Planet of the Apes In 1999, Fox hired William Broyles, Jr. to write a new script. Fox insisted on a July 2001 release date, but otherwise offered Broyles considerable creative license. This prospect attracted director Tim Burton, who hoped to do a "re-imagining" of "Planet of the Apes". Burton found the production arduous, largely due to Fox's strict release schedule. The studio budgeted the film at $100 million, meaning Broyles' ambitious script had to be altered to reduce costs; Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal worked on rewrites even as the film entered production. The tight schedule meant all stages of production were rushed. The
Planet of the Apes Méndez. The film opened on May 26, 1970. Unlike its predecessor, "Beneath" was poorly reviewed; critics typically regard it as the worst of the "Apes" sequels other than the last, "Battle for the Planet of the Apes". Nonetheless, it was a major box office hit, nearing the original's numbers. Despite a conclusion depicting the planet's nuclear destruction, Fox requested another sequel, creating a series. Following the financial success of "Beneath", Arthur P. Jacobs recruited Paul Dehn to write a new script with a brief telegram: "Apes exist, Sequel required." Dehn immediately started work on what became "Escape from the Planet