Twentieth Century Fox will release contemporary origins pic “Rise of the Apes” on June 24, 2011, looking to re-energize and introduce a new generation to the classic “Planet of the Apes” franchise.
Chernin Entertainment is producing the prequel, with Rupert Wyatt (“The Escapist”) confirmed to direct.
Project reteams Fox and Peter Jackson’s WETA Digital, which will use technologies developed for “Avatar” to render photo-real apes. It’s the first pic in the franchise that won’t use costumed actors.
Producers are Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark, along with Silver and Jaffa.
Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa penned the script.
“Rise of the Apes,” set in present-day San Francisco, is a cautionary tale about experiments with genetic engineering. In the movie, those experiments lead to the development of intelligence in apes, and the onset of a war for supremacy.