I was never around for those marathons in theaters, but I certainly remember when TBS would run all day marathons of them. I think they did it for Labor Day in 1994 as one example.
That is a great memory. The TBS marathons really did keep the spirit of Go Ape Day alive in a different form. By then it was less about giving up a whole day at the theater and more about stumbling into this huge block of Apes movies on cable and deciding, well, I guess this is what I am doing today.
Fox must've understood how popular this franchise was, yet still decided to keep cutting the budget for future installments during the original run. Imagine how good the sequels could've been if they just put the same money into them.
That is one of the strangest parts of the whole original run. Fox clearly knew people were still showing up for these movies, but the budgets kept getting tighter anyway. The sequels ended up being resourceful in interesting ways, especially with how much they leaned on ideas, makeup, and existing sets, but I agree, its hard not to wonder what they might have looked like if the studio had treated them like major franchise pictures all the way through.
20th Century Fox kept cutting budgets because box office returns kept declining, yet each film remained profitable enough to justify another sequel. The original Planet of the Apes (1968) was produced for about $5.8 million and earned roughly $33 million at the box office. Fox's conclusion was straightforward: More movies meant more money. So in the span of four years, they released four more films, with each successive installment receiving a smaller budget, while box office returns remained profitable. The final installment only cost something like $1.5 million, and definitely looked it!
Yeah, that is the weird push and pull of those sequels. They kept making money, so Fox kept making them, but Fox also seemed to trust them less each time out. I do think some of that scrappiness helped the series in spots, since the ideas were still strong. But by Battle, there is no hiding how tight the money had gotten. I still enjoy all of them.
That is probably true for a lot of people. By the 1990s, Planet of the Apes was still famous, but the original movies were not always right in front of younger viewers unless they caught them on cable or home video. The Simpsons parody may have been the first version some people had memorized, which puts it in that long line of pop culture that The Simpsons managed to preserve by making fun of it.
I saw the marathon in El Paso, mom and dad and brother. Everybody who went kinda moved in for the day, took off their shoes, nodded at each other in the bathrooms. Amazing day.
I love this so much. That detail about everyone moving in for the day and nodding at each other in the bathrooms is exactly the kind of thing I wish I could have seen. It sounds less like joining a temporary little Apes community for the day.
Excellent article! I watched the first movie in the 70s as a kid, but never got into the other movies until I was in my 20s/30s. I really enjoyed the reboots - it's given the originals a boost. I bet people would still go to 5-movie marathons!
I'm sure that I tuned into a local broadcast marathon at least once when growing up in the NY tri-state area. Apes, and Godzilla reruns were must see viewing on Saturdays or Sundays.
I have a hazy memory of attending one of these marathons. I can’t identify the year or theater with much clarity, but at some point, I had the butt-buster Planet Of The Apes experience. I did a few of these marathons in the day — for example, all of the Flash Gordon serials, all of the Beatles movies — and it was a blast to share them with a theater full of people. Not the same experience as binge-watching at home.
I am jealous you got to experience that. The haziness almost makes sense too, since these were such long, strange moviegoing days that the details probably blur together. I love the idea of those marathons as a shared endurance test. Flash Gordon serials, Beatles movies, Planet of the Apes, all watched with a crowd that had decided to give itself over to the whole thing. That really is a different experience than just letting the next movie start at home.
I was never around for those marathons in theaters, but I certainly remember when TBS would run all day marathons of them. I think they did it for Labor Day in 1994 as one example.
That is a great memory. The TBS marathons really did keep the spirit of Go Ape Day alive in a different form. By then it was less about giving up a whole day at the theater and more about stumbling into this huge block of Apes movies on cable and deciding, well, I guess this is what I am doing today.
Fox must've understood how popular this franchise was, yet still decided to keep cutting the budget for future installments during the original run. Imagine how good the sequels could've been if they just put the same money into them.
That is one of the strangest parts of the whole original run. Fox clearly knew people were still showing up for these movies, but the budgets kept getting tighter anyway. The sequels ended up being resourceful in interesting ways, especially with how much they leaned on ideas, makeup, and existing sets, but I agree, its hard not to wonder what they might have looked like if the studio had treated them like major franchise pictures all the way through.
20th Century Fox kept cutting budgets because box office returns kept declining, yet each film remained profitable enough to justify another sequel. The original Planet of the Apes (1968) was produced for about $5.8 million and earned roughly $33 million at the box office. Fox's conclusion was straightforward: More movies meant more money. So in the span of four years, they released four more films, with each successive installment receiving a smaller budget, while box office returns remained profitable. The final installment only cost something like $1.5 million, and definitely looked it!
Yeah, that is the weird push and pull of those sequels. They kept making money, so Fox kept making them, but Fox also seemed to trust them less each time out. I do think some of that scrappiness helped the series in spots, since the ideas were still strong. But by Battle, there is no hiding how tight the money had gotten. I still enjoy all of them.
Before Burton's revival, more people in the 1990s would have been familiar with the parody musical featured on "The Simpsons" than the actual films.
That is probably true for a lot of people. By the 1990s, Planet of the Apes was still famous, but the original movies were not always right in front of younger viewers unless they caught them on cable or home video. The Simpsons parody may have been the first version some people had memorized, which puts it in that long line of pop culture that The Simpsons managed to preserve by making fun of it.
They introduced me to a lot of the things I love now doing that.
I saw the marathon in El Paso, mom and dad and brother. Everybody who went kinda moved in for the day, took off their shoes, nodded at each other in the bathrooms. Amazing day.
I love this so much. That detail about everyone moving in for the day and nodding at each other in the bathrooms is exactly the kind of thing I wish I could have seen. It sounds less like joining a temporary little Apes community for the day.
Excellent article! I watched the first movie in the 70s as a kid, but never got into the other movies until I was in my 20s/30s. I really enjoyed the reboots - it's given the originals a boost. I bet people would still go to 5-movie marathons!
I'm sure that I tuned into a local broadcast marathon at least once when growing up in the NY tri-state area. Apes, and Godzilla reruns were must see viewing on Saturdays or Sundays.
Same, a bunch of D&D sessions were hijacked by Apes and Godzilla broadcasts on 5, 9, and 11.
I have a hazy memory of attending one of these marathons. I can’t identify the year or theater with much clarity, but at some point, I had the butt-buster Planet Of The Apes experience. I did a few of these marathons in the day — for example, all of the Flash Gordon serials, all of the Beatles movies — and it was a blast to share them with a theater full of people. Not the same experience as binge-watching at home.
I am jealous you got to experience that. The haziness almost makes sense too, since these were such long, strange moviegoing days that the details probably blur together. I love the idea of those marathons as a shared endurance test. Flash Gordon serials, Beatles movies, Planet of the Apes, all watched with a crowd that had decided to give itself over to the whole thing. That really is a different experience than just letting the next movie start at home.