It was inevitable, but a prequel to the Planet of the Apes is in the works and is tentatively scheduled for a June 2011 opening date. But hey, did any Cinema Static readers get the chance to take advantage of audition info for the movie back in early June? Hope so!
The prequel is an origins plot and has a working title called Rise of the Apes and it starts out in present day San Francisco as a precautionary tale about genetic engineering with apes. Great! Might as start tossing buckets of sand at the Statue of Liberty!
Rise of the Apes has a “fresh” creative crew behind it, and by fresh, I’m talking relatively green:
Rupert Wyatt is directing. The more popular of his past works is 2008′s “The Escapist.” The writer / producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver‘s last gig was “The Relic.”
The cast lined up with Rise of the Apes are
- James Franco,
- Tom Felton,
- John Lithgow,
- Brian Cox.
It’s being produced by Chernin Entertainment & distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
Just looking at the creative talent behind the scenes, I couldn’t tell you one way or the other how this will pan out, but the cast could bring it along nicely.
It will be a tough sell to open in theaters in June of 2011. Presently scheduled for opening in that same month are “Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom,” “X-Men: First Class,” “Fast Five”, “Something Borrowed” and “Green Lantern.”
I didn’t mind Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes. It gave is an edgier, more modern and creepy look to the franchise. But there wasn’t much new in story to it, just new window dressing in how they presented the story. But this project has a lot of room for potential. If done right, this could kick ass. But, we’ll see.
Plus it’s going to have quite the contest in it’s opening month. Right now my plan A is Green Lantern, then X-Men: First Class, then Rise of the Apes. Unless they come out with something totally exciting for Rise of the Apes. Any thoughts my dear readers?
[ Box Office Mojo, Rise of the Apes on IMDb ]
