Dawn of the Planet of the Apes trailer spurs social media buzz Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Trailer A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. PT1M20S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2znrc 620 349 December 19, 2013 - 6:43PM The first glimpse of forthcoming blockbuster Dawn of the Planet of the Apes shows Gary Oldman firing a machine gun while a terrified crowd cowers. "It's not just about power, it's about giving us the hope to rebuild and reclaim the world that we lost," Oldman's character, Dreyfus, tells the crowd. Oldman joins the cast in the latest instalment of the rebooted Planet of the Apes films as the resistance leader of a small band of San Francisco-based scientists and survivors of the lethal virus unleashed by ape leader Caesar. Gary Oldman stars in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. In the 90-second trailer, released by 20th Century Fox, viewers are left with a burning image of Caesar, looking like Mel Gibson's William Wallace in Braveheart, as he signals to his army to attack. Andy Serkis, known for portraying Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, reprises his role as the motion-captured Caesar. It is not his first simian role, having played the title character in the 2005 reboot of King Kong. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes jumps forward a decade from its predecessor, with the apes and humans living in a fragile and short-lived peace after the events of 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Caesar and his pack of intelligent apes still appear to live in the redwood forest at Muir Woods, where Dr William Rodman, played by James Franco, last left him. Caesar, the subject of a science experiment gone wrong, had been angry at the human race after losing his home, being mistreated while caged in a zoo and finally being shot at while escaping over the Golden Gate Bridge. Franco does not feature in the latest instalment, suggesting his character may have died from the fighting in the first uprising or the virus. Despite many in audiences knowing how Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will end, because it is a prequel to the 2001 movie Planet of the Apes - in which Mark Wahlberg found himself on an Earth ruled by the apes - it is unlikely to hinder the success of the movie at the box office. Rise of the Planet of the Apes grossed more than $400 million, beating Planet of the Apes, which took more than $350 million. After the departure of Rise director Rupert Wyatt, Matt Reeves, who directed Cloverfield, took the helm for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. After his appointment, Reeves arranged a rewrite of the script, saying: "When I got involved the story initially took place further down the line. The apes had evolved fast. What excited me was the idea of going back to finding a way to get on the path. I did not want to jump so far ahead. The film will be released in the United States in July 2014, but there is already a social media buzz, with the YouTube trailer (which comes in 35 different languages) reaching 1 million views in the first day and the Facebook page already gaining more than 800,000 likes. Staff writers