Universal is hoping that the kind of magic that rekindeled Twentieth Century Fox’s Planet Of The Apes franchise will help them with their long moribund Jurassic Park series. The studio has hired Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver to pen a screenplay that would bring the film series based on the Michael crichton novel back to the big screen. After numerous false starts and false rumors, the studio is finally going forward on a new installment of the franchise that has already grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide.

Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two films of the trilogy, is set to produce the film though he will probably not be directing it.

Jaffa and Silver are a great choice for the studio. They did a sterling job of bringing Fox’s Planet Of The Apes franchise back to life after the studio had invested in numerous scripts and even one produced attempt had failed. Bleeding Cool is reporting that Universal is looking for a clean break from the original Jurassic Park trilogy. If so, these two definitely have the skill at reintroducing franchise concepts and ideas to a new audience.

It’s hard to believe that next summer will mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the initial Jurassic Park film, but it is. I still remember what a breathtaking moment it was when the film’s characters and audience first saw the dinosaurs that had been brought to life through genetic engineering and computer generated imagery. It was, for better or worse, a turning point in how special effects were achieved for film.

Universal has not given any indication as to when we can expect to finally see the film in theaters, but I would say that it is at least three to four years off. In the meantime, we can look forward to the original Jurassic Park returning to the big screen next summer when the studio releases a 3D conversion of the film on July 19.

Twentieth Century Fox has secured a deal today for actor Andy Serkis’s services should they decide to move forward on any potential sequels on this summer’s hit Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Serkis’s motion capture performance of the chimpanzee Caesar was the lynchpin of the film’s success and it makes sense that the studio would want to ensure that they have him back if they decide to make a follow up film. Although director Rupert Wyatt and screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver’s deals for Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes came with sequel options, Serkis’s contract did not, giving his reps the leverage with which they secured what Deadline has reported as a “healthy seven-figure deal.”

Whether James Franco or Freida Pinto will be back for future installments will depend on how the sequel’s story develops. The film’s ending certainly leaves avenues open that might not necessarily require their participation.

As of now, Fox has not made an official announcement stating that they are definitely developing a sequel though there have been reports that Jaffa and Silver have some ideas as to what direction a sequel might take. But when you couple today’s news with the fact that Rise pulled $453 million worldwide at the box office and is selling well on home video, it is seems like a no-brainer that the studio is going to bring us another chapter in the newly revived franchise.

Deadline is also reporting that Fox will be giving Serkis a major push for an acting Academy Award nomination. And honestly, I think it’s about time that motion capture be recognized not just as some visual effects gimmick but as a legitimate too used for acting, no different than any other actor’s use of makeup or wardrobe to help create a character. Serkis has already assembled a rather impressive body of motion capture just between his work on The Lord Of The Rings and King Kong. Later this year, he’ll adding the role of Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg’s all motion capture The Adventures Of Tintin to his motion capture resume.

As I write this on Sunday afternoon, it looks like Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes will be the top box office film for a second weekend in a row, with an estimated ten day’s worth of ticket sales to be over $100 million. And with this kind of response, in addition to the positive reviews that film has been receiving, you can be sure that there are probably already discussions going on about a potential sequel.

But Rise‘s screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are already a step ahead of those execs in terms of continuing the story started in the film. As anyone who has seen the film knows, there are a few story lines left hanging as the final credits rolled. And in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Jaffa and Silver stated that they already have applied some thought how they would continue.

Amanda Silver: We definitely have ideas for where the sequel — plural, where the sequels — would take us. And those were kind of built into –
Rick Jaffa: — the construction of the narrative already. There hasn’t been an official discussion yet about a sequel, because I think everyone still doesn’t want to jinx where we are. But we definitely have ideas.
Amanda Silver: When we started this, we knew that this movie would stand on its own, and we designed it that way. But if it didn’t stand on its own, we pictured a trilogy that would start with this movie.

The pair don’t go into how far they hope a potential pair of sequels will go into the future towards the world were intelligent talking apes rule over mute ignorant humans we saw in the original 1968 film. The references to a manned mission to Mars being lost is definitely a reference to the ill-fated space mission that delivered Charleton Heston to that world if they wish to go that way. But I think it’s more likely we’ll see more of the 113 virus as it spreads across the globe killing humans and enhancing apes simultaneously that was hinted at during the film’s credits.

Hopefully we won’t have too long a wait before we get word that Fox is willing to officially begin work on developing their sequel ideas.

Some days I wonder if there is any really interesting film news out there that isn’t about yet another classic film being set up for a remake by a clueless studio. But last week, we reported on two such projects- remakes of Akira Kurosawa’s High And Low and the 1956 science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet – that both sounded fairly promising.

Now comes word of a Planet Of The Apes relaunch over at 20th century Fox, that sounds pretty exciting as well. Rather than just try to remake the initial film in the series – and fail, like Tim Burton’s 2002 remake did in trying to recreate the 1968 original’s shocking twist ending – the studio is looking at a remake of the Apes series’ fourth film, 1972′s Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes.

According to the folks over at CHUD, scripters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have submitted a screenplay entitled Genesis: Apes, which reimages Conquest‘s original storyline in a dark and edgy way. In the original film, set in the futuristic year of 1991, Caeser (Roddy McDowall), the son of the two apes who had traveled back in time to the 1970s in the series’ previous entry Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, winds up leading a revolt of apes against the the totalitarian government who has kept them slaves. To further hammer the theme of the film home, director J. Lee Thompson modeled the film’s violent finale on the recent Watts Riots.

But Genesis: Apes takes a slightly different, but definitely intriguing, direction with its story. First off, it is set in modern times. This film’s version of Caeser came about due to a scientist’s meddling with chimpanzee DNA. Once he discovers that the chimp can talk, he takes him home to be raised by his wife, who is unable to bare children of her own. Several years later, his adoptive mother is attacked and in the act of protecting her, accidentally kills her assailant. He is then taken to labs where, although he is as sentient as a human, he is tortured and experimented on. Although initially rejected by the other apes at the laboratory, he eventually inspires them to revolt and overthrow human society.

Of course, such an edgy concept is probably why the project is just sitting at Fox. Where the original distanced itself from its audience by a fictional two decades during which a fascist government came to power, this new version establishes no such dramatic gulf. It is set in the present and the torture of thinking beings that some would like to consider nothing more than animals may present a disturbing political parallel. As CHUD’s Devin Faraci states, “You just can’t have your hero working to tear down our modern society.”

And that’s a damn shame because this take on the material sounds exciting and fresh. This is the kind of bold and inventive vision for a remake that is unfortunately the exception that proves the rule in these situations. This is the type of remake I could get behind, if only the studios would have the courage to make them.

(And of course, if anyone just so happens to have a copy of the script, the contact us button is over on the right.)