The trailer for the new US movie, The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, has just been released – and it features a well-known Helensburgh landmark, the Glowworm Tunnel, and surrounding bushland.

Parts of the Disney Studios production were filmed outside the tunnel on Vera Street and the short tunnel across the road on the way to Helensburgh train station in October 2022.

On October 10, 2022, in Helensburghers ready to help Hollywood, the Flame reported that security personnel were guarding plants and other props around the old train tunnel, and residents in neighbouring houses had been asked to rent their car spaces to members of the production crew.

Locals had earlier received a letter reading: “The production currently titled ‘Forbidden Zone’ are planning to conduct filming activities in Helensburgh.” Forbidden Zone was one of the movie’s names during production, as well as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Planet of the Apes: Forbidden Zone. 

The new film, directed by Wes Ball, is a sequel to the 2017 movie War For The Planet of The Apes, which had an estimated US$150 million budget.

Parts of The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes were shot in Sydney’s Fox Studios and other exterior locations, including at Albion Park.

Not only did Planet of the Apes bring a film crew to Helensburgh – boosting custom at local cafes – it also provided work for local talent.

Earlier this year, Screen Illawarra vice-chair, Essi Haukkamaa-Judge – a senior lecturer in Screen Business at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) – told us: “A lot of our students worked on Planet of the Apes. They were crew members. They were part of the entry-level positions …

“I had one student who was in a production office, doing administrative work, and then another student who worked with the grip, which is the lighting and gaffer department.”

The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is scheduled to be released in the US in late May, 2024. No release date has yet been set for Australia.

Watch the trailer below.