Chuck Heston (left) and Kim Hunter in Planet of the Apes (1968).
Ever since Bonzo upstaged Ronald Reagan by going to college, simians on celluloid have been a Hollywood slam-dunk. Couple that with America's pioneering spirit in reaching for the stars, and the only question remaining is: Why didn't anyone think of this sooner? Actually, someone did - or at least planted the seed.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Long before Keir Dullea and HAL 9000 start arguing about the pod-bay door, our ape-like precursors make the (metaphoric) leap into space in one take when one of them throws a bone into the air. In an iconic slo-mo shot, the bone turns into an orbiting spaceship, accompanied by the strains of the Blue Danube waltz.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Charlton Heston and crew get lost in space and end up - well, you know where. In the sequel Escape from the Planet of the Apes, the monkeys borrow Chuck's ride and end up in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Lost in Space (1998)
A family of explorers befriends Blarp, a monkey-like alien with chameleon-like attributes. Later on they encounter an adult version, a large orangutan-esque lizard. The scenes were omitted from the theatrical release for some reason, but pictures of the creatures appeared in books related to the film.