Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes is a science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a post-apocalyptic world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control as the dominant species. The franchise started with French author Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel La Planète des singes, translated into English as Planet of the Apes or Monkey Planet. Its 1968 film adaptation, Planet of the Apes, was a critical and commercial hit, initiating a series of sequels, tie-ins, and derivative works. Arthur P. Jacobs produced the first five Apes films through APJAC Productions for distributor 20th Century Fox; following his death in 1973, Fox controlled the franchise, before its acquisition by Disney in 2019.
Four sequels followed the original film from 1970 to 1973: 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. They did not approach the critical acclaim of the original, but were commercially successful, spawning a live-action television series in 1974 and an animated series in 1975. Plans for a film remake stalled in "development hell" for over 10 years before the 2001 release of Planet of the Apes, directed by Tim Burton. A reboot film series commenced in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was followed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2014 and War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017. In 2019, further sequels to the 2011 reboot series entered production, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes released in 2024. Franchise tie-ins include books, comics, video games and toys.
Planet of the Apes is the longest-running American science-fiction film series and has grossed a total of over billion worldwide, against a combined budget of $567.5 million. It has received particular attention among film critics for its treatment of racial issues. Cinema and cultural analysts have also explored its Cold War and animal rights themes. The series has influenced subsequent films, media, and art, as well as popular culture and political discourse.
Films
''La Planète des singes''
The series began with French author Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel La Planète des singes. Boulle wrote the novel in six months after the "humanlike expressions" of gorillas at the zoo inspired him to contemplate the relationship between man and ape. La Planète des singes was heavily influenced by 18th- and 19th-century fantastical travel narratives, especially Jonathan Swift's satirical Gulliver's Travels. It is one of several of Boulle's works to use science fiction tropes and plot devices to comment on the failings of human nature and mankind's overreliance on technology, though Boulle rejected the science fiction label, instead terming his genre "social fantasy".The novel is a satire that follows French journalist Ulysse Mérou, who participates in a voyage to a distant planet where speechless, animalistic humans are hunted and enslaved by an advanced society of apes. The ape species are sorted into classes: the gorillas are police officers, the chimpanzees are scientists, and the orangutans are politicians. Eventually, Mérou discovers that humans once dominated the planet until their complacency allowed the more industrious apes to overthrow them. The story's central message is that human intelligence is not a fixed quality and could atrophy if taken for granted. Boulle considered the novel one of his minor works, though it proved to be a bestseller. British author Xan Fielding translated it into English; it was published in the United Kingdom as Monkey Planet and in the United States as Planet of the Apes.
Original film series
Boulle's literary agent, Allain Bernheim, brought the novel to the attention of American film producer Arthur P. Jacobs, who had come to Paris looking for properties to adapt with his new company, APJAC Productions. To explain his interests, Jacobs would tell agents, "I wish King Kong hadn't been made so I could make it." Bernheim initially approached him about a Françoise Sagan novel, which Jacobs turned down. Remembering Jacobs's earlier comment about King Kong, Bernheim mentioned La Planète des singes, not expecting he would be interested. However, the story intrigued Jacobs, who bought the film rights immediately.''Planet of the Apes'' (1968)
After optioning the novel's film rights, Jacobs spent over three years trying to persuade filmmakers to take on the project. He engaged a succession of artists to create test sketches and hired veteran television writer Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, to pen the screenplay. Serling's script changed elements of Boulle's novel, introducing Cold War themes; he devised a new twist ending that revealed the planet to be a future Earth where humans had destroyed themselves through nuclear warfare. Production costs were estimated at over $10 million, a risk no studio in either Hollywood or Europe would assume. Jacobs and associate producer Mort Abrahams persevered and eventually persuaded Charlton Heston to star; Heston in turn recommended director Franklin J. Schaffner. The team recorded a brief screen test featuring Heston, which ultimately convinced 20th Century Fox the film could succeed.Fox insisted on changes to reduce the budget to a more manageable $5.81 million. The producers hired veteran writer Michael Wilson, who had previously adapted Boulle's novel The Bridge over the River Kwai, to rewrite Serling's script. To save on special effects costs, Wilson's script described an ape society more primitive than that which appeared in the novel. The new version changed much of the plot and dialogue but retained the Cold War themes and Serling's ending. John Chambers created the makeup effects.
