Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Wyatt and written by the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.

[9] The film stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, and Andy Serkis.

Set in 2016, the film follows Caesar (Serkis), a chimpanzee genetically enhanced and raised by chemist Will Rodman (Franco), going from living in captivity to eventually leading an ape uprising against humanity.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes first entered development in 2006 when Jaffa and Silver wrote a spec script and sold it to 20th Century Fox, the producers and distributors of the original film series.

Production struggled until Franco, Serkis, and Wyatt were hired by late 2009, and principal photography started in July 2010 and finished that September, with filming locations including Vancouver, San Francisco, and Oahu.

In 2008, pharmaceutical chemist Will Rodman tests the viral-based drug ALZ-112 on chimpanzees at the biotechnology company Gen-Sys in an attempt to find a cure for Alzheimer's illness.

Will and his assistant Robert Franklin discover that the reason for Bright Eyes' rampage was that she had recently given birth to an infant male chimpanzee.

The animal control service subsequently takes him to an ape shelter where Caesar is tormented by the alpha chimpanzee, Rocket, and the chief guard, Dodge Landon.

A battle ensues as the apes fight their way past a police blockade on the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempt to escape into the redwood forest.

The human cast includes Tyler Labine as handler Robert Franklin, David Hewlett as Will's hot-headed neighbor Douglas Hunsiker, Jamie Harris as the sanctuary's caretaker Rodney, and Chelah Horsdal as Charles' nurse Irena.

As Jaffa searched a newspaper articles clipping, one about pet primates that become troublesome to their owners and not adapted well to the human environment intrigued him.

[13] Several tributes to specific scenes, characters, and cast and crew from the previous Apes film series were added in the script.

[27] Advances in the technology allowed the use of performance capture in an exterior environment, affording the film-makers the freedom to shoot much of the film on location with other actors, as opposed to the confines of a soundstage.

[28][29] The main breakthrough was a camera that enabled viewing the motion capture dots in daylight, employed mostly for the Golden Gate Bridge battle.

Actor-stuntman Terry Notary guided the actors on realistic ape movement, while Weta studied the chimps in the Wellington Zoo for reference.

The digital apes also received detailed models with skeletons, muscles and nerve tissue layers for accurate animation.

Cast models of apes' heads and limbs helped the texture department replicate skin details such as wrinkles and pores.

[34] The main concern was to have the music help progress the plot in the scenes without dialogue, for instance, conveying the emotions of Caesar's relationships with Will and Charles.

To turn the score into a "driving force that keeps audiences paying attention," Doyle employed an African-American chorus and focused on percussion and "low and deep" orchestra sounds.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Led by Rupert Wyatt's stylish direction, some impressive special effects, and a mesmerizing performance by Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes breathes unlikely new life into a long-running franchise.

"[44] Giving the film 5 out of 5 stars, Joe Neumaier of Daily News labeled Rise of the Planet of the Apes as the summer's best popcorn flick.

"[46] Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel wrote, "Audacious, violent and disquieting, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a summer sequel that's better than it has any right to be."

[48] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone noted that the film has mixed "twists lifted from 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and 1999's Deep Blue Sea".

[64] Reports said that Wyatt was leaving the sequel due to his concern that a May 2014 release date would not give him enough time to properly make the film;[65] he was replaced by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves.

On January 6, 2014, 20th Century Fox announced a third installment with Reeves returning to direct and co-write along with Bomback, with a planned July 2016 release.