Planet of the Apes

Genre: Science Fiction/Action. 

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox. 
Production Company: Possibly 1492 Productions. 

Project Phase: Development Hell. 

Who's In It: No one confirmed as-of-yet. 
Who's Making It: Chris Columbus (Director, unsigned as-of-yet);
Sam Hamm (Screenwriter); Oliver Stone (Executive Producer?). 

Premise: No, it's not a sequel or remake of the Charlton Heston 1968
film. Armed with an entirely new storyline, Oliver Stone wants to re-think
the whole concept of a Earth dominated by a sentient ape. The plot will
involve some kind of manipulation of human genetic code by the
intelligent apes back at the dawn of Mankind, which produces dire
consequences for civilization in the present day. 

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.]

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'.]

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