Summary
Like any major film franchise, thePlanet of the Apesmovies have had their fair share of copycats, with several notable ripoffs coming and going over the years. ThePlanet of the Apesseries began with Pierre Boulle’s science fiction novel of the same name that was released in 1963, with the first famous film adaptation starring Charlton Heston coming out five years later.Throughout its long history,thePlanet of the Apesmovieshave accumulated a number of blatant ripoffs of laughable quality.
What’s interesting to note is the fact that the series has waxed and waned over the years as each newPlanet of the Apescinematic timelinedebuted. From the original 70s sequels to the disastrous Tim Burton remake to the modern prequel series, each new era ofPlanet of the Apesmovies seems to have inspired its own wave of knock-offs looking to cash in on the franchise’s name.Even today, the series remains incredibly popular, meaning that the list of shameless copycat films has the potential to grow even further.
Some of thePlanet of the Apesripoffs simply seek to steal the marquee value of the franchise with similar enough titles, perhaps hoping to willfully confuse potential movie renters. Others simply use an obvious parody of the setting as background dressing for other ends, from serialized storytelling to softcore pornography. Either way, the series has had a fascinating history of ill-fated imitation films that all seem to share one defining characteristic –A painfully small budget compared to the blockbusters they evoke.
The Highest Grossing Planet Of The Apes Movies
From the original 1968 film to 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, what are the highest grossing movies in the long-running franchise?
7The Bungler On The Plateau Of The Apes
1976
The parody film is a lost art, with films likeMeet the Spartans,Vampires Suck,ortheScary Moviefranchisefalling by the wayside in recent years.But this lost art form is not strictly relegated to the mid to late 2000s by any means,with parody movies having been around for a long, long time. While films likeSpaceballsorYoung Frankenstienmight be better examples of parody movies from a bygone era, the Brazilian filmO Trapalhão no Planalto dos Macacosprovides a hilarious take on the storied sci-fi series.
With its title roughly translating toThe Bungler on the Plateau of the Apes, the movie more colloquially known in English-speaking fandoms asBrazilian Planet of the Apesprovides a comedic version of the original film’s events. It’s worth noting that the film premiered in the midst of the first continuity’s popularity in the 70s, striking while the iron was hot on pop-culture’s fascination of thePlanet of the Apesmovies.Its creators also doubled down on the concept with a spoof TV show,Planet of the Men,orPlaneta dos Homensin Portuguese.
For what its worth,The Bungler on the Plateau of the Apesmight have the highest production value of any obviousPlanet of the Apesripoff, with surprisingly decent-looking simian costumes for the most important ape characters. Being an obvious parody, the film makes no efforts to hide its influence, though the bizarre jokes are displaced by both time and culture for those who enjoyed the original.Other popular movies of the era also get their licks, with references toJawsalso making it into the movie.
6Mistress Of The Apes
1979
Not everyPlanet of the Apesripoff maintained the original series' same science fiction angle, and projects likeMistress of the Apesend up taking heavy influence from the likes ofTarzan, as well. Still, the similarities betweenMistress of the Apes' society of humanoid monkeys and the classic post-human ape society can’t be denied, firmly placing the film as an obvious imitation.The movie is directed by the exploitation filmmaker Larry Buchanan, infamous for low-budget bombs likeMars Needs Women.
Mistress of the Apesis par for the course for Buchanan’s work, relying on shock value, nudity, and awkward sexual circumstances to draw what meager viewership it can. The story revolves around a beautiful anthropologist being trapped in the jungle alongside a society of “Near Men” ape people. Oddly enough, the film does make some attempts at philosophical statements and thematic elements worthy of its namesake,failing hilariously as a so-bad-it’s-good ironic masterpiece.
Mistress of the Apesis par for the course for Buchanan’s work, relying on shock value, nudity, and awkward sexual circumstances to draw what meager viewership it can.
5Empire Of The Apes
2013
Not every jaw-droppingly obvious forgery of aPlanet of the Apesfilm came in the wake of the 70s sequels, back when intellectual property wasn’t as fiercely protected.ThePlanet of the Apesprequel trilogy, kicked off byRise of the Planet of the Apes, reignited interest in the franchise,perhaps even surpassing the original run of films. With it came a whole new slew of imitators, including 2013’sEmpire of the Apes, shamelessly released two years afterRise of the Planet of the Apes.
Despite being filmed in the 2010s,Empire of the Apessomehow looks cheaper than most of the 70s ripoffs, with a paper-thin budget barely able to provide its public park filming locations, underbaked CGI, and party store ape costumes. The movie follows a trio of scantily-clad female prison inmates who manage to escape in a high-tech rocket ship, only to crash-land on a planet ruled by, of course, intelligent apes.With painfully bad line reads from the main actresses and nauseating editing choices,Empire of the Apesis an overly-ambitious monument of failure.
