The Planet of the Apes cinema franchise has three main timelines, with time travel a major component of two of the three timelines. There are the original movies, the 2001 reboot movie, and the 2011 reboot movies.
Rather than organize the timeline according to chronological year, this chronology lists everything in the order events take place. I consider this the best viewing order for the story.
The Planet of the Apes franchise consists of 10 movies, 1 live-action television series, 1 animated television series, and a number of tie-in novels and comic books. For the moment, this chronology ignores the tie-in media and focuses solely on the cinematic media. Media types are differentiated from each other in the timeline using the following:
- Movies – Titles are bold and italicized
- “Episodes” – Titles are bold and in quotation marks
Updated 2025-01-29
Original Franchise
3978
- Planet of the Apes (1968) – 25 November
3979
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes
- The planet is destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
1973
- Escape From the Planet of the Apes
- The chimpanzees Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Milo escape the planet’s destruction in Taylor’s spaceship. They travel back in time to 1973, altering the original timeline.
1991
- Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
2020
- Battle for the Planet of the Apes
3085
- Planet of the Apes: “Escape from Tomorrow”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Gladiators”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Trap”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Good Seeds”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Legacy”
- Planet of the Apes: “Tomorrow’s Tide”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Surgeon”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Deception”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Horse Race”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Interrogation”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Tyrant”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Cure”
- Planet of the Apes: “The Liberator”
- Planet of the Apes: “Up Above the World So High”
3979
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Flames of Doom”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Escape from Ape City”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “The Unearthly Prophecy”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Tunnel of Fear”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Lagoon of Peril”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Terror on Ice Mountain”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “River of Flames”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Screaming Wings”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Trail to the Unknown”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Attack from the Clouds”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Mission of Mercy”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Invasion of the Underdwellers”
- Return to the Planet of the Apes: “Battle of the Titans”
2001 Reboot
2029
- Planet of the Apes (2001) – Prologue
5021
- Planet of the Apes (2001)
- Leo Davidson’s space pod enters a magnetic storm and travels 3000 years into the future.
2029
- Planet of the Apes (2001) – Epilogue
- Leo Davidson re-enters the magnetic storm and travels back in time to find the past altered.
2011 Reboot
2011
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2026
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2028
- War for the Planet of the Apes
2320
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes