Planet of the Apes was the sixth movie of this franchise. This movie was not a continuation of the fifth part, but an alternative sequel to the first part, which was released in 1968, with the same title. This sci-fi movie was released on 27th July, 2001. The story of the movie was about an astronaut, Leo Davidson, whose plane crash- landed on a planet, ruled by intelligent apes and the humans are treated as slaves. The story unfolds when Leo with the help of an ape, Ari, started a revolution against the prevailing ape regime, present at that time.
As the film was about an alien planet, it is obvious that the makers had a tough job, in creating the space like environment, animals and other props while making this film. The actual date of principal photography was October 2000, but it was postponed to November 2000, due financial issues between the makers and the producer (20th Century Fox). The shooting ended in April 2001. Most of the scenes were shot in Lake Powell, but unfortunately the drought hit the place and the crew had to create an artificial lake for the background images.
Fox wanted to create apes with the help of CGI, but the director of the film, Tim Burton had intentions to use prosthetic makeup for the apes. It took 4.5 hours in giving the look of apes to the actors and hours to take out those stuffs. Not only that, the actors had to visit the ape’s school, to learn the movements and emotions of the apes. The VFX works were done in the “Industrial Light & Magic”, “Rhythm and Hues Studios” and “Animal Logic”. Colleen Atwood designed different costumes for the film and Rick Heinrichs did the production designing.
The movie received mixed response from the critics because of the confuse ending. The use of the prosthetic makeup was the one, which helped this movie in receiving some positive comments around the globe. In spite of the reviews, the film did well at the box office and was a commercial hit. The VFX works of this movie were not up to the mark, but some parts of this movie cannot be ignored. Due to this genre of movie and the contribution they make in the field of VFX, the quality of the movies is increasing day by day. In fact, the demand for VFX artists is also increasing every day. Many career aspirants are taking up the VFX courses for the better future. Be a part of this field and make your future bright.
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