Planet of the Apes (1968 film)

Origins

Producer Arthur P. Jacobs bought the rights for the Pierre Boulle novel before its publication in 1963. Jacobs pitched the production to many studios, and in late 1964, the project was announced as a Warner Bros. production, with Blake Edwards attached to direct.^[11][12] After Jacobs made a successful debut as a producer doing What a Way to Go! (1964) for 20th Century-Fox and begun pre-production of another film for the studio, Doctor Dolittle, he managed to convince Fox vice president Richard D. Zanuck to greenlight Planet of the Apes.^[13] In March 1965, Edwards bowed out of the project due to "budgeting and production problems", and embarked a six-picture deal with The Mirisch Company.^[14]

One script that came close to being made was written by The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, though it was finally rejected for a number of reasons. A prime concern was cost, as the technologically advanced ape society portrayed by Serling's script would have involved expensive sets, props, and special effects. Previously blacklisted screenwriter Michael Wilson was brought in to rewrite Serling's script, and as suggested by director Franklin J. Schaffner, the ape society was made more primitive as a way of reducing costs. Serling's stylized twist ending was retained, and became one of the most famous movie endings of all time. The exact location and state of decay of the Statue of Liberty changed over several storyboards. One version depicted the statue buried up to its nose in the middle of a jungle, while another depicted the statue in pieces.^[13]

To convince Fox that a Planet of the Apes film could be made, the producers shot a brief test scene from a Rod Serling draft of the script, using early versions of the ape makeup, on March 8, 1966. Charlton Heston appeared as an early version of Taylor (named Thomas, as he was in the Serling-penned drafts), Edward G. Robinson appeared as Zaius, while two then-unknown Fox contract actors, James Brolin and Linda Harrison, played Cornelius and Zira. Harrison, who was at the time the girlfriend of studio chief Richard D. Zanuck, went on to be cast as Nova. Jacobs had at first considered Ursula Andress, then screen tested Angelique Pettyjohn, and even considered doing an international talent search for the role before Harrison's casting.^[15][16] Robinson wound up not joining the cast due to his declining health.^[17]

Michael Wilson's rewrite kept the basic structure of Serling's screenplay, but rewrote all the dialogue and set the script in a more primitive society. According to associate producer Mort Abrahams, an additional uncredited writer (his only recollection was that the writer's last name was Kelly) polished the script, rewrote some of the dialogue, and included some of the more heavy-handed tongue-in-cheek dialogue ("I never met an ape I didn't like"), which was not in either Serling or Wilson's drafts. According to Abrahams, some scenes, such as the one where the judges imitate the "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil" monkeys, were improvised on the set by director Schaffner and kept in the final film because of the audience reaction during test screenings prior to release.^[18] During filming, John Chambers, who designed prosthetic makeup in the film,^[6] held training sessions at 20th Century-Fox studios, where he mentored other makeup artists of the film.^[19]

Filming

Filming began on May 21, 1967, and wrapped on August 10. Most of the early scenes of a desert-like terrain were shot in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, Lake Powell,^[18]: 61 Glen Canyon^[18]: 61 and other locations near Page, Arizona^[18]: 59 Most scenes of the ape village, interiors and exteriors, were filmed on the Fox Ranch^[18]: 68 in Malibu Creek State Park, northwest of Los Angeles, essentially the backlot of 20th Century-Fox. The concluding beach scenes were filmed on a stretch of California seacoast between Malibu and Oxnard, with cliffs that towered 130 feet (40 m) above the shore. Reaching the beach on foot was virtually impossible, so cast, crew, film equipment, and even horses had to be lowered in by helicopter.^[18]: 79

The remains of the Statue of Liberty were shot in a secluded cove on the far eastern end of Westward Beach, between Zuma Beach and Point Dume in Malibu.^[20] As noted in the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes,^[13] the special effect shot of the half-buried statue was achieved by seamlessly blending a matte painting with existing cliffs. The shot looking down at Taylor was done from a 70-foot (21 m) scaffold, angled over a 1⁄2-scale papier-mache model of the statue. The actors in Planet of the Apes were so affected by their roles and wardrobe that when not shooting, they automatically segregated themselves into groups of the species they were portraying.^[21] Lou Wagner said that the makeup was particularly heavy in the area of the mouth and made it difficult to drink anything.^[22]

