In what may or may not be a vote of confidence in the film, 20th Century Fox has moved up the release date of Rise of the Apes from November 23 to August.
The prequel to Planet of the Apes will now hit theaters on August 5 and could be one of the last tentpole films of the summer.
Other movies opening on Aug. 5 include Universal’s comedy The Change-Up, Summit’s sci-fi alien invasion film The Darkest Hour and Sony’s The Smurfs.
Rise of the Apes — an origins story set in modern-day San Francisco — was originally to have opened in June, but Fox pushed back the opening to Nov. 23. Directed by Rupert Wyatt, Rise of the Apes stars James Franco, Freida Pinto and Andy Serkis.
Yeah, I can see Apes losing to Smurfs. Sad to say it, but there it is.
I can actually see a smurf whining “Get your stinking paws off me you smurfy ape!”
I skipped “Alien vs Predator,” but I’d pay to see “Ape vs Smurf.”
Planet Of The Apes had several “pre-quels” in terms of the timeline. Those would be:
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
Even though these movies came out as sequels in the Apes franchise, these three movies told the story as to how the Apes rose up and became the dominant life form on Earth.
We don’t need to see this story told again.