Planet Of The Apes Re-Reboot Is Back On

Not happy to simply do it once, Fox is now re-rebooting Planet of the Apes. NY Mag says the studio has handed the project over to producer Peter Chernin.

Previously, the project was reported to be in the hands of The Lookout's Scott Frank, but Frank left and now they’re rebooting the re-reboot process. Dizzying, but Frank’s departure didn’t kill the project and they’re going forward again, ready to deliver more man on monkey action.

Frank’s version was supposed to be an origin story, the tale of how chimps took over Earth, starting with one hyper-intelligent chimp named Cesar. 20th Century Fox wanted a different direction, Frank exited, and now they’re getting it. No word on exactly what that different direction is, Frank's script is likely being redone in some fashion, though I suppose they could go back to starting with an astronaut crash landing on a mysterious, monkey run world… but it’s only been nine years since we saw Tim Burton’s take on that. Scott Frank’s idea seems like a good way to reboot the franchise without simply repeating what they did in the last reboot. On the other hand no one really seemed to like Tim Burton’s take, so even if they do simply repeat it, it’s not like they’re pulling a Spider-Man.