Back at the end of October Devin Faraci at CHUD reported on a small bit of buzz he heard that Fox may be bringing back the “Apes” franchise in the form of a Planet of the Apes prequel to be called Genesis: Apes. The film would supposedly be along the lines of the origin story told in 1972’s Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and was described as a story centering on a baby monkey raised in a human household showing signs of great intelligence and the ability to talk. The monkey grows up and sees its mother getting attacked, kills the attacker and is subsequently shipped off to an Ape Conservatory where he and the other apes are abused mercilessly.
The story found a little traction online, but no real movement or excitment was generated… or was it?
Faraci followed up his report with a new bit of news in which Fox head honcho, Tom Rothman, is quoted saying, “We are very close at Fox on a new Apes script- this one a kind of prequel story before the first story, with a return to the social thematics that mark the first one, but with an entirely contemporary setting – Earth 2009.”
The quote came from during an Apes marathon on Fox Movie Channel. That was on November 28.
Now, we have Cinema Blend reporting news via Production Weekly saying Lookout writer/director Scott Frank has signed on to helm the project and word is the title will simply be Caesar, the name of the ape played in Conquest by Roddy McDowall. The Cinema Blend report describes the plot as follows:
The origins of how the Apes took over Earth. A hyper-intelligent chimp raised by humans incites a worldwide ape revolution and causes the downfall of mankind.
I am sure if any of this turns out to be true we will begin hearing official word in the Trades very soon.