Heston played 20th-century American astronaut George Taylor, who travels to a strange planet where intelligent apes dominate mute, primitive humans. Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall played the sympathetic chimpanzees Zira and Cornelius, and Linda Harrison portrayed Taylor's love interest, Nova. Maurice Evans played the villain, orangutan Minister of Science Dr. Zaius. The finale, in which Taylor comes upon a ruined Statue of Liberty and realizes he has been on Earth all along, became the defining scene of the series and one of the most iconic images in 1960s film. Planet of the Apes was released on February 8, 1968, and was a smash success with both critics and audiences. It was one of the year's 10 biggest money-makers in North America, taking in an estimated $22 million and earned rave reviews. John Chambers received an honorary Oscar at the 41st Academy Awards for his make-up effects, the first ever given to a make-up artist. Jerry Goldsmith's score and Morton Haack's costume design also earned Oscar nominations. Fox approached Jacobs and Abrahams about filming a sequel. Though they had not made the film with sequels in mind, its success led them to consider the prospect.
''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'' (1970)
Planning for the sequel, eventually titled Beneath the Planet of the Apes, began two months after the original film's release. Jacobs and Abrahams considered several treatments by Serling and Boulle, eventually rejecting them. In late 1968, the producers hired Paul Dehn to write the script; he would become the primary writer for the franchise. Charlton Heston was uninterested in a sequel but agreed to shoot a few scenes if his character was killed off and his salary was donated to charity. In one of many major rewrites, Dehn altered the script to center on a new character, Brent, played by James Franciscus. With Schaffner unavailable, owing to his work on Patton, the producers hired Ted Post as director on January 8, 1969. Post struggled with the material, especially after the studio cut the budget to $3.4 million.The story follows Franciscus's character, an astronaut who, while searching for Taylor, inadvertently follows him into the future. After encountering the apes from the first film, Brent finds Taylor imprisoned by a colony of subterranean human mutants who worship an ancient nuclear bomb. Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans and Linda Harrison returned as Zira, Zaius and Nova. David Watson replaced Roddy McDowall as Cornelius, as McDowall was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. James Gregory played gorilla General Ursus and Paul Richards played mutant leader Méndez. The film opened on May 26, 1970. Unlike its predecessor, Beneath was poorly reviewed; critics typically regard it as the worst of the Apes sequels other than the last one, Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Nonetheless, it was a major box office hit, nearing the original's numbers. Despite a conclusion depicting the planet's nuclear destruction, Fox requested another sequel, creating a series.
''Escape from the Planet of the Apes'' (1971)
Following the financial success of Beneath, Arthur P. Jacobs recruited Paul Dehn to write a new script with a brief telegram: "Apes exist, sequel required." Dehn immediately started work on what became Escape from the Planet of the Apes. The producers hired a new director, Don Taylor. Fox gave the production a greatly diminished budget of $2.5 million, which required a tight production schedule.To work around the budget, as well as Beneaths seemingly definitive ending, the film took the series in a new direction by transporting Zira and Cornelius back in time to the contemporary United States, reducing the need for expensive sets and ape makeup effects. In the film, Zira and Cornelius are initially accepted by American society, but the humans' fears that their child will bring about the domination of the human race by evolved apes leads to conflict. Jacobs's wife, Natalie Trundy, who appeared as a mutant in Beneath and would play the ape Lisa in the next two sequels, was cast as Dr. Stephanie Branton. Bradford Dillman played Dr. Lewis Dixon, Ricardo Montalbán played Armando and Eric Braeden portrayed the villain, the president's science advisor Otto Hasslein.
Compared to its predecessors, Escape dwelt more heavily on themes of racial conflict, which became a primary focus through the rest of the series. The film opened on May 21, 1971, less than a year after Beneath. It was well received by critics. From this point critics began seeing the films less as independent units and more as installments in a greater work; Cinefantastique editor Frederick S. Clarke wrote that the burgeoning series had "the promise of being the first epic of filmed science fiction." It also performed well at the box office, though not as strongly as its predecessors. Fox ordered a third sequel.