, 2024
The Blu-ray will be available to purchase from August 27, 2024, but ahead of this, a small clip of the unedited footage has been released, showing how the new special feature will appear. It’s since made its way onto social media, where fans are stunned at transformation.
As one X user wrote: “God bless the VFX artists who do this, movie magic.”
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“It is rather insane that NONE of these new Planet of the Apes movies have won the Best Visual Effects Oscar,” said another.
The new special feature has fans wanting more of the same from other VFX-heavy movies. One user said: “I wish every movie had a DVD extra that was the whole movie like this.”
“Personally I’d love to see a full version of every film with heavy use of SFX just to see how it was acted out by people in mo-cap suits,” added another.
On X, President of 20th Century Studios Steve Asbell wrote: “It took a ridiculous amount of wrangling and hard work from many people at the studio to get this one of a kind feature cleared and finished for the 4k release. We’re so grateful for their efforts and psyched that you all get to experience @wesball and Weta’s incredible vision!”
The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray will be available on August 27. Until then, check out our ending explained, as well as our Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes review.