Ok. I am extremely excited about the new movie Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I have seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Now I have just seen Planet of the Apes (2001). The ending is soooooo confusing!!

Leo arrives on earth and sees the statue of Thade. He came to earth and helped the apes take over the planet. I thought it was CEASER who helped dominated the planet. How on earth did it happen. WILL Thade be in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes? Who was the one that helped dominate the planet? It is so confusing! I also know that Leo was on earth the entire time and was only in earth's late future.

Please help me get this straight. I have watched this movie three times already and still will never get it.

Thanks.

You are assuming that all the versions are connected together. They aren't. There was the Charlton Heston original which spawned a few sequels that did build on each other. But the Mark Walhberg remake was starting from scratch. And the James Franco prequel was also on its own.

I agree with Scott.

I was a HUGE fan of the originals back in the late 60's-early 70's and those were connected (loosely, but they were supposed to be connected).

After seeing the remake in 2001 and the ending, I was somewhat annoyed because it didn't hold up to my unrealistic expectations. I did like this newest version for the most part though. Then I sat there trying to make sense of all of it as you are trying to do. I decided that they really aren't connected. The 2001 version was its own film and should be forgotten. The new series of films seems to start with Rise. They are not following the original series of films and that is what threw me at first but it makes more sense if you just throw out the 2001 remake. Not sure if there is anything about this written anywhere but that is how I look at it.