Rise of the Apes prequel date and director set

The Planet of the Apes prequel that’s been talked about for awhile now is finally set on a release date of June 24th, 2011. Not only is that locked in by Twentieth Century Fox, but Rupert Wyatt is directing the working title Rise of the Apes. He’ll be working off the script written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.

“Rise of the Apes” is an origins story set in present-day San Francisco. The film is a reality-based cautionary tale, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy (Variety).

Producing the picture is Silver and Jaffa along with Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark under Chernin Entertainment. One of the most interesting pieces that comes out of this report is the fact that there will not be costumed apes but rather will be photo-realistic apes. No word yet on when filming will start up, especially with that release date already set.