Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite film “I told you so” moments. The movie was faced with some awful pre-release buzz, with many commentators saying that the effects looked laughable and their complaints about the movie being yet another reboot. Even star James Franco said some less-than-positive things about the film. That didn’t matter — upon release not only was Rise of the Planet of the Apes greeted with stellar reviews, but it was the eleventh highest grossing film at the U.S. box office in 2011 (even narrowly beating out Captain America: The First Avenger!) and doing extremely well overseas. Star Andy Serkis, who did the motion capture work for lead ape Caesar, even received a heavy push for an Oscar nomination. Not bad for a movie most people thought was going to suck.
Me? I always thought it was going to be awesome (I submit this and this as evidence), and I couldn’t be happier that Rise is getting a sequel that will be directed by original director Rupert Wyatt and will again star Serkis. The writers of the original, Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, completed a draft of the script but 20th Century Fox apparently feels it could use a bit more work and have hired Scott Z. Burns to do a rewrite, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Burns co-wrote The Bourne Ultimatum and The Informant!, but his most relevant work to this sequel is that he wrote Contagion. Considering the ending of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the subject matter of Contagion Burns is a perfect fit — and I hope he can bring some of his cerebral writing to the Apes sequel since the series has always been marked by a number of fascinating ethical questions.
There’s no set date for the sequel yet, but I wouldn’t expect it any earlier than summer 2014.
Recent Comments