10 Films Substantially Different From Their Source Material
8. Planet Of The Apes
Anyone who remembers Tim Burton's terrible Planet of the Apes remake might be stunned to discover that that film's terrible ending is in fact closer to the source novel than the Charlton Heston-headlined sci-fi classic of the same name.
That original 1968 picture is a true classic of the genre, telling the tale of astronauts landing on a planet only to discover that humans are considered wild beasts, whereas apes are the dominant species. Based on Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel La Planète des Singes, the film version was penned by The Twilight Zone creator Rod Sterling, to whom we may owe thanks for the most significant change.
It was Sterling's idea to have the twist that the Planet of the Apes is in fact Earth following some sort of nuclear holocaust. This is a drastically superior twist than that of the novel, to which the Tim Burton version is largely faithful; in this version, there is in fact a separate plant of the apes from Earth. Aside from this, however, to reduce the budget, director Franklin J. Schaffner's decision to have the ape society be less sophisticated than as depicted in the book also developed the unique aesthetic of the film.