20th Century Fox has announced a June 24th 2011 release date for the Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Apes. The Escapist helmer Rupert Wyatt will direct from a screenplay by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa.
Fox has released the official plot synopsis:
wrote:
RISE OF THE APES (tentative title) is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.
The Apes will be created using CGI by the wonderful tram at WETA Digital, rather than the costumed actors we’ve seen in past installments of the franchise. The press release says that they will employ “certain of the groundbreaking technologies developed for AVATAR” and “will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors.”A lot of the charm of the series was the costumed apes, but yes, they did always look fake. And with a story set in a experimental lab, it makes sense to have CG apes.
The prequel/reboot is set to hit theaters on the same day as Pixar’s Cars 2, a week after Green Lantern, and a week before Transformers 3.
Previously:
Fox had originally hired writer/director Scott Frank (The Lookout) to develop a new film based on the Planet of the Apes film property. At first it was rumored that the film would be a remake of Conquest of the Apes or a new film called Genesis: Apes. Frank and producer Scott Rudin left the project when Fox wanted to take the film in a direction they didn’t like.
The project was going under the working title “Caesar”. Fox’s Tom Rothman has said that it is “a kind of prequel story before the first story, with a return to the social thematics that mark the first one, but with an entirely contemporary setting - Earth 2009.” The film won’t have talking monkeys and will not end with chimps taking over Earth. Instead the film will be a hard science fiction film about humans that use science to create hyper-intelligent chimpanzees.
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Pandajuice
Title: The Power of Grayskull
Joined: Oct 30 2008
Location: US and UK
Posts: 2649
Posted:
May 08 2010 06:32 am
Not interested and I love the original Planet of the Apes movies. It's unclear as well whether this is a prequel to those, or the newer Tim Burton version that used a different origin story. Also, the fact they are using CGI for the apes instead of animatronic costumes? Fucking gay.
"And with a story set in a experimental lab, it makes sense to have CG apes." It does? Why? What the fuck does a fictional experimental lab have to do with the eternal CGI debate?
Lady_Satine
Title: Head of Lexian R&D
Joined: Oct 15 2005
Location: Metro area, Georgia
Posts: 7287
Posted:
May 08 2010 11:07 am
On the note of the originals, they've already done a prequel where Caesar's parents travel back in time to start the uprising.
"Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time, and you'll have the time of your life!"
Optimist With Doubts
Title: Titlating
Joined: Dec 17 2007
Posts: 5042
Posted:
May 08 2010 04:03 pm
This could be interesting, the mythos of the stories was always entertaining. Even if the movies were super cheap crapfests 75% of the time.
Doddsino
Joined: Oct 01 2009
Posts: 5316
Posted:
May 09 2010 06:02 pm
This is so fucking stupid, a prequel? How are they going to pull that off? I mean part of what made POTA interesting was finding out it was Earth, kind of like Star Wars when you find out Luke is Vader's son. Of course they had to ruin that with prequels. So this is going to be more of a horror movie about genetically engineered super chimps? Pass.
Ross Rifle
Title: Rock N Roll God
Joined: Oct 29 2006
Location: Chilliwack, BC
Posts: 4844
Posted:
May 10 2010 09:40 am
Yeah, if there's no anthropomorphic apes living in a desolate landscape, I ain't in.
To me, the whole point of The Planet of the Apes story was that evolution and human nature is cyclical.
With a opposable thumbs apes begin to use surroundings as tools -> usage of the brain rather than physical prowess is used to achieve survival -> human-like creatures emerge -> Wars begin -> Technology grows -> Wars become more massive with the use of technology -> War eventually consumes humanity -> Humans can no longer interrupt evolution for other species -> Repeat
I don't see why a prequel to the story is needed. It is self explanatory and not that interesting. I could see this just being a story about monkeys that go nuts, but couldn't I just rent Jumanji for that?
Lady_Satine
Title: Head of Lexian R&D
Joined: Oct 15 2005
Location: Metro area, Georgia
Posts: 7287
Posted:
May 10 2010 10:52 am
GPFontaine wrote:
I could see this just being a story about monkeys that go nuts, but couldn't I just rent Jumanji for that?
Rent The Lawnmower Man first.
"Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time, and you'll have the time of your life!"
Doddsino
Joined: Oct 01 2009
Posts: 5316
Posted:
May 10 2010 01:49 pm
lordsathien wrote:
Rent The Lawnmower Man first.
Or Monkey Shines...or hell...Congo
GPFontaine wrote:
I don't see why a prequel to the story is needed. It is self explanatory and not that interesting.
That's EXACTLY how I felt about the Star Wars prequels.
Optimist With Doubts
Title: Titlating
Joined: Dec 17 2007
Posts: 5042
Posted:
May 10 2010 04:44 pm
Yeah a prequel to planet of the apes is so stupid. The original filmmakers wouldn't dream of doing this. Next thing you know they will have two sequels showing how a new ape, let's call him Ceaser hypothetically, attempts to change the status quo of the human and ape relations.
Arthur P Jacobs would never do this.
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24882
Posted:
May 10 2010 04:58 pm
I'm still hoping that someday Stop The Planet of the Apes - I Want To Get Off will become a reality.
I was a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes series as a kid, I also wrote alot of fan fiction about it that actually scored me extra credit in some of my classes in school.
The Marky Mark POTA was kinda lame but that was kinda expected.
BTW did anyone know there was a POTA game for PSONE?
Optimist Prime
Title: Virtual Mathlete
Joined: May 15 2010
Posts: 6
Posted:
May 16 2010 07:13 am
Optimist With Doubts wrote:
Yeah a prequel to planet of the apes is so stupid. The original filmmakers wouldn't dream of doing this. Next thing you know they will have two sequels showing how a new ape, let's call him Ceaser hypothetically, attempts to change the status quo of the human and ape relations.
I can think of about a dozen other things I'd rather see besides this, including a sledgehammer flying straight at my nose. Snoooooze. The originals were okay, but hokey.
Who likes role-playing games? Me. Way too goddamn much.
