Thousands Of Monkeys Just Pulled Off The Perfect Viral Marketing Stunt For the Next 'Planet Of The Apes' Movie

A city in Thailand is being overrun with monkeys — thousands of them — and the fear is that the hordes of primates will lead to the once prosperous port city of Lopburi turning into a ghost town.

According to the South China Morning Post, as many as 3,500 macaques have swarmed the city and are chasing away locals and visitors alike.

I like monkeys and apes (there's a difference) as much as the next guy. Who doesn't love seeing a monkey wearing people clothes? A macaque in cargo shorts and a backward baseball cap? Hilarious.

However, when monkeys start to swarm, that's when the problems begin. One monkey is fine, two are manageable, but more than that and you've got problems.

You never want any animal to swarm, but one that throws its own feces? Definitely not.

While people in Lopburi are running for the hills, this shouldn't really shock them. The monkeys are always around and they've become something of a tourist attraction. It's just they don't usually swarm the entire city the way they are now.

And that's not to say they haven't done it before, because they have. Take the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic for instance. Remember those days? Back when some people were still blissfully unaware of the fact that Fauci wasn't a complete shyster, and we were all bonded together over watching crazy people mess with big cats and accuse each other of crimes on Tiger King?

Well, back then, COVID kept people from visiting the city. A lot of these monkeys were used to being fed by the tourists and when the tourists went away it caused a mini Planet Of The Apes moment like we're seeing now.

Speaking of Planet Of The Apes, this isn't a situation anyone wants to see… unless you're trying to promote the upcoming Planet Of The Apes flick, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.

That movie comes out over the summer, and it just got a jolt of free press from these swarming simians. It's the ultimate viral marketing stunt, and they didn't even have to do anything.

Most viral marketing is incredibly stupid. Remember when people made creepy faces at baseball games to promote the horror movie Smile? I do, and it was stupid.

An actual monkey invasion to promote a Planet Of The Apes movie? That's perfect… even if, like I said, there's a distinction between monkeys and apes. I believe it has something to do with prehensile tails, but I'm not a primatologist.

Although, I do dabble in it.

So, I imagine some bottles of champagne will be popping in the Planet Of The Apes marketing offices today.