Year Began: 1968
Number of Entries: 7
The original Planet of the Apes has one of the greatest twist endings of all time. But we’re not going to ruin it here for you. All we’ll say is that some astronauts — the most masculine of whom is played by Charlton Heston — land on a planet where apes rule and humans are enslaved. A quartet of sequels followed (there was one released each of the first four years of the 1970s), and an unwise remake of the original, directed by Tim Burton, came out in 2001. This summer’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, starring James Franco, is a reboot that reimagines the franchise’s origins.