# Planet of the Apes (2001 film)
*Planet of the Apes* is a 2001 American science fiction film directed by [Tim Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-burton), in which astronaut Leo Davidson ([Mark Wahlberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-wahlberg)) crash-lands on an uncharted planet where talking apes dominate humans, and must outrun a gorilla army led by the ruthless General Thade ([Tim Roth](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-roth)) to reach a temple holding secrets about mankind's past.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/planet-of-the-apes) Produced by Richard D. Zanuck for Twentieth Century Fox and released on July 27, 2001, it is based on Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel *La planète des singes* and stands apart from both the 1968 film of the same name and the later reboot series.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/planet-of-the-apes) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62155-PLANET-OF-THE-APES)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | July 27, 2001 (United States), Twentieth Century Fox; PG-13; 120 minutes[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/planet-of-the-apes) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62155-PLANET-OF-THE-APES) |
| Source | Based on the novel *La planète des singes* by Pierre Boulle (Paris, 1963)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62155-PLANET-OF-THE-APES) |
| Principal cast | Mark Wahlberg (Capt. Leo Davidson), Tim Roth (Thade), Helena Bonham Carter (Ari), Michael Clarke Duncan (Attar), Kris Kristofferson (Karubi)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62155-PLANET-OF-THE-APES) |
| Box office | $180,011,740 domestic, $182,200,000 international, $362,211,740 worldwide, on a $100,000,000 production budget[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Planet-of-the-Apes-%282001%29) |
| Critical reception | 42% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (201 reviews); Metascore 50 on Metacritic (34 reviews)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1108704-planet_of_the_apes) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133152/criticreviews/) |
| Makeup | Special makeup designed and created by six-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker; visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic[6](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml) |
| Franchise status | A standalone entry with no sequel; the series was rebooted in 2011 with *Rise of the Planet of the Apes*[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film follows Leo Davidson, an astronaut aboard the space research station Oberon. Chasing Pericles, a genetically engineered chimp pilot, he flies into the cosmic storm that swallowed the station and finds himself carried to the year 5021, where a role reversal between humans and apes has arisen from the Oberon having crashed millennia before he gets there.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure) Upon crashing on the planet's surface, a jungle rather than the desert of the 1968 film, Leo is captured by hyper-intelligent primates and held prisoner.[8](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/how-to-watch-the-planet-of-the-apes-movies-in-order)
Leo is helped to escape by a sympathetic chimp named Ari ([Helena Bonham Carter](https://www.edgepedia.org/helena-bonham-carter)) and mounts a rebellion against General Thade, whose gorilla army he must outrun to reach a sacred temple.[8](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/how-to-watch-the-planet-of-the-apes-movies-in-order) • [1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/planet-of-the-apes) The film ends with a twist in which Leo returns to an alternate Earth and finds a statue of Thade in the place of the [Lincoln Memorial](https://www.edgepedia.org/lincoln-memorial), an "Ape Lincoln" finale that attempts to echo the [Statue of Liberty](https://www.edgepedia.org/statue-of-liberty) shocker of the 1968 original.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure)
### Place in the franchise
The 2001 film is a standalone entry in its own continuity, separate from the original five films (1968 to 1973) and from the reboot series that began with *Rise of the Planet of the Apes* in 2011.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure) Retrospective coverage has treated it as a divisive entry with both notable missteps and unsung merits, and some critics have re-examined it more favorably than initial reviews allowed.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure) • [16](https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/98353/1/2024PinsentBPhD.pdf)
## Development and production
The project was long-gestating. Filmmakers including [Peter Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-jackson), Oliver Stone, Chris Columbus, and [James Cameron](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-cameron) considered it at one point before Burton took it on.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure) Burton said the film was not a remake as such but a reversal of the material, and he preferred the term "re-imagination."[9](https://www.phase9.tv/planet-of-the-apes-2001-q-and-a-interview-with-tim-burton/) • [10](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2001/07/25/films/film-reviews/stranded-on-planet-hollywood/) [Richard D. Zanuck](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-d-zanuck), who had green-lit the 1968 original, produced the new version; Burton recalled that the studio brought Zanuck to him and that the film did not get its green light until a couple of weeks before shooting began, with work effectively getting underway around Halloween 2000.[9](https://www.phase9.tv/planet-of-the-apes-2001-q-and-a-interview-with-tim-burton/) The shoot lasted 80 days, which Burton called the quickest of his career for a film of that scale.[9](https://www.phase9.tv/planet-of-the-apes-2001-q-and-a-interview-with-tim-burton/)
The screenplay is credited to William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner, and Mark Rosenthal.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/planet-of-the-apes) Broyles, Fox's writer on *Cast Away* and an Oscar-nominated co-writer of *Apollo 13*, described Burton's world as decidedly non-terrestrial and said the film asks viewers to look at people across a deep divide in a different way.[6](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml)
**Ape school and movement.** In August 2000, all the actors playing simians enrolled in "ape school" under [Terry Notary](https://www.edgepedia.org/terry-notary), a former UCLA gymnast turned [Cirque du Soleil](https://www.edgepedia.org/cirque-du-soleil) performer.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-06-ca-59780-story.html) Burton said he wanted a mixture of ape and human behavior rather than the complete reversal of the first film, with different levels of ape-like movement depending on the character; the Tim Roth character, intent on keeping ape purity, behaved more like an ape.[9](https://www.phase9.tv/planet-of-the-apes-2001-q-and-a-interview-with-tim-burton/) Contemporary accounts credited the result, together with makeup far superior to the original's masks, with making the apes more convincing.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2001/07/29/for-tim-burton-apes-is-enough/004635b7-ea7c-4728-9314-b3bbb50cffc7/)
## Makeup and craft
[Rick Baker](https://www.edgepedia.org/rick-baker), a six-time Academy Award winner, designed and created the special makeup, and Burton said the practical approach was chosen to keep the film actor-driven and performance-based, giving the actors playing apes subtlety of expression.[6](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml) Baker had prior primate experience on *Gorillas in the Mist*, *Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes*, and *Mighty Joe Young*, and said the original film's makeup, great for its time, had essentially used one sculpture duplicated for everyone in gorilla, chimp, and orangutan versions.[6](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml) A retrospective assessment called Baker's practical work one of the production's finest achievements, while noting that Helena Bonham Carter's chimp Ari often drew comparisons to a [Dr. Seuss](https://www.edgepedia.org/dr-seuss) character.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure)
Burton assembled longtime collaborators: production designer Rick Heinrichs, a friend since college who has worked on all of Burton's films; costume designer [Colleen Atwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/colleen-atwood); composer [Danny Elfman](https://www.edgepedia.org/danny-elfman); and editor Chris Lebenzon.[6](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml) Philippe Rousselot served as director of photography, and Industrial Light & Magic created the special visual effects.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62155-PLANET-OF-THE-APES) • [6](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml) Atwood's costumes used a burnished red as a predominant color and mixed asymmetrical Asian design with Incan and ancient Turkish influences, scaled up to complement the oversized simian heads.[13](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-06-ca-59781-story.html)
## Box office and reception
The film opened in the United States on July 27, 2001 with a three-day take of $68,532,960, which the Guardian reported at the time as a record-breaking opening of nearly $70 million, attributed by Fox executives to the pull of the original property, Wahlberg's rising star power, and Burton's reputation.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Planet-of-the-Apes-%282001%29) • [14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/aug/03/artsfeatures) It finished with $180,011,740 domestically and $362,211,740 worldwide against a $100,000,000 production budget.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Planet-of-the-Apes-%282001%29)
Critical response was poor. The film holds 42% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and a Metascore of 50.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1108704-planet_of_the_apes) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133152/criticreviews/) Roger Ebert, the Chicago Sun-Times critic, gave it 63 and wrote that Burton had made a film respectful to the original and respectable in itself, but that it was not enough.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133152/criticreviews/) Recurring criticisms targeted the story and the ending; the Independent's Jonathan Romney wrote that what was missing was a single sharp new idea or a searching critical angle on the original.[15](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/planet-of-the-apes-12-9134939.html) A Space retrospective described the release as coming "to awful reviews" despite the respectable box office, ending studio hopes of immediately reviving the franchise.[7](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure)
## References
1. [Planet of the Apes (2001), 20th Century Studios](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/planet-of-the-apes)
2. [Planet of the Apes (2001), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62155-PLANET-OF-THE-APES)
3. [Planet of the Apes (2001), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Planet-of-the-Apes-%282001%29)
4. [Planet of the Apes, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1108704-planet_of_the_apes)
5. [Planet of the Apes (2001), Metacritic reviews via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133152/criticreviews/)
6. [Planet of the Apes: Production Notes, Cinema.com](https://www.cinema.com/articles/501/planet-of-the-apes-production-notes.phtml)
7. [25 years on, 2001's 'Planet of the Apes' has become a bit of a guilty pleasure, Space.com](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/25-years-on-2001s-planet-of-the-apes-has-become-a-bit-of-a-guilty-pleasure)
8. [How To Watch The Planet Of The Apes Movies In Order, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/how-to-watch-the-planet-of-the-apes-movies-in-order)
9. [Planet of the Apes (2001) – Q&A interview with Tim Burton, Phase9](https://www.phase9.tv/planet-of-the-apes-2001-q-and-a-interview-with-tim-burton/)
10. [Stranded on Planet Hollywood, The Japan Times](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2001/07/25/films/film-reviews/stranded-on-planet-hollywood/)
11. [Remaking, Not Aping, an Original, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-06-ca-59780-story.html)
12. [For Tim Burton, 'Apes' Is Enough, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2001/07/29/for-tim-burton-apes-is-enough/004635b7-ea7c-4728-9314-b3bbb50cffc7/)
13. [Making Faces on a Wild New 'Planet', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-06-ca-59781-story.html)
14. [The ape man, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/aug/03/artsfeatures)
15. [Planet of the Apes (12), The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/planet-of-the-apes-12-9134939.html)
16. [Examined by the Light of the Moon (PhD thesis, University of East Anglia)](https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/98353/1/2024PinsentBPhD.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Disney live-action remake and remake-cycle film entries*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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