Planet of the Apes (movie) facts for kids

The cast of the Planet of the Apes TV series: James Naughton as Burke, Ron Harper as Virdon, and Roddy McDowall as Galen

Planet of the Apes is an American science fiction movie released in 1968 and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It was based on the novel La planète des singes written by Pierre Boulle and released in 1963. The movie stars Charlton Heston and features Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison. It was released by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

The film's story is about an astronaut crew who leave Earth on a deep space mission and crash land on a supposedly alien planet in the 40th century. Ony three out of the four crew members survive the crash and the survivors find the world to be home to a society of apes; including chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. These apes have the intelligence of human beings as well as the ability to speak and walk upright like humans. Humans in this society are treated like slaves and live in the wilderness without the ability to speak. At the end of the movie, one of the crew members finds the Statue of Liberty and realizes they were on Earth all along.

Reception and influence

Planet of the Apes was a box office success, meaning it earned a good amount of money and got highly favourable reviews from critics. The movie was given praise for exploring ideas such as class differences, religion, slavery, racism, and nuclear technology. It was followed by 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), and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). A live action television show was shown in 1974 and an animated television show called Return to the Planet of the Apes came out in 1975. The animated cartoon The Fairly Oddparents episode Abra-Catastrophe has a segment where humans are slave cavemen and the apes are their overlords.

In 2001, a remake of the movie was made directed by Tim Burton and starred Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Roth. In August 2011, the series was rebooted with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This was followed in 2014 with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with a 2017 sequel released War of the Planet of the Apes.

Images for kids

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  First American edition of Boulle's novel, titled Planet of the Apes

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  Charlton Heston, star of Planet of the Apes

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  Franklin J. Schaffner, director of Planet of the Apes

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  Roddy McDowall returned as Cornelius in Escape from the Planet of the Apes. He would go on to star in two more Apes films and the live-action television series.

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  Tim Burton, director of the 2001 Planet of the Apes

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  Andy Serkis portrayed Caesar via performance capture acting

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  Director and cast of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (from left): Matt Reeves and stars Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, and Andy Serkis

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  Fans in costume as Dr. Zaius and Dr. Zira at a science fiction convention

See also

In Spanish: El planeta de los simios (franquicia) para niños