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Rise of the Apes: It's Official!

20th Century Fox has finally made it official: we'll be getting a new Planet of the Apes film in the form of Rise of the Apes on June 24, 2011. We have the official announcement and reactions from around the web.
THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
"LOS ANGELES (May 6, 2010) Twentieth Century Fox has set a June 24, 2011 release for RISE OF THE APES, a completely new take on one of the Studio’s most beloved and successful franchises. Oscar®-winning visual effects house WETA Digital – employing certain of the groundbreaking technologies developed for AVATAR – will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors.

"Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark will produce for Chernin Entertainment under its new pact with Fox. Acclaimed filmmaker Rupert Wyatt (“The Escapist”) is directing from a screenplay by Amanda Silver & Rick Jaffa, who also are producing.

"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."

Since Rise of the Apes (originally called Caesar: Rise of the Apes) is reportedly a remake of sorts of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, this story is punctuated by poster art of that film.

And sound off with your feelings about a new Planet of the Apes below.



ORLANDO SENTINAL
"It’s the movie in the Apes Saga that explains how our Planet became infested with Apes. In the original series, it was titled Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and it featured actors in ape costumes... Since the original “Conquest” used time travel to create a self-fulfilling prophecy (an ape baby from the future arrives on Earth, grows up to lead an ape “slave rebellion), I am guessing Rise will not be anything like a literal remake. But you never know."


AINTITCOOL.COM:
"We'll see if Wyatt does better than Tim Burton did with the last "Apes" movie -- which for me completely missed the wonder, suspense, unpredictability and sense of peril that made the old movies so fully awesome."



CINEMABLEND.COM
"Sorry everyone, but it's time to finally acknowledge that the Planet of the Apes prequel is real, it's happening, and it's probably going to be terrible... We've gone over and over all the reasons no one wants a Planet of the Apes reboot, so let's just look at what the release date means instead. Summer 2011 has gotten very crowded very suddenly lately, with X-Men: First Class recently set for a June 3, 2011 release and the current word on J.J. Abrams' Super 8 project that it's coming sometime in the summer of 2011. That's all on top of the films we already knew were coming, from the superhero onslaught of Thor, Captain America and Green Lantern to Transformers 3, which is happening whether you like it or not."

LATIMES.COM
"The Weta presence is intriguing but, wow, do we need another "Apes" movie? That original 1968 film was followed by four sequels "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" in 1970, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" (1971), "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" (1972) and "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" (1973) and then there was "Planet of the Apes" (2001) which was a "re-imagining" of the original by director Tim Burton. Then there were the television shows, too, both live-action and animated. I would have thought the Burton dud (which I had very high hopes for, by the way) would have gotten this monkey off of Hollywood's back."



FILMSTALKER.CO.UK
"I'm still not convinced about a Planet of the Apes prequel, especially one which rewrites the entire Planet of the Apes story-line we've seen to date, apart from the Tim Burton adaptation of the original novel of course, and now I'm even more wary, for instead of the previous actors in costume, we're set to see the CGI version. If anything this film looks set to prequel the Planet of the Apes film from Burton rather than the original series, as it ignores the original set-up from the franchise and creates it's own, and with masked actors pulling off the performances perfectly well in the last film, why do we need one with computer generated, photo realistic apes for other actors to imagine are there?

"... The L.A. Times Hero Complex tells us that this film is an origins story of The Planet of the Apes, although not the franchise we all know, and confirms the idea we've heard many times before when this prequel has been mentioned, it's about the genetic manipulation of apes to become something more, which heighten their intelligence to that of humans. Or is that lower?

"... The original four films did a great job of setting up the world and where humans were, and it was there that we discovered the real reason for the intelligent apes was the same time paradox that brought the astronauts to the other time in the first place, something that fitted perfectly with the whole franchise. The idea at the end of the original franchise is one that is superbly respectful to the original story and how the astronauts arrived there, and uses the whole time paradox issue again. It's a perfect, if somewhat frustrating ending. It works far better than the tired genetic engineering one, and is the origin story. Mind you that's not the biggest crime really is it? It's the removal of real actors in masks and make-up and the arrival of the complete CG photo-realistic apes."

JEFFORDS.BLOGSPOT.COM
"Fret not--Tim Burton will not be directing it... The plot sounds similar to the early, but scuttled, proposal for Caesar, in which a scientist genetically engineers a super intelligent ape who turns against humanity when the scientist’s wife is killed senselessly during a crime. Rise of the Apes involves genetic engineering that results in altering apes in general which results in a conflict between apes and man for dominance. It sounds like the powers that be are packing enough of the entire original quintet to ensure Rise of the Apes can stand alone if it is not enough of a hit to merit sequels. Learning from Terminator: Salvation, I see.

"... I cannot help but see the similarities with the premise of Caprica and the birth of the Cylons. The toasters rose up from slavery to destroy humanity like the apes apparently will. Do I catch a definite hint of Battlestar Galactica in the new apes project?"

DEADCENTRAL.COM
"Looking to permanently wash away the memories of Tim Burton's tepid and oh so silly Planet of the Apes remake?... Fox is moving full steam ahead with its prequel, hiring an effects company, giving the flick a new title, and even setting a proposed release date... Wyatt will be working from a script by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. No other details were available at press time, but we're hoping for something along the lines of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which in itself was a prequel starring Roddy McDowall playing a very intelligent ape named Caesar who spearheaded the revolt against the humans. Please, powers-that-be -- GIVE US THIS and make it violent!"

0 Yes
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EdGross
5/7/2010

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