James Cameron Almost Revived This Classic Sci-Fi Series, Before ‘Titanic’ Made Him King of the World

After years of being one of science fiction’s most notable filmmakers, from his work on The Terminator series to Aliens and even The Abyss, director James Cameron made cinematic history with Titanic, which was quite a departure from his usual genre fare. But before he set sail on such a vast historical epic, Cameron tried his hand at resurrecting another classic sci-fi feature: Planet of the Apes. No, seriously, Cameron wanted to do his own take on the “apes rule the world” concept, only he was stopped before anything ever took off.

James Cameron Attempted to Remake ‘Planet of the Apes’

In between his work on the Terminator franchise and bringing Titanic to life, James Cameron was serious about trying to bring Planet of the Apes back to the forefront of American pop culture. Although the original 1968 film is arguably the most notable installment, the original Charlton Heston-led series spawned five pictures total before a short-lived 1970s live-action television series (and then an even shorter-lived animated series) kept it afloat a while longer. But eventually the Apes fell to the wayside and, though the franchise remained beloved by some, it was largely forgotten. But in the ’90s, 20th Century Fox dusted off the talking apes for a cinematic return, and here’s where Cameron found himself involved. In a 2006 interview with Ain’t It Cool, the filmmaker noted his part in the failed project when explaining why he wouldn’t return to the Alien franchise:

“The other thing I’ve learned is that when you deal with a studio and it’s their asset… It’s their asset. And I should have learned that lesson with Planet of the Apes because I had a great… great idea with Planet of the Apes, but it was Fox’s asset. Even though I was supposedly developing it, we didn’t see eye to eye and they sort of picked up their marbles and that was that.”​​

While we don’t know much about Cameron’s plans for what could have been with Planet of the Apes (which wasn’t the only franchise he was interested in helming at the time), we do know that, at one point, Arnold Schwarzenegger was even involved. According to David Hughes in his book Tales from Development Hell: Hollywood Filmmaking the Hard Way, Cameron was only in talks to write and produce a potential Planet of the Apes remake, which would have required the attention of another director. Indeed, Variety also confirmed that his production house, Lightstorm Entertainment, had a “formal arrangement” with Fox, though it’s unclear exactly what all that entailed.

However, after the success of Titanic, Cameron reportedly became more interested in original material rather than pre-existing franchises. After all, it was Cameron’s vision for The Terminator (which literally came to him in a dream) that really pushed him into the public eye. In the end, it was probably for the best that Fox decided to go in a different direction. For Cameron, it allowed him to focus on his own personal projects, freeing him up further to ultimately develop Avatar — which, interestingly enough, ended up contributing to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes years later.

Cameron Loathed Tim Burton’s Take on ‘Planet of the Apes’ — And Don’t We All

Following Cameron’s departure from the Planet of the Apes remake, Tim Burton eventually took over the project and made it his own. Unsurprisingly, Cameron wasn’t too impressed with the results. “They turned out, I think, possibly the most egregious film that they could have on that subject because they miscast the director,” Cameron told Ain’t It Cool. “It’s the only Tim Burton film that I don’t like.” That, of course, is the general consensus among Planet of the Apes fans and casual moviegoers alike. Burton’s strange take on Apes not only fails to miss the mark on what made the original so stunning, but it wastes an otherwise brilliant Tim Roth performance on subpar material. As Matt Goldberg wrote in his review for Collider: “Burton said he wanted to do a ‘re-imagining’ but there wasn’t much imagination in his forgettable remake of an unforgettable film.” At least the failed remake opened the door for the prequel reboot trilogy, which finally brought Planet of the Apes back in miraculous style that lives up to the original.

Planet of the Apes is available for streaming on Hulu in the U.S.