Even among Tim Burton’s most loyal fans, you won’t find many supporters of his 2001 Planet of the Apes remake. Although the movie made some decent money, it was so poorly received that Fox didn’t dare attempt a sequel. Years later, however, they still haven’t been able to let go of this potentially lucrative franchise, and for a while now now we’ve been hearing rumours about a possible prequel in development.

Earlier this month it was reported that screenwriter (and potential director) Scott Frank (The Lookout, Minority Report) had left the project due to creative differences, and it looked like it was probably going to be shelved. Well, no such luck, my friends… the Planet of the Apes prequel still lives!

According to Vulture, the movie is being taken over by former Fox Entertainment Group CEO Peter Chernin, and they have hired Street Kings scribe Jamie Moss to do a rewrite. It seems that the idea is to make Frank’s version substantially less dark (and probably a lot less interesting). With Frank at the helm, this might have been something worthwhile, but without a strong vision behind it, I’d say it’s doomed. Either way, they seem intent on fast-tracking the movie, and they’ll probably be looking for directors soon. What do you think, would you like to see a Planet of the Apes prequel, or should Fox just leave it alone?

Around the Web: