James Franco to star in “Apes” prequel

The “Planet of The Apes” franchise is reportedly listening to fans and now ready to come up with a prequel, er…, an origin story with actor James Franco. According to Variety, the actor has signed on to star in the prequel and it has been reported that. James had a great meeting with director Rupert Wyatt over the weekend about the movie.  The story will be set in the present day and show how genetic engineering gave the animals the intelligence we have seen in the “Ape” movies so far. The actor will reportedly play a key scientist in the war between…, you guessed it, mankind and the apes. WETA Digital will be in charge of the effects. These are the cool geeks who made all that magic in “Avatar,” and they will reportedly use photo-realistic apes (not actors in costumes) for this movie  The new  “Apes” slated to start filming in July and to hit theaters on June 24, 2011. Tick tock, tick, tock!