Which Movies Inspired War For The Planet Of The Apes, According To Matt Reeves

When Matt Reeves was first brought on to direct Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the film already had a release date, so production was constantly going full throttle.

 As Reeves remembers, the first draft of the script was basically the only draft. All that work paid off in the sum of $700 million worldwide with critical acclaim to boot. Now for the sequel, Fox has chosen to see what Reeves and company can do when they actually have some time. Reeves and writer Mark Bomback used that new freedom to watch a crap ton of movies. 

According to EW, not only did they watch the entire Planet of the Apes series, but also The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben-Hur, and The Outlaw Josey Wales, to name a few.