Original PLANET OF THE APES Returning To Theaters For Two Day Engagement

We are just a few days over a year away from the July 14, 2017 release of War For The Planet Of The Apes, the third film in the marvelously revived Planet Of The Apes franchise. But if the wait seems a bit long for you, the folks at Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies have some big screen ape action that can tide you over. On July 24 and 27 they will be presenting the classic 1968 film that launched the franchise.

With the CGI in use in the franchise today, it may be hard to look back at the original run of five films that make up the classic series and not wince a bit. But a superficial look like that would do the films a disservice. First off, it would ignore the great acting work that folks like Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Gregory, Sal Mineo, Paul Williams and Claude Akins managed to do in tehir respective roles across the franchise. And while everyone seems to plug into the racism and anti-war themes of the first two films, the other three have some interesting and socially relevant subtext going on as well. If you have never sampled any of the classic films, this would be a good place to start.

Here’s the press release for the event –

The legendary 1968 science fiction masterpiece “Planet of the Apes” will return to the big screen, crash landing in U.S. cinemas on July 24 and 27 as part of Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) yearlong TCM Big Screen Classics series.

As part of this special presentation, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will provide exclusive commentary before and after the feature, offering an inside look at the out-of-this-world classic. The event will screen at more than 650 select movie theaters nationwide, four times only, at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day.

Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall star in this legendary science fiction masterpiece. Astronaut Taylor (Heston) finds himself on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon, Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist (McDowall).

When it was released in February 1968, the film was a commercial and critical success, also breaking ground with its revolutionary prosthetic makeup techniques created by artist John Chambers. The “Planet of the Apes” franchise is still going strong today with the 2011 reboot and its 2014 sequel achieving box office success and strong support amongst critics. The highly anticipated third film in that trilogy will debut in 2017.

Tickets to TCM Big Screen Classics: PLANET OF THE APES can be purchased online from Fathom Events.