Genre: Science Fiction/Action.
Studio:
Twentieth Century Fox.
Production Company:
Unknown.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
No one confirmed as-of-yet.
Who's Making It:
Graham Yost (Screenwriter, unconfirmed).
Premise: Unknown.
Release Date: Unknown. Planned to be a summer blockbuster for whichever year it gets released.
Developments:
December, 1993... Fox gives the go-ahead. Don Murphy, Jane Hamsher, Oliver Stone set as producers for the film. Terry Hayes (screenwriter of The Road Warrior) hired as the pensmith.
March, 1994... Stone gets the interest of the Ah-nuld. Inside info indicates that Fox expected a "Flintstones" movie script, but it got a "Terminator".
January, 1995... Schwarzennegger approves Philip Noyce as director of project. $100 million budget approved, rumors say. Fox still leary about script.
February, 1995... Noyce switches gears to The Saint movie. Chris Columbus takes over the helm, re-writes script with Sam Hamm (Batman). James Cameron nearly enters the party to help produce.
Somewhere between February '95 and January '96... Columbus passes on the directing gig.
January, 1996... Both Peter Jackson and Roland Emmerich pass on the directing assignment. Fox still maintains that the film will be done.
[A tremendous timeline job sent in by the 'Splatpunk' via his informants in Ape City.]
November, 1997... James Cameron agrees to lend a hand helping out this project in an unspecified capacity.
Rumors: Of the most interesting rumors is the one highlighting the involvement of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the lead role (and no, it's not the character of Taylor). Over the course of the summer of 1995, nothing was confirmed by any party as to Schwarzenegger's involvement - but knowing Arnie's history with carefully reviewing potential projects, it's a given he's mulling over his options with this pic.
As for the director's chair, Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) was being positioned to helm the vehicle, but dropped out of favor in July/August '95. Now the rumor is circulating that Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, Nine Months) wants the gig. No word if MacCauley Culkin will play a pint-sized Cornelius, though.
As well, rumors circulate that a part is being written to fit for actor Charton Heston. Advance word is that it will not be related to his previous role of the astronaut Taylor.
Scoop Feedback:
May 11, 1996... A rumor reaches us that Oliver Stone may be considering casting actor Ben Kingsley in the role of the scientist who travels back in time, and Arnold Schwarzennegger as a primitive man in the distant past. [Scoop submitted by 'Sylvester'.}
July 31, 1996... The film may be in the process of being re-titled to Return of the Apes. [Scoop furnished by 'Johnny-S'.]
October 31, 1996... This scooper worked last year at Stan Winston Studios, where he spent a large amount of his time on research and development work for the Apes project. "Of course, this was when Chris Columbus was still involved. After the R&D work was said to be complete all of the stuff just got shelved and we never really heard about it again. The makeup that was designed for the tests was really pretty impressive. Stan and his son made a demo reel of improvisational stuff in the makeup under the direction of CC. It was great." [Scoop sent in anonymously.]
December 15, 1996... Who owns the rights to Planet of the Apes? Twentieth Century Fox. The rights to Predator? Fox. What studio has Arnold Schwarzenegger experienced his most profitable working relationship with? Fox. And the director who's helmed his most profitable movies? James Cameron.
And which studio has Cameron's development company, Lightstorm Entertainment, made a $500 million production pact to produce and develop films with? Again, Fox. And Robert Rodriguez, the director of From Dusk Till Dawn, has just turned in to Fox his proposal for Predator 3, which is owned by Fox.
Someone's heard something very interesting. "What if I were to say... 'Twentieth Century Fox presents a Lightstorm Entertainment Production of Robert Rodriguez film starring Arnold Schwarzengger Planet of the Apes. Produced by James Cameron. Coming to a theatre near you in Summer 1998."
According to our source, it's coming your way. [Scoop reported in by 'shape'.]
December 26, 1996... Screenwriter Sam Hamm, best known for his Batman, Batman Returns and his unproduced treatment for a Watchmen movie may have written a new screenplay for this project. A scooper reports that he's seen a Hamm draft kicking around, dated January 12, 1996. [Scoop sent in by an anonymous source.]
