Planet of the Apes has gone from a great sci-fi film from 1968 (that I liked but didn’t love – I always thought the concept was better than the execution) to one of my favorite film series of all time thanks to the 2011 reboot and its sequels. In celebration of the release of War for the Planet of the Apes, here is a list of the most interesting things I know about the Planet of the Apes series:

  • The producer of the original 1968 film Arthur P. Jacobs saw so much movie potential in the 1963 novel by Pierre Bouelle that he bought the film rights before it was even published.
  • Many studios turned down the script but Jacobs convinced Fox president Richard D. Zanuck to greenlight it because of the previous success Fox had with Jacobs over the film What a Way to Go! (1964).

  • The original script by Rod Serling described an ape society that was more technologically advanced than the society shown in the finished film. In order to save money, director Franklin J. Schaffner changed it to a more primitive setting and Michael Wilson was hired to rewrite Serling’s script.
  • The twist ending written by Rod Serling in the script remained in the finished film.
  • Jerry Goldsmith’s music score was groundbreaking for its avant-garde style and minimalist use of instruments to create a solitary vibe.
  • The ape make-up was so good that the make-up artist John Chambers won an honorary academy award just for his achievements in the film.

  • The scene where the ape judges imitate “See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil” was improvised on the set by director Schaffner and kept in the movie due to the strong audience reaction it got in previews.
  • It got four sequels in the seventies released annually: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Only Escape is fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
  • The ending to the 2001 remake directed by Tim Burton would not have been memorable if it had recycled the ending from the first film, so they changed it, and it is actually the strongest scene in the whole film. It involves a different famous landmark and a twist that is just as shocking.

  • Rick Jaffa, the screenwriter for the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was originally just looking to make a story about a pet chimpanzee who has trouble adapting to human environments. The Planet of the Apes connection was realized later.
  • Jaffa, his writing partner/wife Amanda Silver and the director Rupert Wyatt all agree Rise takes place before the 1968 original but is more of a reboot than a prequel, implying the same logic behind the 2009 reboot of Star Trek.

  • “Get your paws off me, you damned dirty ape” is #66 in the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 movie quotes, the score by Jerry Goldsmith is #18 in the AFI’s top 25 movie scores, and the 1968 film itself is #59 in the AFI’s list of the top 100 most thrilling films.
  • War for the Planet of the Apes is currently the highest rated film in the series on Rotten Tomatoes.