Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel

04 November 2011

John Howell

Fox has confirmed plans for a follow up to this year's excellent apes movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a prequel to the iconic 1968 alternate reality/time travel trip Planet of the Apes that starred Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell (the final scene with the Statue of Liberty still gets to me even today).

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a genetically enhanced chimpanzee uses his superior intelligence to help other apes free themselves from human enslavement and oppression hundreds of years before the events depicted in the first film.

According to Reuters, the sequel (Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2 I guess) will also be directed by Rupert Wyatt. Andy Serkis, the actor who wore the digital effects attachments that guided the animations (the modern day equivalent of an ape suit) returns as the lead chimpanzee Caesar. Writers and producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are again writing and producing. Apparently a sequel was always planned and a third film has already been plotted. At this stage it's not known if James Franco's scientist character Will Rodman will return. Rodman was originally supposed to be killed off, but the studio re-shot an alternate ending where he survived after negative test screening feedback.

Andy Serkis, since playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is rapidly becoming digitally typecast, the actor you call when you need a major computer generated character. He recently finished work on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, reprising his role as Gollum.

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel has no official release date, but If it's anything like the first, I'll be first in line for tickets.

You can read our review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes here.

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