New "Planet of The Apes" Movie In 2011

Fox has announced that it will be releasing a new "Planet of the Apes" movie next June.  Tentatively titled "Rise of the Apes," it will apparently be a prequel to the original 1968 film, showing how "man's own experiments with genetic engineering led to the development of intelligence in apes." According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter that you can read HERE, the apes will be rendered digitally using CGI in this new film, rather than being played by live actors in make-up.


The original "Planet of the Apes" starring Charlton Heston is one of my all-time favorite films. So I was really excited a decade ago when the 2001 Tim Burton remake was first announced. But I was really underwhelmed by the final film when I eventually saw it, and haven't ever bothered to watch it a second time.  Maybe that's why I'm so ambivalent about this new announcement now, especially since using CGI apes seems closer in spirit to the 2001 film than the original.  Hopefully it'll be better than the "Planet of the Apes" musical once envisioned on The Simpsons in this 2 minute clip: