PLANET OF THE APES (2001)
MORGAN'S GRADE
It is the year 2029: Astronaut Leo Davidson boards a pod cruiser on a Space Station for a routine reconnaissance mission. But an abrupt detour through a space time wormhole lands him on a strange planet where talking apes rule over the human race. With the help of a sympathetic chimpanzee activist named Ari and a small band of human rebels, Leo leads the effort to evade the advancing Gorilla Army lead by General Thade and his most trusted warrior Attar. Now the race is on to reach a sacred temple within the planet's Forbidden Zone to discover the shocking secrets of mankind's past -- and the key to it's future. 
Mark Whalberg (Leo Davidson), Tim Roth (General Thade), Helena Bonham Carter (Ari), Michael Clarke Duncan (Attar), Kris Kristofferson (Karubi), Estella Warren (Daena), Paul Giamatti (Limbo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Krull), Erick Avari (Tival), Luke Eberl (Birn), Evan Dexter Parke (Gunnar), Freda Foh Shen (Bon), David Warner (Senator Sandar), Glenn Shadix (Senator Nado), Lisa Marie (Nova), Charlton Heston (Thade's Father), Rick Baker (Old Ape), Emmy Collins (Gorilla/Human Outcast), Linda Harrison (Woman in cart), Eric Lichtenberg (Red Army chimpanzee, uncredited), Anne Ramsay.
RULE THE PLANET.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton (Batman).
WRITERS: William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and based on the novel by Pierre Boulle.
PRODUCER: Richard D. Zanuck.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Ralph Winter and Ross Fanger.
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Danny Elfman.
DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox
QUOTES
[Prying open Leo's mouth.]
General Thade: Is there a soul in there?
Attar: Take your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human!
FACTS
Thade's Father: Damn them!
General Thade: I will stop them, father.
Thade's Father: Damn them...damn them all to hell!
RELEASE DATE: July 27th, 2001 (USA)
DVD RELEASE DATE: November 20th, 2001 (USA)
BOX OFFICE OPENING: $68.5 million (USA)
BOX OFFICE RESULT: $180.0 million (USA)
BUDGET: $100 million (USA)
SHOOTING DATES: November 2000 -- April 2001
- Estella Warren is 5'9" and Mark Walhberg is 5'7 1/2". Walhberg was placed on a platform in his scenes with actress Estella Warren so as to appear to be taller than her.
- Michael Clarke Duncan sprained his ankle during filming and was forced to go to the hospital in his full gorilla makeup.
- Mark Wahlberg joined the film after meeting with director Tim Burton for only five minutes. He was so anxious to work with him that he agreed to play any part.
- Exterior shots were filmed at Lake Powell, Arizona. The same location as the original Planet of the Apes (1968).
- The desert battle sequence was shot at Trona Peaks, California -- the same location used for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) God-world scenes. 
- Charlton Heston, spokesman for the NRA, is the only ape on the planet with a gun.
- Nominated for two 2002 Razzie Awards for: Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Supporting Actor (Charlton Heston).
Tival: Apes are afraid of the water. They can't swim.
Ari: We drown!
Daena: Which is why every day we pray for rain.
Capt. Leo Davidson: Never send a monkey to do a man's job.
CRITICAL COMMENTS
"Begins with both polish and promise and boasts consistently strong visuals. But plot structure, never a Burton forte, dissolves in a fizzle of fits and start, and the ending is a real groaner." -- Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News
"A campy, juiced-up ker-splat, busy with clumsy pyro-technics and never nearing the vicinity of satire." -- Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
"One more disappointment in a summer of lackluster 'event pictures.'" -- James Berardinelli, ReelViews
- Thade's Father (Charlton Heston) says, "Damn them...damn them all to hell!" -- Heston's famous line from the original 1968 film.
- Director Tim Burton has been quoted on saying he has a fear of monkeys.
- When released on DVD, 20th Century Fox included a card to try to explain the reworked Tim Burton ending. It said "Maybe someone went back to earth before Capt. Leo Davidson."
- Make up designer Rick Baker appears as an old ape.
- The starship Oberon is named adter a selfish faerie King of immense power in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Thade is based on Hideko Tojo, the Japanese military leader who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
- While on the space station, an annoucement is made on the loudspeaker that says "Lt. Bowman, please report to the bridge". This is a reference to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
- Linda Harrison, who played Nova in the first two films of the original five-part series, appears as a cage human in this film.
"This will not be remembered as the finest hour for Burton's neo-Goth sensibilities." -- Jay Carr, Boston Globe
"It's a shame, because visually the film is astounding. Burton's bold style and unique point of view are front and center. Yet Apes is a classic example of 'all dressed up with nowhere to go.'" -- Paul Clinton, CNN Showbiz
"Ten years from now, it will be the 1968 version that people are still renting." -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
"Easily the best of this summer's generally rotten serving of popcorn movies, Planet keeps you on the edge of your seat for nearly two hours." -- Jonathan Foreman, New York Post