January 28, 1997... Army Archerd reports that Schwarzenegger's been involved with talks with Lightstorm Entertainment regarding the Apes film. Check out our 12/15/96 scoop. Maybe someone in Toronto can ask Robert Rodriguez if he is in discussions as well... [Scoops sent in by Joe Hanna and 'Compukiller'.]
May 25, 1997... Here's a review sent to us of the Hamm script:
"Sam Hamm appears to have retained only the most basic premise from Terry Hayes awful version: babies are being born very old, and scientists must figure out why, or the human race faces extinction.
"In Hamm's version, a spacecraft splashes down in NYC's harbor. Inside are an orangutan which is shot dead, and a pink blob which turns out to be the virus affecting the babies. A team of pilots and scientists are assembled and they take the ship back to its preprogrammed origin.
"The lead character is Alexander Troy, cleraly the Taylor figure, but renamed to serve a weak plot point later in the script. A female scientist accompanies him and falls in love with him (of course). Dodge is the Jamaican astronaut who suffers the same fate as the original's Landon, and Stewart still doesn't survive the trip, his (yes his) corpse discovered in one of the cooler written segments of the script.
"Arriving at the polar cap of a distant planet, the crew finds the speechless humans, get captured and separated until it's just Troy and the female scientist. They find an ape civilization, where the orangs, led by LORD Zaius, keep the others under their control through religion and politics. Zaius is a swaggering, virile 'alpha male of alpha males', desribed as an 'ape Hugh Hefner' and an 'ape Bob Packwood' at various points in the story.
"Ultimately, we learn that this planet was once ruled by humans. Receiving radio signals from earth, the orangs have swiped inventions, ideas, music and culture from earth. The orangs take credit for all of it, and have sent the virus to earth as a 'vaccine'. The female eventually finds a cure, they return to the ship, have a final battle with the apes, escape in Troy's ship, where they find Zaius sabotaging the air supply. Troy and Zaius battle, flying out an airlock where Troy kills Zaius. He is rescued by the female, and they head back to earth. Upon landing, they are horrified to discover that too much time has passed, and earth is now a planet of apes.
Infinitely superior to Terry Hayes version, this one is still mired in utter silliness. A billboard is shown for Macaque Culkin in Home Alone. The Simians, a cartoon family, is a popular show. The Statue of Liberty, at the fade out, has been recarved into the face of an ape. At one point Troy escapes and is recaptured by a circus who use him in their human act. The script has definite possibilities, but there is a fine line between social satire and parody, which the script trips over again and again. Hopefully they'll fix up the script some more..." [Review sent in by 'webmaster'.]
December 17, 1997... December 16th's The Hollywood Reporter lists a rumor that James Cameron wishes to get this project on the fastrack come the new year. He'll produce the film for Lightstorm/20th Century Fox. [Scoop submitted anonymously.]
January 10, 1998... Now the Los Angeles Times picks up the Cameron rumor. An article by Claudia Eller in the Times mentions that this project is but one of the many the director has with Fox. [Harvested by 'superknot'.]
April 14, 1998... The Cameron rumor (which we first heard about from our scooper 'shape' back in December '96) gets a new twist from our new source. We have it on good authority that Cameron's next project will be Planet of the Apes. On top of that, our source specifically tells us that Cameron will write, produce and direct the new Apes! The old Terry Hayes script has been rejected and Cameron will start from scratch...but get this. Cameron's new script will fit in with the existing movie arc!
We're told an official announcement should be soon. It also means that the red tape surrounding Spider-Man hasn't been resolved. [Thanks to our man 'Mr. Clark' for the tres cool scoop, and for not laughing at our Planet of the Apes lunch box.]
July 9, 1998... "It makes perfect sense for Cameron to remake Planet of the Apes as a continuation of the original series." That's how our latest scooper began their email...and if the scooper isn't yanking our chain, they spilled the beans about the new storyline Cameron penned for Fox's monkey franchise.
