There is a sinister circular logic to the Planet of the Apes series. Characters journey to the stars and wind up … back on Earth. They travel back in time … and directly cause the events that lead to the rise of their dystopian future. Even as War for the Planet of the Apes concludes the story of the ape leader Caesar, it brings the franchise’s overarching narrative closer and closer to its origins on a desolate, sun-swept beach, one that looks a lot like the one Caesar and his monkey mates gallop across during their quest for revenge. That’s what makes these movies so troubling. It’s not the monkeys with machine guns or the gorillas with grenade launchers; it’s the sense that collapse is inevitable, that even when people (and apes) act with the best of intentions, they can’t escape the cruel hand (or paw) fate has dealt.
Five days ago, I denounced the banal evils of the recent trend of running trailers in promotion of trailers when covering the latest buzz for the upcoming Justice League movie. It would appear that the marketing executives at 20th Century Fox have not been reading my daily news writing (I know, I’m as shocked as you are), because they’ve returned today with an 18-second amuse-bouche for tomorrow’s brand new trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes. Give it a look above, it’ll only take a moment. Or, to be precise, 18 moments.
It seems as though J.J. Abrams may have taken a note from Joss Whedon and ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ when casting Andy Serkis in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ It was confirmed over the weekend that Serkis is indeed the voice narrating the first trailer for the new ‘Star Wars’ film and that he’ll be playing a live-action role in the film—but if a new report is to believed, Abrams may have ordered the ‘Avengers 2' Serkis Special: that’s one Andy Serkis live-action performance along with a generous portion of Serkis’ exceedingly talented motion-capture work on the side.
Just yesterday we learned that Benedict Cumberbatch of 'The Hobbit' and 'Star Trek Into Darkness' fame was the first to sign on to 'Jungle Book: Origins,' the directorial debut of the great motion-capture artist Andy Serkis. While Disney's competing 'Jungle Book' movie already solidified the majority of its cast, Warner Bros. was quietly doing the same, and now we have the names of seven other stars joining Cumberbatch and Serkis.
While Disney has set their live action version of 'The Jungle Book' to hit theaters in 2015, Warner Bros. has just announced an official title and release date for their own 'Jungle Book' project: Officially titled 'Jungle Book: Origins,' the new live action movie from motion capture master Andy Serkis will hit theaters just a little over a year later.
With 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' now in theaters, marking a high point for this art form, we take a look back at some of the most incredible instances of motion-capture performances, and see how this art form has evolved.
While 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' ruled the box office this past weekend to the acclaim of many critics, audiences could've received a much different film. From our chat with director Matt Reeves, we learned that an initial story treatment included highly evolved versions of the ape tribe who could speak rather articulately. Now, new 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' concept art has hit the web, which seems to be along the lines of this earlier draft.
We've known for some time that Andy Serkis, mo-cap actor extraordinaire, was playing a consulting role on 'Avengers 2,' assisting both Mark Ruffalo and James Spader with their work on Hulk and Ultron, respectively. Recently there were some rumblings, however, that Serkis himself had a part in the film.
On last night's 'Conan,' host Conan O'Brien and Andy Serkis talked quite a bit about some of his best roles, which Serkis then gleefully imitated for the entire crowd. Ever wonder what it would sound like if Gollum and Caesar the ape had a chat? Wonder no more.
The new 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' trailer has dropped in to preview the upcoming war between the highly evolved apes dominating Earth and the remaining shreds of mankind. Who will win out? Well, this is part of the prequel stories leading up to the original 'Planet of the Apes' movies, so ... you should already know the answer.
The latest TV spot for 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' cleanly lays out what's happened since the last film, while also sets up expectations for the war to come. And we're excited. This summer started out a little weak, but the movies keep getting better, and we're hoping that trend continues as we can't wait to see this sequel to 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' next month.