We Only Saw the Last-Minute Ending of Rise of Planet of the Apes

...where's my cataclysmic man-ape war?!

Well, that explains a lot. According to Badass Digest, the ending to the new Planet of the Apes movie originally was nothing like what any of us naive theatre-goers saw. Now, as much as I really, really enjoyed that movie (the CG was so fine I could have run up to the screen and rubbed myself all over it just to feel it's plushy awesomeness on my skin. I would have too if my feet hadn't gotten stuck to the floor with coca-cola marinated Mike 'n' Ikes), the ending threw me. I mean, where was the cataclysmic moment when they blew up the statue of liberty? They could have at least, I don't know...blown up SOMETHING. I mean, what's with these pacifist monkeys anyway? They were so justified. I was ready to watch sweet little Caesar eat someone in the end.

Read about the alternative ending after the jump.

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes ends with James Franco and Caesar having one last emotional moment (“Caesar home,” the ape croaks before disappearing into the trees with his buddies) but that wasn’t always going to be the finale. That was a last minute addition, as the original ending had Franco’s character dying.

At the hands of humans, no less. The original ending had Franco’s character being shot to death by armed humans who have chased the apes into the forest. The ape horde descends on the people and tears them to pieces, a reversal of the opening scene where Bright Eyes is captured in the jungle. This isn’t the only change from an early version of the script – originally Rocket Koba and Caesar had a big brawl at the end as well. In fact lots of things changed lots of times over the course of the script’s development.

Everybody hurried back to set this summer, just a month before release, to reshoot the ending. Considering the work required to animate those apes, that was a pretty big deal (and part of why I don’t believe the final budget numbers on the movie).

It’s unclear why Fox changed the ending, but apparently the original finale will be available on the home video release." (Via Badass Digest)