(Image Source: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)

BY: STEPHANIE REDDINGS

ANCHOR: ALLIE SPILLYARDS

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes hit theaters Friday -- and its performance is proving to critics -- monkey business is good for business.

With an 81 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating --  which is good --- the flick raked in $54 million in its opening weekend.

The movie is supposed to be a prequel to Charleton Heston’s epic “Planet of the Apes”. It stars James Franco as the scientist who finds a cure for Alzheimers by testing it on apes -- a few things go horribly wrong -- and the rest is history...

Famed movie critic Richard Roeper discusses how this franchise -- was really meant for today’s tech world.

“Whether we are talking about Charles Heston, Ronnie McDahl or the Tim Burton reboot there has always been something equally fascinating and just flat out ridiculous about the whole planet of the apes idea. This time around the apes are mostly CGI motion caption creations the technology is astonishing, the story eh kind of hit or miss. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a well crafted B-Movie and I am giving it a B." 

Paul Degarabedian  from Hollywood.com tells CBS -- the fact audiences were already familiar with the storyline -- probably helped too.

PAUL DEGARABEDIAN, HOLLYWOOD.COM: “I think audiences like that built in brand recognition and this is a franchise of films that has been around since the sixties... I think that the expressions on the face of the apes in the trailer really got people excited about the movie." 

In its review, KABC says -- it‘s not just computers which make the movie great.  It takes a while to get to greatness.

“The apes have never been more believable thanks to a human actor Andy Serkis harnessed to a computer, and the last half hour had me howling with delight at all of his canty fun. But be warned there is a very stupid movie to be endured before you ever get here." 

Despite storyline hiccups -- most critics are giving this prequel five stars--and audiences can’t wait for the next one. A blogger for Poptimal writes...

“The ending of the film points to an almost inevitable sequel and I will welcome it with open arms and a basket of bananas if it maintains the intelligence, heart, and sense of awe that makes this film such a sterling example of summer movie entertainment." 

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