Category: Planet Of The Apes (movies)

Starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall, 20th Century Fox’s big-screen release of Planet Of The Apes quickly becomes one of 1968’s movie success stories, and easily one of the year’s two most influential genre films. Propelled into the future aboard a spacecraft from Earth, a trio of astronauts find themselves on a world ruled by sentient apes with no love of humanity whatsoever – for humanity nearly destroyed their world. The studio almost immediately sets the wheels in motion for a sequel.

The first sequel to the original film, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters. Despite Charlton Heston’s surprisingly small amount of (still pricey) screen time and a downbeat ending that would seem to work against any further sequels, the hotly-anticipated follow-up earns enough at the box office to convince 20th Century Fox to keep the Apes franchise going.

The third Planet Of The Apes film, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters, starring Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Eric Braeden, and Ricardo Montalban. The third movie in the series ditches the far-future setting for something unexpectedly modern-day.

The fourth Planet Of The Apes film, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters, starring Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Severn Darden, and Ricardo Montalban. The Apes film franchise shifts to a near-future setting that picks up the threads of Escape.

The fifth and last of the original cycle of time-bending sequels, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters. Facing diminishing returns, and a desire on the part of 20th Century Fox to exploit the Apes franchise on the small screen, the series comes to a suitably post-apocalyptic end.