‘Conquest of Planet of Apes’ remake axed by Fox

It looks like Fox has taken their stinkin’ paws off of Scott Frank’s damn dirty CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES remake. CHUD is reporting that Fox’s planned reimagining of the 1972 film is on the shelf indefinitely. Scott Frank had been hired to write and possibly direct the film based on CONQUEST, which followed the genesis of the Planet of the Apes as a genetically advanced chimp named Caesar leads an ape uprising. The script, titled CAESAR, was apparently a little too dark for Fox (the original ending had the enslaved monkeys breaking free, leading a revolution and beating the remaining humans to death) who’s now flush on cash from films that are decidedly a little more family friendly (AVATAR and ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS).

CHUD mentions that Frank has been off the film for some time now so it seems that the project was met with resistance almost immediately as Frank submitted his script. It’s a shame that the movie would cost so much to make at this point because a new, fresh take on the franchise (one sans Mark Wahlberg) would definitely be an interesting watch. Either way, I’d love to read Frank’s script if anyone has knowledge of its whereabouts…