Andy Serkis Leading the Rise of the Apes!

Already visualizing in the board-room at 20^th Century Fox there’s an old-school movie executive with a big cigar in his mouth giving orders to the pinions beneath him. When someone asks, "Sir, we need an actor who can do the motion-capture work for that Planet of the Apes prequel we’re fast-tracking for next summer."

Is it safe to assume his immediate response is "Get me Andy Serkis!"

If it isn’t, then color me surprised. Via their Twitter account, 20^th Century Fox has officially announced the actor (having previously Middle Earth's resident crack-whore Gollum and the King of the Apes himself) will play Caesar, the li'l chimp bastard responsible for the monkey-calypse in Rise of the Apes.

The prequel is scheduled for release June 24, 2011 and I'd be hard-pressed to think of a bigger flop this time next summer. Sorry, folks, but this whole thing is just a bad idea