Apes in Imax

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes arrived on May 10 with the hope of trying to bring some much-needed vitamin water to the box office desert in 2024.?? This is the first official Planet of the Apes movie released post the Disney/Fox acquisition deal.? The last installment came out in 2017, and was the final release in the Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves helmed and inspired monstrously successful trilogy reboot.?? The theatrical environment has drastically evolved since 2017, so in today’s market there are no guarantees anymore even from well-established IP.? Kingdom’s director Wes Ball creates a dazzling spectacle, worthy of the largest screen you can get to.? I was able to enjoy Apes on Imax at the AMC Lincoln Square in New York.? Can this and other films bring back the illustrious former glory to Hollywood?? Can innovation or CGI-AI generated visual SFX bring back the true spectacle to the big screen that can’t be achieved at home?? Imax will have a very important role in the resurrection of the silver screen, along with partners like AMC, National Amusements, Cinemark, Regal, Look, and the Alamo Draft House group in the PLF (Premium Large Format) category. ??Imax, which likes to differentiate themselves from other PLF’s, will have to figure out ways to add screens in North America, and do it quickly.

Let’s start out by catching up the audience on the legacy of Planet of the Apes.? The first release dates back to 1968, a pivotal year and turning point in politics, pop culture, and modern cinema.? The epic scale of the first Planet of the Apes inspired by the Pierre Boulle novel, was a clash of the titans between old and new Hollywood.? Charlton Heston evoked the classic studio system mainstage of the male hero protagonist mixed with a little counter culture inspired opining about doomed humanity.?? ?The power of the “bomb” to either create peace or destroy humanity with one fell swoop, added a complexity to the modern human story.? The original screenplay adaption was handled by Pierre Boulle himself as well as Twilight Zone master Rod Serling, in one of his rare cinematic contributions to the genre.? The modern contemporary orchestral score with the innovative “pots and pans” effect from composer Jerry Goldsmith gives a visceral take on the more classic science fiction and suspense scores of 1950’s and 1960’s Hollywood.? This modern harmonic orchestration was as far from Aaron Copland’s America as you could get complete with a unique ram’s horn for atonal effect.? Apes, for some was escapism at its best with lavish costumes, and a classic Hollywood love interest “Nova” for Heston’s Moses himself to travel the desert with, but for others it was a deep layered statement of the times dealing with nuclear consequences and potential collapse of all human kind.???? All the sequels were hugely profitable for 20th Century Fox with the exception of the last one, but the budgets kept decreasing one by one downsizing the epic nature of the story telling, eventually transitioning to a cultish well-loved, but critical flop and ratings challenged television series in 1974 and an animated version for the 1975-76 season on Saturday morning. ??The Ape flame was extinguished for nearly 30 years.

??????????? Tim Burton’s reboot Planet of the Apes (2001) should be forgotten and is for the most part, even with some key performances from Marc Wahlberg’s arm muscles and Michael Clark Duncan’s gorilla grip hot off The Green Mile (1999).? 10 Years later, the series was given a new life with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), a surprise blockbuster that brought back a well-deserved and dominant IP to the studio.?? Followed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War of the Planet of the Apes (2017), the Andy Serkis led motion capture CGI SFX were innovative and breakthrough for their time.?? The Trilogy was a critical success, and financially lucrative for the FOX studio.?? Fast forward to 2019, and in comes Disney which purposely grabbed the Fox studio for all the great content and potential for the future theatrical receipts based on the valuable vault of IP.?? Avatar and Apes, one could argue have been had the largest impact for the theatrical portion of that deal.? The huge opening of Kingdom solidifies that value, and brings with it another theatrical spectacle that our current era of cinema needs in the worst way.? Cinematic majestic energy that can’t really be duplicated at home, especially if your benchmark is the Imax or PLF presentation.??? The dynamic cast of mostly motion capture CGI (Owen Teague, Kevin Durand, and Peter Macon), is boosted by in person human performances of William H. Macy, and newer face Freya Allan, as well as Dichen Lachman who has a small but significant role known from another kingdom of animals, TNT’s Animal Kingdom which ran from 2016-2022.?

The theater going experience has always had its ups and downs, but more than ever todays Hollywood now has a symbiotic relationship with innovation and technology.??? There truly are some experiences that are better served with your popcorn and beverage of choice in hand, escaping from your day that only an in person visit to your local theater or Imax can bring.? It evokes a couple four letter words to describe this current and challenging media landscape as we enter the busy summer season of films for 2024, “Apes” in “Imax” could be the answer that systematically boosts us out of the strike endured splintered movie calendar that has so many in the industry second guessing their own greenlights and asking themselves or Wall Street “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape”.

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