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The story
Entertainment Weekly’s ranking of all 10 films in the “Planet of the Apes” series drew a strong reaction on 5ch’s entertainment/sports news board (Geinou/Supo Sokuho+). The most common view in the thread was that nothing tops the shock of the ending of the original 1968 film (the shot of the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand) — with some pointing out that calling it “the origin and the peak” is itself a backhanded compliment. Meanwhile, some argued for the mutants’ worship of a nuclear bomb in “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” and there was discussion over whether popular claims about original author Pierre Boulle’s background were true, making the thread more than just nostalgic reminiscing.
September 5, 2026
The “Planet of the Apes” franchise now spans 10 films, starting with the original in 1968. Because entries have been released in sporadic bursts over the decades, newcomers can easily get lost trying to figure out where to start. Against that backdrop, Entertainment Weekly has now ranked all 10 films.
The first five films are connected as one long continuous story. Cornelius and Zira, the apes who helped the human protagonist in the 1968 original, board a spaceship in the third film, “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” and travel to Earth in 1973. In the fourth film, “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes,” their son Caesar leads an uprising of apes who had been enslaved by humans.
Source: eiga.com / Read the original article here
What people said
The twist ending of the first film is basically the punchline for the whole series.
Yeah.
The sequels to the original are all headed toward destruction,
and everything after that is basically just playing out how they end up at that first film's ending —
the final film ends with it looking like they might actually avoid that fate.
I think it was the baby of an intelligent 🐵 couple who time-slipped from the past — that child became the ancestor that started the original series.
I saw the Statue of Liberty scene on TV as a kid and I still can't forget it.
No movie has ever topped that twist.
The poster spoiled it, you know.
Completely agree.
Nothing beats the shock of that ending.
The Sixth Sense.
his wife gets senselessly killed, and the second he screams he'll kill all the humans for it, he gets shot.
Wasn't that basically how Pierre Boulle's original novel ended too?
the mutants worshipping a nuclear bomb as their god, the illusions they use to deceive people, that avant-garde hymn… it blew my mind as a kid.
Honestly, a single cobalt bomb wiping out the entire 🌍 was a bit of a stretch.
It's ranked #9, apparently —
makes me think they just don't get it.
Re: #50
Blowing up the whole planet was overkill.
Supposedly that was done on purpose so they couldn't make yet another sequel —
I think it might've been one of Charlton Heston's conditions.
It just means it peaked at the very start.
Same goes for the Hannibal Lecter ("Silence of the Lambs") series.
That's the scene where they reveal their true faces (like burn scars) to their god (the nuclear bomb).
I love it too.
EEE-EEE! (a callback to the classic ape-costume comedy bit from the old Drifters variety sketches)
Nice one, Rabbit Sekine (comedian famous for that ape-costume gag).
Caesar's speech was so badass.
I went in already knowing it got panned, so it turned out more enjoyable than expected.
it kind of feels like a movie made for the era of a Trump presidency.
I guess it eventually became a world where 🐵 and humans coexist.
guess we have the America-worshipping political parties to thank for that.
The author of "Planet of the Apes," Pierre Boulle, was taken prisoner by the Japanese military during the war, and the novel was based on that real experience.
At its core, it's basically a novel that's a lump of hatred.
As for the "great ape" that shows up later in the story…
It's too outrageous to even write out!
His other novel, "The Bridge on the River Kwai," was also blatantly written from the perspective of how white people of that era viewed Asians — honestly unreadable.
That's completely wrong.
The ones who captured Boulle were French Indochina (Vichy) forces.
Apparently that was actually a false claim spread by film critic Tomohiro Machiyama.
I'm in the camp that says the TV broadcast of "Beneath" did show the explosion — I saw the scene where the model Earth floating in space blew apart.
I remember the opening of "Dawn of the Dead" (released in Japan as "Zombie") had a planet exploding.
The president of Death Records (from "Phantom of the Paradise").
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
“Planet of the Apes” is an irregular franchise that has produced new entries sporadically since the original 1968 film, and it’s a body of work divisive enough that rankings like Entertainment Weekly’s latest one get published periodically. The view that recurred throughout the thread — that the Statue of Liberty twist in the first film is so powerful it overshadows everything else — is a well-worn take that has been repeated throughout film history, not a new observation. Meanwhile, a popular but unfounded claim circulating online holds that original author Pierre Boulle was a prisoner of the Japanese military during the war; in fact, he was reportedly captured by forces of the Vichy-aligned French Indochina regime, and the thread’s correction on this point is accurate. It’s also worth noting, to avoid confusion, that the ape character “Cornelius” in the films shares his name only coincidentally with the musician Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada), who later stepped back from public activity — the two are unrelated.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Supo Sokuho+) thread “[Movies] “Planet of the Apes” series — US magazine ranks all 10 films, who’s #1?.”
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