Planet of the Apes (2001 film) Planet of the Apes (2001 film) Planet of the Apes is a 2001 American science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, and Estella Warren. The sixth film produced in the "Planet of the Apes" franchise, it was loosely adapted from Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel of the same name and the 1968 film version. It tells the story of astronaut Leo Davidson crash-landing on a planet inhabited by intelligent apes. The apes treat humans as slaves, but with the help of an ape named Ari, Leo starts
Planet of the Apes (2001 film) of the script bore little resemblance to the book, but a lot of the stuff in the second half comes directly from it, or directly inspired by it." Hamm's script had an ape astronaut from another planet crash-landing in New York Harbor, launching a virus that will make human beings extinct. Dr. Susan Landis, who works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Alexander Troy, an Area 51 scientist, use the ape's spacecraft to return to the virus' planet of origin, hoping to find an antidote. They find an urban environment where apes armed with heavy weapons hunt