Planet of the Apes (2001 film) commissioned. Although the film was indeed a financial success, Fox decided not to proceed with a sequel. When asked whether he would be interested in working on a follow-up, director Tim Burton replied, "I'd rather jump out a window." Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter would have returned if Burton had decided to make another "Apes" film. Paul Giamatti had been interested in reprising his role. "I think it'd be great to have apes driving cars, smoking cigars," Giamatti said. "Wearing glasses, sitting in a board room, stuff like that." "Planet of the Apes" was the last film Burton worked
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that the film "may be the best since No. 1, 'Planet of the Apes'," calling it "a self-contained allegory in which man's cruelty to beasts becomes symbolic of man's inhumanity to man. It is a simple but powerful premise, thoroughly developed with a good balance between dialog and action by Dehn and splendidly directed by J. Lee Thompson." Clyde Jeavons of "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote, "This comic-book adventure is a far cry from the provocative Pierre Boulle vision so impressively realised by Franklin Schaffner four films ago; and in spite of some crude