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The Planet of the Apes franchise has a long and storied history. From it's original films starring Charlton Heston to the Tim Burton reboot, to the modern trilogy directed by The Batman's Matt Reeves, The Planet of the Apes have seen several different iterations. Though the new trilogy including Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes seem to be overlooked in the scope of modern action franchises. Will Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes move the needle at all? Will Hollywood finally recognize this franchise for the masterpiece that it is?
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I offered you peace, and you killed my family
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If you didn't know any better, you'd think that this sinister, coiled portrayal of a lead character
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was a star-making Oscar-nominated performance. And yet, Andy Serkis' turn as Caesar in the three rebooted Planet of the Apes films
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was passed over for awards recognition. And that seems to be a constant with these objectively great films
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They come and go. Despite being arguably one of the best modern trilogies
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they don't seem to have left a terribly deep groove culturally. In fact, you could almost say that about all the iterations of the Apes franchise
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Why is that? The storied franchise known as Planet of the Apes began its life as a 1963 French novel
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written by Pierre Boulle titled La Planète des Sanges. When the book was translated into English, it was given two distinct titles
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The U.S. release received the familiar Planet of the Apes, while the U.K. publication was dubbed Monkey Planet
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It should be readily apparent which of those titles had staying power. The novel is significantly different from its eventual film adaptation, but thanks to some fresh ideas brought to the projects by writers Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame and Michael Wilson, the bones of the novel were evolved into something completely new and original
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The film followed the broad strokes of the book's plot, but with one major, very Rod Serling-esque twist
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You maniacs! You blew it up! This brilliant ending is now seen as one of the most iconic film climaxes of all time
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The film was a massive success, pulling in $33.3 million off a budget of only $5 million
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A large portion of this success was owed to the fact that Charlton Heston's performance as Taylor received rave reviews
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Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape. When everything was said and done, Fox now only had one objective
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Make more apes films. Only there was one problem. Charlton Heston didn't want to return, so how did they fix this
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They offered him a truckload of money, and he agreed to do a cameo, with the stipulation of his character being killed off
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The resulting sequel is maybe the strangest film ever produced. From subterranean mutants worshipping a massive bomb to the acid-trip visuals
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the film is somehow even a bigger swing than its out-of-the-box predecessor
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However, the film also feels like it's being held together with scotch tape and band-aids
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In the end, that didn't matter, though. It made a ton of money. $19 million off a budget of $2.5 million
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With the release of this film and the oncoming tidal wave of merchandise, it was official
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Ape Mania was here to stay. In fact Planet of the Apes is often thought of as the first true transmedia franchise From coloring books to costumes to toys Planet of the Apes paved the way for Star Wars Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and every other film series turned cultural juggernaut
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Now, despite both of the previous Apes films climaxing with definitive endings
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there was still hunger from the studio to produce more sequels. Fox knew there was money to be made
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and they wanted to capitalize on it immediately. And boy, did they. A new Apes film was released
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every year for the next three years. Escape from Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet
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of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes all shared inventive plot mechanics
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exciting visuals, and a biting sense of social satire. However, as the franchise trudged forward
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the budgets got smaller and the fiscal returns dwindled. By the mid-70s, Fox was desperately
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attempting to wring every last dollar out of the franchise, despite obviously being devoid
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of true inspiration. There's no truer example of this than the sloppy one-two punch of the
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confusingly titled TV series, Planet of the Apes, and the animated series, Return to the Planet of
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the apes. By the time 1976 had rolled around, the franchise was old news. Five solid years of four
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movies and two TV shows. It was just too much. The franchise ground to a halt. Ape Mania was over
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for now. Various attempts at breathing new life into the world of a distant future controlled by
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super intelligent apes would be attempted over the years, but it wouldn't be until 2001 that Tim
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Burton, Mark Wahlberg, and makeup effects genius Rick Baker would conspire to create a visually
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exciting remake titled, you guessed it, Planet of the Apes. While the film might not be remembered
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all that well, largely due to its lackluster and confusing twist, the makeup created for the
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project is inarguably some of the greatest practical effects makeup ever put to screen
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and Tim Roth as General Thade gives a fantastic performance. I'm tired of this humor
