Fox’s Planet of the Apes Reboot of the Reboot Is Back On

[Henry88]

Vulture has learned that contrary to reports that saddened cinephile simiaphiles everywhere last week, Twentieth Century Fox has not given up on rebooting Planet of the Apes. In fact, insiders familiar with the situation insist the studio is now more determined than ever to make the film, albeit with different DNA: The Apes have been handed to none other than Peter Chernin, who last summer exited his post as top banana of News Corporation to become a producer at Fox.

The Internet rumors of the reboot's demise likely germinated when it was discovered that all-star writer Scott Frank had left the project, an origin story showing just how the apes became so smart. Frank was also supposed to direct the film for producer Scott Rudin, and because Frank had crafted the scripts for such Fox hits as Minority Report and Marley & Me, it's easy to see how his departure might be misconstrued as the studio's loss of interest in the project. But no: Production and agency insiders both confirm that Fox has hired writer Jamie Moss (Street Kings) to rework Frank's version, and the original writers, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (The Relic, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle), were recently brought back to polish the dialogue.

Frank's Apes script, code-named Caesar, showed how genetic experiments on apes led to their evolutionary eclipse of humans. "Caesar" refers to the genetically altered leader of the simian rebellion, so dubbed because the ape was capable of grand strategic thinking on par with Julius Caesar (whose own surname means "hairy" in Latin). The "Caesar" code name also foreshadowed the script's plot: Just as the actual Julius Caesar set Rome on the path to the Roman Empire, the experimental ape's escape sets in motion his fellow hirsute hominids' (wait for it ... ) guerrilla war and subsequent dominance.*

The studio, however, wanted to pursue a different tack than Frank, and the writer-director was unwilling to change direction, according to a production source. As Rudin was only on board because Frank had asked him to serve as producer (the two had enjoyed working together on Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate twenty years ago), he left as well. But now that it's been handed to Chernin, the presumed-dead project is red hot again. For one thing, as part of his golden parachute from News Corporation, Chernin has several "put" pictures — essentially, a commitment from the studio to get several movies made, even if the studio brass objects. But insiders tell Vulture that Chernin may not even need to waste one of his puts: The studio wants to make the Caesar project, post haste. A director is expected to be hired imminently.

Chernin had been passionate about this franchise long before Tim Burton did his 2001 remake. Shortly after Chernin became head of Fox Filmed Entertainment in 1992, he had tried to revive Fox's Apes franchise, paying Oliver Stone a million dollars to executive produce a Return of the Apes film; in David Hughes 2004 book, Tales from Development Hell, Chernin even called its script, by Terry Hayes (The Road Warrior, From Hell), "one of the best I ever read." It centered on a geneticist who time-travels back to the Paleolithic Era, where he must help humans win a war against highly evolved apes and protect a young girl whose genes will give ultimately save mankind from a plague. (If this sounds Terminator-esque, get this: Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role of the geneticist.)

But now that he's free of the apes' opposable-thumbed grip, whither Scott Frank? Agency insiders tell us that the Oscar-nominated screenwriter (who also wrote Out of Sight and Get Shorty) has been hired to adapt a forthcoming young-adult novel, co-written by none other than James Frey, called I Am Number Four. The book, first in a series of six, is about nine alien survivors who flee to earth after their planet is destroyed, one of whom (No. 4!) hides out in a high school from his interstellar enemies. It was optioned last summer by DreamWorks, with Michael Bay producing and Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar adapting the script, and yesterday, the studio announced that D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) had been hired to direct. With Frank committing to work on the Gough and Millar draft, that's a veritable crop circle of a sign that DreamWorks intends to make I Am Number Four its No.1 priority for next year.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/01/vulture_exclusive_the_planet_o.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nymag%2Fvulture+%28Vulture+-+nymag.com%27s+Entertainment+and+Culture+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

can we blow up the earth again

[Doctor Who?]

Oh for crying out loud.  I am still waiting for the last remake to get riffed.

[Darth Geek]

Oh for crying out loud.  I am still waiting for the last remake to get riffed.

