Where was War for the Planet of the Apes filmed? Guide to ALL the Filming Locations

Posted by
The third chapter of the Planet of the Apes franchise takes place two years after the last movie -Dawn- ended. This time, Caesar and his apes will have to battle the army of the human bloody leader, the Colonel, to decide the fate of the planet.

War for the Planet of the Apes was filmed primarily in British Columbia and Alberta (Canada). Also, a few scenes were filmed in Washington state and California.

Where was War for the Planet of the Apes filmed?

Under all these layers of visual effects, you can find actor Andy Serkis (Gollum from The Hobbit) as Caesar, and Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games, Zombieland) as the evil Colonel.

Here is our spoiler-free compilation of the most relevant sets and filming locations of War for the Planet of the Apes.

War for the Planet of the Apes Location
The scene on the beach, evoking the end of the 1968 original film Planet of the Apes, was filmed at Long Beach in Vancouver Island.
Image courtesy of 20th Century Studios and Alexander Danling


Behind the scenes
A huge film crew landed on Vancouver island's West coast. The movie was filmed around Tofino and Ucluelet towns, including Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, First Nations land, and some private properties.

Some of the See series filming locations, the Apple show starring Jason Momoa, were also shot on the island. It happens that both projects share the same producers.


War for the Planet of the Apes Colonel prison
The production built massive sets, like the Colonel compound and Ape prison, on Triangle Road in South Richmond.
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures


War for the Planet of the Apes Fortress
Pictured, the Tower Rock Armoury set from another point of view. In the movie, this human military base is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains (California).
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures


The interior frozen hotel hall set
The interiors for the snowy abandoned ski lodge were also built in a studio.
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures


Planet of the Apes Hotel
The snowed lodge seems a CGI creation inspired by The Overlook Hotel from The Shining, the Timberline Lodge in Oregon (pictured below).

This complex was one of the inspirations of the hotel in Kehoe, Colorado, featured in the 2019 movie Cold Pursuit.
Image by Sony Pictures and Google Maps


Monkeys on horse snowed mountain
Segments of the movie were filmed in the mountains of Kananaskis (probably at Fortress Mountain Resort), one of the locations where The Revenant was filmed.

Also, a few scenes were recorded in a set built near the ski resort at Mount Seymour.


Tunnels lasers scene
It seems that the passage leading to the hidden fortress was inspired by the Othello Tunnels in Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park.

However, the sequence was actually shot in a massive indoor cave set built in Burnaby's studios.
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures and Jeroen van Luin


The ape waterfall
According to an interview with producer Dylan Clark, the waterfall is a CGI creation, using footage from Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park, Maple Ridge.
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures


Final scene mountain landscape
The end of the movie was filmed at Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake, in Washington State. Some shots of the desert were filmed in several locations in California.
Image by Barry Maas


Planet der Affen Survival drehort
The production made extensive use of keyframe animation technology to film the apes. In this caption, actors are running through the studio, while the software transforms the movement into a virtual world in real-time.

Can you help to improve this article about the shooting locations of War for the Planet of the Apes?
To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!

NOTICE: If you’re using this information on your website, please credit and link to this page as a source.

*****

14 comments
  1. I just returned from watching the film. I recognized many of the various locations throughout the movie.
    I checked out this article to confirm my guesses.
    There are some slight errors that I have corrected below:

    "According to an interview with producer Dylan Clark, the waterfall is basically a CGI creation. Also he says that they shot at Allowen Lake, but it may be a typo as we could not find any place called this way anywhere."
    The correct name of the lake is Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park, Maple Ridge, BC.
    The inspiration for the ruins of the hotel with the cherry tree in blossom out front is the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta not Kananaskis. They are two different towns.
    It would appear that the forest scenes were shot around the Squamish area.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot, it must be Alouette Lake. The forest scenes look very much like Squamish, but we can't confirm this - they may have been filmed in Vancouver Island.

      Delete
  2. The article states that a set was built at Mt. Seymour- that's actually Fortress Mountain Resort/KPOW! Cat Skiing in the Canadian Rockies. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've skied Fortress when it still had lifts. Therefore the abandoned lifts. Very rustic base station though. Could have been used as the abandoned lodge (though it was not).

      Delete
  3. where was the final scene filmed, it looked like Spirit Lake and My Saint Helens but I wasn't sure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, to Mount St. Helens - I saw the same thing. And I've been there in the last year. It was definitely Spirit Lake and Mount St. Helens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw the film today and noticed that as well. And one of the most popular tourist attractions in that area is the legendary...Ape Cave.

      Delete
    2. Thank you, everyone. Updated!

      Delete
  5. There is a scene when they set of to walk (before they meet the girl), they walk on a big snow covered meadow between the trees, and a huge electric tower is behind, I am wondering if this is in Port Coquitlam, west of Lougheed Highway (before you turn right to go to Maple Ridge)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was positive that is the trail head leading up to Wallace falls in Gold Bar Washington.

      Delete
  6. The passages leading to the hidden-fortress were not in fact the Othello tunnels, but were actually a massive indoor cave set built in Burnaby. Many of the most impressive scenes built for this film were left out of the final cut.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Cold Pursuit hotel appears to be the Chateau Lake Louise.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Part of the first scenes involving the tunnels and bridge were shot in Othello. I know for a fact as I was raised near those tunnels. The massive waterfall is CG, and the wooden bridges were covered in moss to make them look aged.

    ReplyDelete

All comments are reviewed prior to publication