Summary

• Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes stayed true to franchise thematics, highlighting human hubris and treatment of animals.
• Despite potential for a sequel, Burton's version was criticized harshly by both critics and fellow directors, leading to its downfall.
• Burton's vision, while not a critical favorite, brought a unique take to the franchise, leaving a cliffhanger ending that fans wanted resolved.

Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes was an attempt to reinvigorate a franchise that began with the 1968 movie of the same name but, despite a significant box office take, it never received a sequel. This version of the classic story of a man who crash-lands on a planet ruled by apes is an anomaly, coming as it does several decades after the last of the original movies and a decade before the franchise found new life with a trilogy. As such, it’s a particularly fascinating example of a Hollywood what-might-have-been.

Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes makes a number of changes to the narrative, but it stays true to both the basic plot and the deeper thematics of the franchise. In particular, it addresses the question of human agency and hubris, demonstrating just how foolish humans are to believe that their rise to planetary dominance is natural and not an accident of evolution. 2001's Planet of the Apes was a warning for humanity’s treatment of animals, updating the original’s problematic racial subtext. However, despite the increased depth, a 2001 Planet of the Apes sequel never arrived.

Why Burton's Planet Of The Apes 2 Didn't Happen

Harsh Reviews Ensured A 2001 Planet Of The Apes Sequel Would Never Appear

A Planet of the Apes 2001 sequel never happened, with the franchise instead remaining dormant for a solid decade before re-emerging in a completely new direction, and this was mainly due to poor reviews. However, despite the fact that it largely has been overshadowed by the success of the reboot trilogy-which began with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Burton’s version actually earned quite a lot at the box office.

The studio realized the risk of a potential sequel, which would likely not be given as much of a chance as the first movie, and decided not to pour more money into building up the franchise.

Unfortunately, despite being arguably financially successful, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes was not particularly popular with the critics, and public reception seemed to cool on it fairly quickly as well. It opened quite strongly, but interest, and ticket sales, quickly declined. Clearly, the studio realized the risk of a potential sequel, which would likely not be given as much of a chance as the first movie, and decided not to pour more money into building up the franchise.

The reviews of 2001's Planet of the Apes were especially harsh, too. Critics panned it both as a movie, as an entry into the beloved Planet of the Apes franchise, and as an entry into Tim Burton's otherwise-celebrated filmography. It wasn't only critics and reviewers that spoke up either, as even Burton's fellow directors were outspoken about their distate for his attempts to put his stamp on Planet of the Apes. For example, James Cameron spoke to Ain't It Cool in 2006 and revealed his thoughts, which were less-than-complementary to say the least:

[Fox[ turned out, I think, possibly the most egregious film that they could have on [Planet of the Apes] because they miscast the director. It's the only Tim Burton film that I don't like.

Following Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes reboot, it would take another decade for the franchise to be reimagined, though this time Burton wouldn’t be involved. Burton’s version of the Planet of the Apes story had the disadvantage of coming along at a time before Hollywood became entranced with the ever-growing allure of established properties. It simply wasn’t worth the money it would take to keep the franchise going, even if they were fortunate enough to get Burton to sign on to direct another entry.

Planet Of The Apes 2001 Deserved A Sequel

Many Feel Tim Burton Should Have Been Allowed To Make His Planet Of The Apes 2

Burton’s Planet of the Apes might have been disappointing in some regards, but it was still a remarkable effort on the director’s part. He managed to stay true to the disturbing nature of the original movie-with its inversion of the supposedly natural hierarchy between humans and apes-while also showing signs of his distinctive style. Furthermore, the naturalistic approach to many of the ape characters made them look both frighteningly human-like and yet utterly alien.

There’s just enough of Burton’s macabre imagination to set this particular entry in the Planet of the Apes entries apart from both those that came before and those that came after. What's more, the movie also deserved a sequel in order to resolve the cliffhanger ending. After Mark Wahlberg’s Leo returns to Earth, he finds that his ape nemesis Thade has arrived there before him and has subsequently led an ape uprising.

Given that there is no explanation as to how this might have come to , audiences were led to believe that a sequel was in the works. Instead, this remains as one of the most perplexing mysteries in the franchise. Given that Planet of the Apes has been rebooted — thus creating an entirely new timeline-it’s very unlikely that fans will ever get narrative satisfaction and that Burton’s version will always be overshadowed.

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Faces A Similar Problem

The Most Recent Planet Of The Apes Movie Has The Lowest Audience Scores Since Tim Burton's

The Planet of the Apes franchise was rebooted once again a decade after Tim Burton's divisive 2001 movie. 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes was directed by Rupert Wyatt and repositioned the franchise entirely, focusing on the advent of sentient apes on Earth in the modern era — an incredibly different take on the franchise compared to Tim Burton's high-concept sci-fi vision. The modern Planet of the Apes movies are still ongoing, with the most recent being 2024's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. However, the fourth movie in the new timeline is facing many of the same problems as Tim Burton's version.

It may be that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be looked on more fondly by viewers once the story it's setting up is fully told — giving it a chance that Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes never had.

While the first three movies in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise have been responded to incredibly well by critics, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has the lowest audience score of the franchise since Tim Burton's 2001 entry. According to Deadline, the CinemaScore audience gave the most recent Planet of the Apes movie a B, the lowest since Tim Burton's version received a B-. Even Rotten Tomatoes shows the disparity, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes sitting at 79% compared to the 88% of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

However, despite the apparent step backwards, 20th Century Studios still has big plans for Planet of the Apes, and a sequel to Kingdom is still reportedly on the way. Unlike Tim Burton's scrapped series, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will still be the first entry in a new trilogy, which in itself is part of a nine-movie cycle that started with 2011's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It may be that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be looked on more fondly by viewers once the story it's setting up is fully told — giving it a chance that Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes never had.