4Revenge From Planet Ape
1971
Despite its misleading title,Revenge from Planet Apewas originally quite a unique film with its own vision. Once upon a time,Revenge from Planet Apewas actuallyTombs of the Blind Dead,a Spanish-language horror film about the re-emergence of ancient zombified Templar knights who terrorize their victims, hunting by sound alone due to their eyeballs rotting away.The film was widely hailed as Spain’s answer toNight of the Living Dead, by all means a successful horror film of the early 70s.
It wasn’t until U.S. distributors decided to butcher the film’s English-release edit into being aPlanet of the Apesripoff that the film had any connection to the franchise whatsoever. A hastily-added opening sequence loosely connected the film toPlanet of the Apeswhile asserting that the undead knights of the film were actually zombified apes, owing to the fact that their makeup was slightly similar to John Chambers' ape makeup.Thus,Revenge from Planet Apemutilated a perfectly good horror movie into a bawdy attempt to cashin on the success of another film.
3Playmate Of The Apes
2002
The Tim BurtonPlanet of the Apesremake islargely considered the weakest of the films to use the hallowed name of the science fiction series,with Burton’s unique directorial style simply being ill-suited to the world ofPlanet of the Apes.But as much asTim Burton’sPlanet of the Apeswas hated, the new take on the old classic was still noteworthy enough to inspire its own round of shameless copycats. EnterPlaymate of the Apes, a film that took the unnerving sexual undertones of Burton’s film to the next level.
Essentially,Playmate of the Apesis an erotic fan-fiction of the Tim BurtonPlanet of the Apesmovie.
Essentially,Playmate of the Apesis an erotic fan-fiction of the Tim BurtonPlanet of the Apesmovie. LikeEmpire of the Apes,the film revolves around three promiscuous female astronauts who crash-land on a planet ruled by hyperintelligent apes, who soon grow wild with lust over the new human interlopers. While the plot might be a thin excuse to showcase hot-and-heavy ape-suit action, the highlight of the film is the hilariously creative names of its characters.Standouts include the wild woman Uvula, Dr. Cornholeous, and Lieutenant Fornication.
2Planet Of The Erotic Ape
If there was a unique species of undiscovered ape for every erotic parody ofPlanet of the Apesthat released in 2002 in the wake of Tim Burton’s remake, there’d be two new entries in hominid taxonomy, which isn’t a lot, but is still arguably far too many.Planet of the Erotic Apewas yet another sex-crazed ripoff ofPlanet of the Apesshot on a miniscule budget, releasing straight to video alongsidePlaymate of the Apes.Despite the more overtly sexual name,Planet of the Erotic Apeactually tries harder to offer more than scantily-clad human women to ogle.
For what it’s worth, the plot ofPlanet of the Erotic Apeis far more creative. This time around, a human TV technician somehow manages to invent a device that teleports him across the cosmos to a whole new world that, of course, is overrun with sentient apes. The science fiction society here is a bit original at least, presenting a matriarchal culture in which human women have banished all men to the ominously-named “Forbidden Zone”, taking male humanoid apes as their lovers instead.
The ape costumes inPlanet of the Erotic Apemight be the most endearingly shoddy of any majorPlanet of the Apesripoff.The dead, unblinking eyes of their masks gaze onward blankly as they initiate intimacy with their bikini-clad human lovers, making for a feverish, but undeniably comedic visual. The film’s intentional comedy falls completely flat, resulting in perhaps one of the most detestable films to ever weaponize the name of thePlanet of the Apesfranchise.
1Time Of The Apes
1987
The United States wasn’t the only nation in whichPlanet of the Apeswas successful, with the film being wildly popular in Japan. Japanese TV producers wasted no time in crafting their own version of the film, releasingSaru no Gondan,orArmy of the Apes.Here, a human scientist and her children are transported to a futuristic society of apes by mistake due to entering cryogenic stasis for hundreds of years.The series depicted a highly-advanced ape society closer to Boulle’s original novel than any film.
Unfortunately, the only time this series was released in the West was as a hastily-edited 90-minute film titledTime of the Apes,which became infamous for its appearance onMystery Science Theater 3000.The widely-disparaged U.S. edit of the series left out several key episodes thanks to the meddling of TV producer Sandy Frank. While this version ofPlanet of the Apeshad clear potential, likeRevenge from Planet Ape,its quality was soiled by the American edit.
