“Stop the Planet of the Apes. I Want to Get Off!” In a classic episode of The Simpsons, Troy McClure took to the stage in a Broadway musical based on Planet of the Apes, harmoniously declaring that “you’ll never make a monkey out of me.” Well, according to Deadline, a new Planet of the Apes film is currently in early stages of development, proving that they can make a monkey out of all of us.
What’s Happening:
- Based on Pierre Boule’s French novel, Planet of the Apes first got the cinematic treatment in 1968, with a screenplay penned by Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame. The classic film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, and Kim Hunter. Lesser known are the FOUR sequels to that film: Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. The films also spun-off into a television series in the 70s and pop-culture merchandise craze and this was all before anybody knew anything about the words “Star” and “Wars.”
- In 2001, Tim Burton cast Mark Wahlberg and “re-imagined” the story in his film of the same name, but it was the recent turn in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes starring James Franco and Andy Serkis that revived the franchise and spun off two further sequels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes.
- Now, with Disney acquiring 20th Century Fox (who owns all of the Planet of the Apes films) it looks as though there is a new Planet of the Apes entering the earliest stages of production and Disney has tapped Wes Ball (The Maze Runner series) to direct.
- What’s unclear at this time is if this is going to be a sequel to the latest Apes release, War for the Planet of the Apes, or if this is going to be a brand new reboot, perhaps starting a fresh new set of Apes films.
- The latest trilogy has made over $1.5 billion, so there is still an audience demanding more visits to the Planet of the Apes.