Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 2014 American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves from a screenplay by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), and the second installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise. It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, human survivors are battling to stay alive in the wake of a deadly pandemic which has lasted for a decade, while Caesar tries to maintain control over his expanding ape community. But when both species cross into each other, they try and make a truce to maintain peace with one another and hope to prevent a war between apes and humans. A sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes was announced in 2011, with the returns of both Serkis and Rupert Wyatt confirmed that November. Wyatt departed the film in September 2012, and Reeves was hired that October. Casting took place between February and March 2013, with no additional original main cast members returning. Principal photography commenced that April and lasted until that July, with filming locations including Campbell River, Vancouver Island, and New Orleans. The apes were created using visual effects and performance capture as commissioned by Weta Digital, with the film featuring greater use of these components during action sequences and to create other animals. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes premiered on June 26, 2014 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and was theatrically released worldwide by 20th Century Fox on July 11. The film received highly positive reviews, with praise for Reeves' direction, visual effects, the performances of the cast, Michael Giacchino's score, action sequences, and emotional depth. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a commercial success, grossing over $710 million, making it the eighth-highest grossing film of 2014 and the highest-grossing film in the franchise. It also received numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. The sequel, War for the Planet of the Apes, was released in 2017. Plot Years after the global pandemic of a deadly Simian Flu, the worldwide human population is drastically reduced, with only about one in 500 genetically immune. This causes societal collapse among humans. The