{"id":71362,"date":"2026-07-24T19:17:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=71362"},"modified":"2026-07-24T19:17:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:17:58","slug":"what-made-tim-burtons-much-hyped-planet-of-the-apes-such-a-confusing-mess-25-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=71362","title":{"rendered":"What made Tim Burton\u2019s much-hyped Planet of the Apes such a confusing mess 25 years ago?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/07\/20\/69433b2d-87eb-4de9-9492-a77b1804af9c_796f2439.jpg?itok=m2n3j0zU&amp;v=1784525473\" \/><\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Planet of the Apes is one of the most feted of all film franchises. Based on the 1963 book by French author Pierre Boulle, who also wrote <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">The Bridge over the River Kwai<\/em>, it includes the 1968-73 movie series, a 1974 TV show, <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">a 2011-17 trilogy<\/span>, and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Tim Burton<\/span>\u2019s 2001 outlier, which turns 25 this month.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Released at the height of the American civil rights movement, the original 1968 adaptation starred Charlton Heston as an astronaut who crash-lands on a planet where humans are slaves to apes. It featured some iconic lines, a knotty racial subtext and one of the greatest twist endings of all time. In short, it left a lot to live up to.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The idea of a remake had been bandied about for years. At one point Arnold Schwarzenegger was set to star, with filmmakers as diverse as Oliver Stone, James Cameron and Peter Jackson attached at different times.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Burton \u2013 a Hollywood maverick with a flair for cerebral, left-of-centre fare such as <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Edward Scissorhands<\/em>, not to mention 1989\u2019s global smash hit <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Batman<\/em> \u2013 promised to bring his own unique perspective to the material.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t interested in doing a remake or a sequel of the original <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Planet of the Apes<\/em> film,\u201d he told critic David Hughes. \u201cBut I was intrigued by the idea of revisiting that world. Like a lot of people, I was affected by the original film. I wanted to do a \u2018reimagining\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"methode-html-wrapper oembed-wrapper e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"e2gky7d0 e1drg7e30 e1ciypty0 ehdmpxk0 css-1avyp1d e1hpd36k0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<div class=\"e1hpd36k3 css-79hwxn e1x11wau0\" data-qa=\"SCMPYouTubeVideoFooter-VideoTitleContainer\"><default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"25\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 25\" fill=\"none\" data-qa=\"SCMPYouTubeVideoFooter-StyledVideoRecorder\" class=\"css-1nnwg93 e1x11wau1\"><default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M22 6.22926V18.4315L17.5463 13.9868V17.8655C17.5463 18.1618 17.4383 18.4248 17.2228 18.6531C17.0067 18.8829 16.7498 18.9967 16.4537 18.9967H3.13414C2.80989 18.9967 2.53968 18.8829 2.32425 18.6531C2.10808 18.4248 2 18.1618 2 17.8655V6.79519C2 6.49893 2.10808 6.23665 2.32425 6.00688C2.53968 5.77858 2.80989 5.66333 3.13414 5.66333H16.4537C16.7498 5.66333 17.0067 5.77858 17.2228 6.00688C17.4383 6.23665 17.5463 6.49893 17.5463 6.79519V10.674L22 6.22926Z\" fill=\"#001246\"\/><\/default:svg><\/p>\n<p>Planet Of The Apes | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It must have seemed like a good omen that Richard D. Zanuck, who was president of 20th Century Fox in the late 1960s, signed on to produce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/entertainment\/article\/3361171\/what-made-tim-burtons-much-hyped-planet-apes-such-confusing-mess-25-years-ago?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Planet of the Apes is one of the most feted of all film franchises. Based on the 1963 book by French author Pierre Boulle, who&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[22212,27119,15977,6223,27120,8540,7644,59],"class_list":["post-71362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-apes","tag-burtons","tag-confusing","tag-mess","tag-muchhyped","tag-planet","tag-tim","tag-years","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}