Planet of Apes prequel in 2011: Effects instead of Ape suits

07 May 2010

John Howell

Fox has provided a release date of June 24, 2011 for the  Planet of the Apes prequel we reported on earlier. The film is now being called Rise of the Apes. Additionally, the New Zealand based Weta Digital, famous for creating the special effects for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy, has been signed up to create the effects. For the first time in any of the Planet of the Apes films, the Apes will be entirely special effects' creations rather than people in ape suits wearing elaborate makeup. Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) is now on board to direct and the screenplay has been written by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa.

As reported, Rise of the Apes is an origins story which explains how the apes rose to a position of dominance. It's a cautionary tale where man's experiments with genetic engineering get out of hand and create an intelligent ape species that sparks a war for supremacy with humanity. To be fair, humanity is at its lowest point after a nuclear war and the apes will presumably kick us while we're down: "Those damn, dirty apes!"

There has been some negative press about this Planet of the Apes prequel, but as far as the premise goes, I quite like the idea. Exploring humanity's downfall and the rise of a new ape species could take the Planet of the Ape films in a potentially fascinating new direction. It's early days of course, so there's still plenty of time for the studio, writers and director to completely stuff it up.

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