Apes on Horseback Surprise People on Venice Beach as“ Planet of the Apes” Gears Up for Release

A viral TikTok video shows three actors dressed as apes from 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' riding horseback on the beach in Venice, California

For most moviegoers, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is still a few weeks away from opening in theaters. For Californians, the apes have already invaded the beach.

On April 22, a TikTok video went viral showing three actors dressed as apes atop horses on the beach in Venice, California. The people outfitted in ape costumes could be seen trotting their horses around on the sand while members of the public looked on in shock. The video has already been viewed more than 1.6 million times on TikTok.

The new Planet of the Apes movie marks the franchise's first release since 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes. The sequel picks up after a significant amount of time passed following the 2010s trilogy, which depicted the rise of an intelligent species of apes that rival the human species on Earth. Now the dominant species on the planet, trailers for the film show that apes hunt humans, who have been reduced to a more primitive state of life.

Owen Teague stars in the new film as Noa, a chimpanzee who comes to realize that what he has been taught about the relationships between apes and humans is all a lie. He forms a friendship with a human (Freya Allan) that puts both characters in the crosshairs of a new ape leader.

Related: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Trailer Shows Apes as the Dominant Species: Watch

“As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike,” reads an official synopsis for the film.

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20th Century Studios' promotional stunt is not the first ape-like viral movie marketing effort seen in April. As The New York Times reported on April 5, filmmaker Nathan Zellner took to Central Park in New York City dressed as a Sasquatch to promote the Bleecker Street movie Sasquatch Sunset, which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough as two members of a family of Sasquatches.

Related: Ron Harper, Land of the Lost and Planet of the Apes Star, Dead at 91

The new Planet of the Apes film is the 10th overall in the long-running film series, which dates back to 1968's original Planet of the Apes and is based on Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel of the same name. The current series functions as a reboot that began with 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes; the first three films in the series centered around a genetically enhanced chimpanzee named Caesar (Andy Serkis) who eventually leads an ape uprising against the human species.

Teague and Allan costar with Kevin Durand, Peter Macon and William H. Macy in the new entry. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes releases in theaters May 10.

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