THE APES OF WRATH

By Steve Pond

From TV Guide, 07.28.2001

On the set of Tim Burton's $100 million Planet of the Apes epic, fur flies, humans are humbled, and the monkeys get down to business.

The setting is a dark, overgrown city, a community carved out of stone, shaded by trees and laced with creeping vines. Candlelight shines from distant windows perched 20 feet above a stone plaza; strange carvings are dimly visble on the dark rocks that jut out between the trees.

In the midst of these otherworldy surroundings, a man with tangled hair and filthy clothes picks up a torch and runs headlong toward a group of foes: two dozen gorillas clad in black armor. The biggest, most fearsome of the bunch - a silverback standing well over six feet and weighing on the high side of 300 pounds - leaps towards him with a fierce growl. In an instant, the gorilla's feet slip out from under him and he bowls over the man like a base runner breaking up a double play.

The two disentangle themselves from each other and offer apologies; turns out it's Kris Kristofferson with the greasy hair and Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile") beneath the gorilla mask. Nearby, a black-clad man with a mop of unkempt hair and a wild look observes the scene and shakes his head. "When animals attack," Tim Burton mutters.

This is the world of Burton's "Planet of the Apes", a new take on a legendary film franchise from the inventive director of such films as "Sleepy Hollow" and "Batman". Rougher and more adrenalized than the 1968 original, this is a different planet, with different apes. Mark Wahlberg ("The Perfect Storm") may play the same kind of role that Charlton Heston had in the first film - an astronaut who crashes into a world where the evolutionary scale has been turned on its head - but only the setup is the same.

"We're recreating the upside-down world, where humans are subservient to apes," says Richard D. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox when the first two "Apes" movies were made and producer of the new film. "It's a play on that premise - but other than that, everything is brand new."

"It's not an easy film to sell," says Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. "Sony did the right thing by playing in limited markets first, generating good reviews and good word of mouth, so by the time it went national this weekend, people had heard of the film. Four Golden Globe nominations helped, too."

Two new releases had mediocre openings. The urban comedy My Baby's Daddy wrapped up $7.8 million for a No. 6 debut. Chasing Liberty, the latest romantic comedy from pop star Mandy Moore, opened at No. 7 with $6 million.

At No. 3, Steve Martin's Cheaper by the Dozen comedy continued strong business among family moviegoers, pulling in $12 million to cross the $100 million mark Its three-week total: $101.4 million. Something's Gotta Give was No. 4 with $8.2 million, followed by Cold Mountain with $7.9 million.

Rounding out the bottom were Ben Affleck's Paycheck at No. 8 with $5.2 million, Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai ($4.53 million) and Julia Roberts' Mona Lisa Smile ($4.5 million).