RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)

As with most modern remakes of childhood favorites, I can't say that I hold out much hope for 20th Century Fox's latest attempt to resurrect the Planet of the Apes film franchise (especially after their last dismal effort) - but the new logo that hit the web this week is interesting to me. Previously, I had only seen the forthcoming flick referred to in the press as Rise of the Apes - which seemed like an attempt to distance it somewhat from the Planet of the Apes brand (and, possibly, bad memories of the Tim Burton remake). This new logo is the first time I've seen it referred to as Rise of the Planet of the Apes - and in the classic typeface, no less!

The movie, which is due out in the U.S. in August, appears to be a re-telling of 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It's directed by Rupert Wyatt and stars James Franco and Brian Cox, with Andy Serkis providing the mo-cap performance for a CGI Caesar created by Peter Jackson's WETA.

For the record, I truly hate the Tim Burton 2001 Planet - Mark Wahlberg was appallingly bad in the lead and the script was complete and utter shit. However - I did like the production design, thought Rick Baker's apes were (with only a couple of exceptions) fantastic and loved Danny Elfman's score.

Basically, my only hope for Rise is that it doesn't suck as bad as Burton's film.