10 Lies About Famous Movies You Probably Believe

3. Planet Of The Apes

The Lie: "Planet Of The Apes is Earth. Like Darth Vader being Luke's father or Norman Bates' relationship with his mother being a little one-sided, the ending of Planet Of The Apes is so iconic that to give it away barely constitutes a spoiler; the film's final image is even on the cover of the DVD. It's so prevalent that, like Star Wars, an entire film series exists to explain the twist; there's no ambiguity in Rise and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes as to where Caesar's revolution is going. It's just accepted that Planet Of The Apes is the depressing future of our own planet."

The Truth: It was planned to be a different planet. It may seem like an attempt to replicate the original's shock value, but the twist at the end of Tim Burton's remake (Mark Wahlberg returns from a non-Earth planet dominated by apes to discover the same thing has happened to our home) is actually much more in keeping with the original concept.

Pierre Boulle's novel, off which the whole series is based, has Earth and the titular planet be two very distinct worlds, both on which the apes rise. It was only in early drafts of the film (written by The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling) that the twist worked its way into the story, changing the scope of the franchise forever.