At one point, Nova was decided to be pregnant, and scenes were filmed around the Page locations revealing Nova's pregnancy. In the penultimate drafts of Planet of the Apes, Taylor was killed by the bullet of an ape sniper, while Nova, pregnant with Taylor's child, escaped and vanished into the Forbidden Zone. Although Harrison believed Heston rejected the idea of Nova's pregnancy, those scenes were deleted, according to screenwriter Michael Wilson, "at the insistence of a high-echelon Fox executive who found it distasteful. Why? I suppose that, if one defines the mute Nova as merely 'humanoid' and not actually human, it would mean that Taylor had committed sodomy."^[23] Nova's pregnancy was thought to detract from the film's ending. In any case, all Harrison's scenes with Heston and Hunter in the sequence of Nova's pregnancy were cut. "There's probably a great deal of footage of it somewhere."^[24]

Critical response

Planet of the Apes received good reviews at the time of its release. Several critics praised the film's pacing, social commentary, and science fiction ideas.^[25] Pauline Kael called it "one of the most entertaining science-fiction fantasies ever to come out of Hollywood".^[26] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four and called it "much better than I expected it to be. It is quickly paced, completely entertaining, and its philosophical pretensions don't get in the way".^[27] Renata Adler of The New York Times wrote, "It is no good at all, but fun, at moments, to watch."^[28] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "an amazing film." He thought the script "at times digresses into low comedy", but "the totality of the film works very well".^[29] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "A triumph of artistry and imagination, it is at once a timely parable and a grand adventure on an epic scale."^[30] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it an "amusing and unusually engrossing picture."^[31]

Decades later, it is widely regarded as a classic. It was rated one of the best films of 1968.^[32][33] As of August 2025^[update], the film has an 86% rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 96 reviews with an average rating of 7.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Planet of the Apes raises thought-provoking questions about our culture without letting social commentary get in the way of the drama and action."^[34] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 79 out of 100 based on 14 reviews.^[35] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.^[36]

Box office

According to Fox records, the film required $12,850,000 in theater rentals to break even, and made $20,825,000—a large profit for the studio.^[37]

Accolades

The film won an honorary Academy Award for John Chambers for his outstanding makeup achievement. The film was nominated for Best Costume Design (Morton Haack) and Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) (Jerry Goldsmith).^[38] The score is known for its avant-garde compositional techniques, as well as the use of unusual percussion instruments and extended performance techniques, as well as his 12-tone music (the violin part using all 12 chromatic notes) to give an eerie, unsettled feel to the planet, mirroring the sense of placelessness.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated^[39]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #59^[40]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Colonel George Taylor – Nominated Hero^[41]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" – #66^[42]
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – #18^[43]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated^[44]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Science Fiction Film^[45]

National Film Registry

• Among the 25 films inducted into the Library of Congress for 2001^[46]

Original series sequels

Writer Rod Serling was brought back to work on an outline for a sequel. Serling's outline was ultimately discarded in favor of an original story and screenplay by associate producer Mort Abrahams and writer Paul Dehn, which became the basis for Beneath the Planet of the Apes.^{[18][page needed]} The original film series had four sequels:

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
• Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Television series

• Planet of the Apes (1974)
• Return to the Planet of the Apes (animated) (1975)

Remake

• Planet of the Apes (2001): A reimagining of the original film, directed by Tim Burton.

Reboot series

• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011): A series reboot, directed by Rupert Wyatt, was released on August 5, 2011, to critical and commercial success. It is the first installment in the new series of films.^[10]
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014): The second entry in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, directed by Matt Reeves, was released on July 11, 2014.^[47][48]
• War for the Planet of the Apes (2017): The third film in the reboot series, directed by Matt Reeves, was released on July 14, 2017.^[49][50][51]
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024): The fourth entry in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, directed by Wes Ball. It was released on May 10, 2024.^[52]

Documentaries

• Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998) A feature-length making-of documentary on the original film and TV series, hosted by Roddy McDowall.

Comics

• Comic book adaptations of the films were published by Gold Key (1970) and Marvel Comics (b/w magazine 1974–1977,^[53] color comic book 1975–76).^[54] Malibu Comics reprinted the Marvel adaptations when it held the license in the early 1990s, as well as producing new stories including Ape Nation, a crossover with Alien Nation. Dark Horse Comics published an adaptation for the 2001 Tim Burton film. Currently Boom! Studios has the licensing rights to Planet of the Apes. Its stories tell the tale of Ape City and its inhabitants before Taylor arrived. In July 2014, Boom! Studios and IDW Publishing published a crossover between Planet of the Apes and the original Star Trek series. In 2018, the original 1968 film's unused screenplay by Rod Serling was adapted into a graphic novel entitled Planet of the Apes: Visionaries.^[55][56]