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Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to jumpstart a new series of films. And that's where things lay for close to another decade
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In 2011, the first of the reboot films would be released. Titled Rise of the Planet of the Apes
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and directed by Rupert Wyatt, the film is a soft remake of the fourth original Apes film
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Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It tells the story of the first ape to gain sentience
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a lab-housed chimpanzee named Caesar. This film might not have the scope of its sequels
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but it is very thematically in line with the original Apes film's ambitions
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It's thought-provoking science fiction and has an allegorical slant. Specifically, it focuses on the cruelty of industrializing animal testing
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Make your stinking bar off me, you damn dirty ape! No! The film is a pretty brilliantly executed and updated retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
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That simple yet emotionally resonant core is what propelled the film to box office success
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And here's where we get into the truly impressive work that the franchise was able to do
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Matt Reeves, who we all know as the creative mind behind The Batman, did two Planet of the Apes movies for Fox
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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes. They each feature tightly drawn characters, immensely impressive motion capture performances, and brilliant action scenes
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Even just the attention to detail that Reeves brings to thinking of the logistics of how the ape's communication evolves is worthy of its own deep dive
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Who starts a $100 million blockbuster with two monkeys doing sign language
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That's such a bold creative decision. Between the two films, they're stocked full of visual brilliance, compelling characters, and mesmerizing production design
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Every element of these films is meticulously constructed. And yet, as previously established, these films are weirdly absent from the pop cultural landscape
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Is this because there's not an advertising campaign masquerading as a toy line or Saturday morning tie-in cartoons
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Is it because these films feel like they're aimed more at adults? Or is it the simple fact that they movies that exist apart from their previous franchise therefore counteracting the idea of a connected fandom It probably a bit of all three frankly But even outside of the reboot trilogy the ape mania of the original five films and two TV series
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and the Tim Burton remake should have cemented the franchise more into our collective consciousness
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The 1970s were practically defined by the apes films, and now they're not respected or revered
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in the way that Star Wars or Star Trek or even Battlestar Galactica are beloved
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In some ways, the reboot trilogy is an interesting case of the little franchise that could
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The fact that the series managed to make it to three films and complete the story of Caesar is an accomplishment
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because these films feel like something that should have been displaced by the Disney Marvel Star Wars machine
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To add further confusing fuel to the fire, it almost feels like the apes fandom that does exist
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is split pretty evenly down the middle. There's fans of the original five films
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and then there's fans of the new three films, but the overlap between the two groups isn't very high
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The fans of the original series love the heady sci-fi, the time travel, the practical makeup, and the generally quirky vibe
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of the original movies, of which none of that exists in the reboot trilogy. Conversely, the new
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films really emphasize the aesthetics of CGI characters and a keen interest in gritty and
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grounded storytelling. Sure, Rise is a decent Planet of the Apes film, but not a great standalone
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movie. It's just kind of a fine franchise starter film, whereas Dawn and War are amazing cinematic
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achievements from a technical perspective, but not particularly good at checking the boxes of
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the film series' long-standing traditions. If the 70s Apes films are cut from the same cloth as the
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original series' Star Trek films, the reboot films are the J.J. Abrams' Kelvin timeline movies
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Depending on who you are, that may work for you or frustrate you. The thing that's the strangest about the reboot films from a franchise-building perspective
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though, is that they're neither fish nor fowl. They feature many of the same characters and events
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from the original series, but they're distinctly not in continuity with the original films. Yet
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they kind of want you to think they are. The character of Nova plays a large role in War
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Caesar obviously is the protagonist of all the reboot films, and even the virus referenced in
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Conquest appears as the post-credits stinger in Rise. And yet, they're not the Nova, Virus
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or Caesar from the original films. It's a series of movies that doesn't really talk to itself
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but also isn't drastically different either. It's an awkward middle ground. And here we are on the dawn of a new apes film
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that Fox is hoping will jumpstart a new cycle of ape mania. Will that happen
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Frankly, just by looking at the numbers, probably. These things make money
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However, the real question is, will this new film actually leave a mark
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That remains to be seen