The first sighting in the wild of Matt Reeves’ forthcoming new entry in the Planet of the Apes franchise makes it look like a sombre, heavy-duty war film

Like the original 1968-73 series, the new Planet of the Apes films are building into a franchise of quietly significant proportions. War for the Planet of the Apes is the third of the sequel-reboots that followed the Tim Burton remake in 2001: Rise of the Planet of the Apes emerged in 2011, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2014.

As its title suggests, War for the Planet of the Apes continues the ape-human conflict that began in Dawn: the trailer footage shows it to be extremely heavy duty, with lots of high-grade weaponry in use. The war looks to be personalised in the forms of Caesar (Andy Serkis again, in motion capture) and the shaven-headed Colonel played by Woody Harrelson.

The trailer also shows us a kid riding with the apes – presumably played by 12-year-old Amiah Miller – who, making a wild stab in the dark, may be something to do with the photograph the Colonel lays down at one point. Hostage? Runaway? Who knows?

Directed by Matt Reeves, returning from Dawn, this looks like it’s going to be a sombre, hardware-heavy affair.

War for the Planet of the Apes is scheduled for release on 14 July in the US and UK.