First On-Set Photos from 'Rise of Apes' Need CGI

Here are the first couple shots from the set of Rise of the Apes, the reboot attempt of the Planet of the Apes series that used to be called Caesar and is in reality a retouched version of the fourth Apes movie, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Got all that?
Courtesy of io9 Pay no mind to who the actor is; the motion-capture suit should tell you all you need to know here. He's just supplying the movements that director Rupert Wyatt will hand over to the CGI wizards at WETA. Then they'll take this guy's ape walk or whatever and multiply a bazillion times.Actually, since his name tag says "Caesar," and that's the lead ape, they'll probably have dozens of examples to work with so the armies of apes don't look like automatons, but you get the idea. This is the first time the apes will be computer generated, and the goal is to have them be photorealistic, an easier goal to achieve now than a decade ago when Tim Burton was undertaking a new Planet of the Apes, but still not a sure thing. Eyes still vex effects teams with human characters, and many of these apes will have to show complex emotion, too, and a lot of that can be read in the eyes. So we'll take the ol' wait-and-see approach here. Of course, we won't wait too long: This is one of two Fox films squeezed into a summer release date next year when there's really no buffer allowed in case something goes wrong. X-Men: First Class is the other. That film won't be overwhelmingly peopled by CGI apes, though, apes that have to look authentic or the entire feel of the movie will break down.

Comments

[SEAN]

Can we know where is this? Location?

[Colin]

Oh, sorry: San Francisco.

[Roger]

What a SAD and pathetic story outline!!!

This movie series was over decades ago! Just let it go already.

I hope this movie tanks. They can't come up with something new. This is the SECOND attempt to rehash this movie. Quite sad! I won't spend a dime on this!

[Patrick]

In your face Roger!