Planet Of The Apes prequel coming, end of Humanity to follow

In what seems like a mistake made when someone forgot to change their desk calendar from April and accidentally forwarded a joke email, a new film in the "Apes" saga is tyre-swinging to cinemas next year.

"Caesar", "Rise of the Apes", or "Caesar: Rise of the Apes", depending on where you read your words, is said to be more of an origin story than a prequel - a cautionary tale set in present-day L.A., showing how man made a monkey out of themselves whilst tinkering with the DNA of our closest cousins. Will those bastards of science never learn?

This part of the canon is covered in "Conquest of..." and "Battle of...", of course, and they were actually pretty good films. Nothing beats a chimp in flares. The folks over at CHUD have an in-depth run-down of this story already, which is great because I'm busy making dismissive hand-wank gestures in the mirror, and mouthing the words "fuck you, Tim Burton".

My only question is this: why bother trying to revive a franchise that has already seen one woeful "re-imagination" pass us by, when there are so many other members of the animal kingdom to explore?