<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $5.8 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $33.4 million (North America) </Td> </Tr> <P> Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner . It stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison . The screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling was loosely based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle . Jerry Goldsmith composed the groundbreaking avant - garde score . It was the first in a series of five films made between 1968 and 1973, all produced by Arthur P. Jacobs and released by 20th Century Fox . </P> <P> The film tells the story of an astronaut crew who crash - lands on a strange planet in the distant future . Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which apes have evolved into creatures with human - like intelligence and speech . The apes have assumed the role of the dominant species and humans are mute creatures wearing animal skins . </P>

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