Here's the remainder of the scooper's message:
"The last series installment, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, set the stage for astronaut Taylor to return to a much altered 'planet of the apes.' That's exactly what the new script deals with. It is intended for the new film to open the same way as the first, with the exact same footage of Taylor aboard his spacecraft. The ship still crash-lands in a lake but the lake is no longer in the middle of a desert - it is now sitting alongside a research facility. The story soon shifts to thirty years later, when five time-traveling astronauts from the 1990's arrive at the research facility. The facility, mostly burned out, has been abandoned. The astronauts hike across the Forbidden Zone. A spooky hooded sniper stalks the astronauts and manages to kill one.
"Caesar's leadership role in the development of this new ape society has given the chimpanzees more dominance. Science has been allowed to flourish, which makes the planet more technologically advanced than it was in the first film. But the balance of power is more uneasy and tensions are dangerously high among the different ape factions. The gorillas, whose aggression hadn't been stifled by chimps and orangutans, long ago slaughtered the small population of mutants living in the underground ruins of Manhattan. Air travel has allowed other types of apes to come to Ape City. Gibbons care little for science, religion or war - they are the artists and playboys. A descendant of Caesar, a bizarre mix of chimpanzee and gibbon, has been voted prime minister of Ape City although he doesn't see himself so much as an elected official as a royal heir. He is a perverted, insane egomaniac, pretty much a simian Caligua.
"The survivors of the astronaut crew befriend an eccentric old orangutan, who tells them he had met astronauts before. He tells them that one of these earlier astronauts - 'a real gun nut' - took the best looking human babe and dragged her off with him into the wilderness. The 'gun nut' hidden out in the woods turns out to be an old Taylor, appropriately played by NRA head Charlton Heston. Taylor has kept busy with the local women and has sired a large brood of intelligent humans. Landon is the religious leader of a savage community. Dodge has again managed to become lobotomized but there's a little twist to how this has happened."
So if this is the Cameron Apes storyline it'll pay homage to the original 60s/70s series of films as well as reinventing the concept of intelligent apes. We don't have a shred of evidence to prove what the scooper is telling us is for real, but dammit, it sounds like it'd be a fun ride, especially if Heston does a cameo!
[This message from 'ABaldu' was found by ape scientists in an newly discovered anteroom deep under the ruins of the Forbidden City.]
October 2, 1998... Cameron rumors are a dime a dozen these days. And rather than throw any more dimes around, Cinescape decided to call on Lightstorm Entertainment to answer them. There, they spoke with Lightstorm President, Rae Sanchini. On Planet of the Apes, Sanchini said that there is no script. She says that Cameron "would like to be involved," he wants to, in fact, produce and write the project. Sanchini also says that Fox wants to roll with this as soon as they can. Regardless, Cameron is officially on vacation for about a year and does not want to be caught behind a camera. [Originally appeared in Cinescape Online; reported by Widgett.]
November 24, 1998... We've been sent an anonymous email that James Cameron is no longer involved with this project. We haven't confirmed that this news is true. [Anonymous.]
December 14, 1998... Now that our November scoop has been confirmed and reported by others, we've been told some more by a new scooper. According to their sources, Fox fired (what!?) Cameron as producer-writer and stated all inquiries as to the reason why Cameron left should be directed to Lightstorm Entertainment. When the scooper asked Lightstorm they coldly replied with a "No comment." Jeepers...what went down??? [MikeG wants to know where he can find a girl like Nova these days.]
December 15, 1998... Responding to the question we asked yesterday, this scooper responds: "Cameron left the project after reading the Graham Yost draft of the screenplay. Fox is currently meeting with several top directors and writers." Ah, interesting. So Yost took a crack at the project as well, eh? We haven't heard any details about Yost's draft, but now we're curious to know exactly what Cameron didn't approve of in the latest script. [An anonymous chimpanzee from Ape City told us so.]
January 7, 1999... According to this anonymous scooper, "Graham Yost is NOT the writer on this project. There is no writer yet. The studio is beginning a process of looking at new writers and trying to figure out a new direction now that Cameron is no longer writing." Since Fox doesn't comment on their projects in development we couldn't confirm Yost's involvement or non-involvement. [Anonymous.]
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