There was an iRiff of it. It was okay, as I recall.

While I have no real interest in a new Planet of the Apes movie (I hated the original, it was so boring), it frustrates me that FOX is going to have realistic CGI apes (done by WETA) and they only give it a little over 1 year before release date?! Way to prove you don't care about taking the time to do it right.

[Doctor Who?]

Well at least that got(what I think is anyway)the best SFX company around to do the creature SFX.  If anyone can pull it off WETA can.

[Thrifty]

Is everything a remake?  Does anyone have any ideas of their own?

You know, for all its preachieness and predictability, at least Avatar was an original movie.

[Doctor Who?]

Is everything a remake?  Does anyone have any ideas of their own?

You know, for all its preachieness and predictability, at least Avatar was an original movie.

Also am i the only one who is getting sick of remakes being called reboots as if that makes it any better.  It is only a reboot if there was more then one movie before and yet I have heard MacGrubber,and The A-Team called reboots.  It's just so stupid.  I am going to do my best to avoid remakes from now on and maybe Hollywood will learn how to make new movies again.

[Cosmic Muse]

Is there no more original ideas for Hollywood to pursue that they have to start remaking remakes?

[Thrifty]

Is there no more original ideas for Hollywood to pursue that they have to start remaking remakes?

In about 5 years, this movie will be featured on VH1's "I love the 2010s!", and space-time will collapse in upon itself.

[Doctor Who?]

I would be surprised if VH1 waits for the 2010s to  be over to do I love the 2010s.  I'm pretty sure next year will will get a 25 hour series call I love 2010,the year after that I love 2011,and so on.

[Thrifty]

I frequently get nostalgic for recent events.  Remember about 8 hours ago when Mr.Henry88 posted that thread about a new Planet of the Apes movie?  Man do I miss those days.  Things were so much simpler back in the early afternoon.  We were so young, so naive.  Our nation had not yet learned the harsh lessons of 3:49 PM Eastern, or experienced the heartbreak of 5:17.

[Doctor Who?]

I frequently get nostalgic for recent events.  Remember about 8 hours ago when Mr.Henry88 posted that thread about a new Planet of the Apes movie?  Man do I miss those days.  Things were so much simpler back in the early afternoon.  We were so young, so naive.  Our nation had not yet learned the harsh lessons of 3:49 PM Eastern, or experienced the heartbreak of 5:17.

Wow.  That was funny.  You should trying writing a Rifftrax intro,I have a feeling you would be good at it.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Unless Fox grew a new set of ball since the Burton film and intend this film to actually be ABOUT something as the original was.....

Feh!

Then again, this could give Fox a chance to waste some of those Avatar profits.....

[Nunyerbiz]

Oh for crying out loud.  I am still waiting for the last remake to get riffed.

meh. At least read the post... it's not another remake. Nothing about astronauts crashing on a "Planet of the Apes". If anything, it's more of a prequel... and I'm not trying to say that makes it miles more original or anything... but it's not a straight remake of the Heston and/or Marky Mark pictures.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Oh for crying out loud.  I am still waiting for the last remake to get riffed.

meh. At least read the post... it's not another remake. Nothing about astronauts crashing on a "Planet of the Apes". If anything, it's more of a prequel... and I'm not trying to say that makes it miles more original or anything... but it's not a straight remake of the Heston and/or Marky Mark pictures.

Sequel, prequel or remake....if they're just going to make another gutless wonder of a movie, what's the point.

[mrbasehart]

Oh for crying out loud.  I am still waiting for the last remake to get riffed.

meh. At least read the post... it's not another remake. Nothing about astronauts crashing on a "Planet of the Apes". If anything, it's more of a prequel... and I'm not trying to say that makes it miles more original or anything... but it's not a straight remake of the Heston and/or Marky Mark pictures.

If they're doing a prequel to the original, then I believe it's technically a remake of a film later in the Apes' series.  I haven't seen them all, so I can't be completely certain, but I think they do tell the origins of the whole PotA set-up. 

FWIW, I thought the original was really good, while the remake had a couple of good things, but outweighed by the amount of bad.