The development of the Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes, has been moving forward for quite some time now. While most of what we've heard has been innuendo and rumor, it now looks that the film is going to be a reality – as it now has a release date and a confirmed director.

Also, unlike every other Planet of the Apes film (including the Tim Burton remake) the film will use CGI to create the apes in the film.

Fox has announced that Rise of the Apes opens next year on June 24th, and that Rupert Wyatt will be calling the shots on this new installment of the long-running science fiction franchise. Wyatt’s name has been mentioned in conjunction with the project for awhile, but this is the first official confirmation from the studio that he’s helming the film.

Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital has now come on board to handle the effects on the film. While it’s a shame that there won’t be any practical make up effects used in this new installment, it does make sense as this film is essentially a prequel to the original Charlton Heston Planet of the Apes. This means that the apes in the film will be normal apes that are used for scientific testing, so a man in a suit (or possibly a woman or a child) would be pretty unfeasible. At least Weta has had practice with digital apes after creating the effects for Peter Jackson's King Kong.

The new film will follow a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer’s and his test ape, Caesar. The tests result in Caesar becoming more and more intelligent, culminating in Caesar leading an army of apes in an uprising against the human race.

While I’m excited by the prospect of a new Planet of the Apes film, I'm quite worried that this new film will ruin the mystique of how the apes took over the world. Having said that, what we’ve heard about the project makes it sound like there might be a bit more bite to this than the usual big-budget franchise film. Although, as the film is set up at Fox, there is a chance that Rise of the Apes has had the rougher aspects smoothed out to make it a palatable summer blockbuster.

We should find out further details soon enough, as the film will have to start shooting soon in order to meet the targeted release date.

You can discover all details on Rise of the Apes (or as it has also been known: Caesar: Rise of the Apes, or Caesar, and Genisis: Apes) here at Screen Rant. As stated the film will be in theaters on June 24th, 2011.

Source: CHUD