Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Rise of the Apes

3/22/11 - 20th Century Fox is moving up the release date of Rise of the Apes from Thanksgiving to Aug. 5th.  Rise of the Apes will be the final tentpole of the summer season. Fox brass said the movie is a perfect summer title.

6/30/10 - British actor Andy Serkis will play ape leader Caesar in the upcoming 20th Century Fox reboot/prequel Rise of the Apes, according to 20th Century Fox.  Serkis is best known for playing Smeagol/Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Serkis won't actually "play" Caesar in furry makeup. He'll don a wetsuit with funny little motion sensors all over it to provide the template for the character, which will be created through CG.  Rise of the Apes, which is a very loose retelling of the fourth entry in the original series—1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes—follows the story of a human scientist whose genetic experiments result in the creation of the superintelligent Caesar, who eventually becomes the linchpin for an ape revolution.  Serkis joins a cast that includes James Franco as the scientist, Frieda Pinto and John Lithgow. The film is being directed by Rupert Wyatt from a script by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and is on the fast track for release on June 24, 2011.

6/23/10 - John Lithgow and Freida Pinto are coming on board Rise of the Apes, Fox's prequel to its Planet of the Apes franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The movie, which shoots this summer in British Columbia, focuses on a scientist (James Franco) who has been working on a cure for Alzheimer's that is being tested on apes. The test subject named Caesar evolves rapidly, and the scientist takes him home to live with him and protects him from cruel doctors. Lithgow will play Franco's Alzheimer's-stricken father. Pinto is the movie's female lead, a primatologist.  Rupert Wyatt will direct.

5/21/10 - According to Variety, James Franco will star in the Planet of The Apes prequel.  James had a great meeting with director Rupert Wyatt over the weekend about the movie.  It will be set in the present day and chronicle how genetic engineering gave the animals intelligence. The actor will reportedly play an important scientist in the midst of the war between man and ape.  The effects team WETA Digital will reportedly use photo-realistic apes and not actors in costumes for the movie.  The Apes prequel is slated to start filming in July and will hit theaters on June 24, 2011.

5/6/10 - Fox said Thursday that it will release the Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Apes on June 24, 2011.  The production will use CGI apes to be created by WETA Digital, rather than using costumed actors as in past installments of the sci-fi action franchise.  Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark will produce for Fox, with Rupert Wyatt directing from a screenplay by Amanda Silver & Rick Jaffa.  Silver and Jaffa also are producing.  The film will be set in San Francisco and is billed as a cautionary tale in which man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

3/12/10 - 20th Century Fox is eyeing English director Rupert Wyatt to direct a prequel of Planet of the Apes, according to Deadline Hollywood.  No start date, but Wyatt's come aboard to direct.  The script is by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.  

12/2/08 - C.H.U.D. reported that writer/director Scott Frank will make a Planet of the Apes movie called Caesar that, while not strictly a remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, is envisioned as the opening chapter in a saga that could span the thousand years between today and a world where apes rule.

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