If Matt Reeves’ much-anticipated “War on the Planet of the Apes” (20th Century Fox) opens Friday to an expected $70 million or more, that would put it ahead (in domestic returns at least) of such recent high altitude-franchise stumbles as “Alien: Covenant,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” and “Transformers.”
Several factors contribute to the elevated respect for the series, going back almost half a century to when the first film, never intended as anything other than a standalone, became a surprise success in 1968.
Let’s track some curious highlights on the unusual trajectory that brings us to the ninth entry in the longest running English-language film series other than James Bond:
The Genesis Was a Stand-Alone Novel
Pierre Boule was well-known for the World War II novel “The Bridge on the River Kwai” which became a David Lean Best Picture winner and massive worldwide hit in the late 1950s.
Several factors contribute to the elevated respect for the series, going back almost half a century to when the first film, never intended as anything other than a standalone, became a surprise success in 1968.
Let’s track some curious highlights on the unusual trajectory that brings us to the ninth entry in the longest running English-language film series other than James Bond:
The Genesis Was a Stand-Alone Novel
Pierre Boule was well-known for the World War II novel “The Bridge on the River Kwai” which became a David Lean Best Picture winner and massive worldwide hit in the late 1950s.
- 7/13/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
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