20th Century Fox, who have started pre-production @ Burnaby, BC's Mammoth Studios, for the big budget "Planet of the Apes" prequel "Rise of the Apes", directed by Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist"), is prepping for a mid-July start, targeting a June 24, 2011 release."ROTA" will use computer-generated apes created by Peter Jackson's WETA Digital, rather than monkey around with costumed actors in rubber suits, with moving lips that don't sync up.
To be set in San Francisco, the sci fi feature is described as a cautionary tale in which "man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.""...'Will' is a doctor trying to cure Alzheimers, a disease that afflicts his father. He's working with monkeys to create a benign virus that can get into brain tissue and restore functionality. After his research is shut down he's left with just one chimp, the child of his most promising subject and Will raises him at home.
"Young 'Caesar' is incredibly intelligent for an ape, and over time continues to mutate and evolve, looking less like a chimp and moving on from sign language to actual speech.
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"Eventually Caesar ends up leading an army of apes in an uprising just as a catastrophe strikes mankind..."
