Kong: Skull Island

Baron Brunwald

New member
kongisking said:
3: The Kong VS 3 V-Rexes won me over. Also, I am a huge fan of the old movie, and I thought PJ's version was respectful and faithful to the spirit and style of the original. Yes, I also like it for the better effects (of course) but you guys have to understand that Jackson has always loved the King and has always wanted to do a remake. He poured his very heart and soul into this remake, and it resulted in a spectacular adventure film with a suprisingly believable ape+girl relationship and great acting by everyone. Yes, it is WAY too long, but so what? Many great films are very long, and, come to think of it, panned during their original release (example: Freaks, Gojira). Maybe some of you Kong haters will come to like the remake eventually.

But even then, the CGI wasn't THAT great and neither was the acting. Jack Black can't do serious. I have no problem with long movies. Some of the best movies ever made are really long, IMO, but the King Kong remake was long for no apparent reason, that's why I had a problem with it. There's no need to take a movie that was just hardly over an hour and a half and make it into 3+ hours. What it all comes down to was the remake was unnecessary, and the original was better. Jackson should stop making movies. He lost his touch after TTT.
 
"He lost his touch"
Some would say he never had it, and that the LotR movies were a fluke...

I've tried to watch his King Kong 2 or 3 times now, and I cannot keep my eyes open during it. It's a GREAT cure for insomnia.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Hey Kongisking,

I love Kong. When I was kid, "King Kong"/"Son of Kong" & the Japanese Kongs
would air frequently on TV just before the '76 version came out and I've been
going ape ever since. I have all the Kong movies, most of the rip-offs, a few
commercials and about 4-5 books. Big fan.

As far as Peter Jackson's remake goes, I was very pleased (despite the length
and a few other troublesome bits) however...it *is* only a film and there are
more important things to worry about.

Have you seen the DVD release of the 1933 version in the tin case?
Peter Jackson and WETA re-imagined the missing spider scene by duplicating
the techniques used by Willis O'Brien's & crew! The result is an amazing,
faithful re-creation of the famous lost scene (+more).

Cool to see another Kong fan on an Indy site.:cool:
You were looking for other threads?

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=8493&highlight=King+Kong
 

kongisking

Active member
Stoo said:
Hey Kongisking,

I love Kong. When I was kid, "King Kong"/"Son of Kong" & the Japanese Kongs
would air frequently on TV just before the '76 version came out and I've been
going ape ever since. I have all the Kong movies, most of the rip-offs, a few
commercials and about 4-5 books. Big fan.

As far as Peter Jackson's remake goes, I was very pleased (despite the length
and a few other troublesome bits) however...it *is* only a film and there are
more important things to worry about.

Have you seen the DVD release of the 1933 version in the tin case?
Peter Jackson and WETA re-imagined the missing spider scene by duplicating
the techniques used by Willis O'Brien's & crew! The result is an amazing,
faithful re-creation of the famous lost scene (+more).

Cool to see another Kong fan on an Indy site.:cool:
You were looking for other threads?

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=8493&highlight=King+Kong

Hello, Stoo! About time someone actually liked Kong on this site. Thanks very much for the extra thread! :hat: And yes, I own the Kong 1933 DVD, and I absolutely LOVE Jackson's Spider-Scene Recreation. It was a hoot to watch, and I could have sworn that I saw some of the good ol' O'brian personality in the stop motion. And the remake to me was not just a great adventure film, but a remake that truly loved and respected it's source material. I was very happy with it.

I also own The World of Kong book, and the novelization of the original and remake. I liked the 70's version, but it was a very cheesy film and i missed the dinosaurs. Look forward to talking to you again Stoo! :cool:
 

Snakes

Member
I love both the 1933 Kong and 2005 remake. I don't care for the 70s one however, in my opinion it got it all wrong. It did a few things the original Kong director, Merian C. Cooper refused to do in the original, such as make Kong a man in a suit. Kong also walked more like Jack Sparrow than a gorilla. Cooper's biography might make a good read for Indyfans, as he had crazy adventures in Mexico, WW1, and Asia.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
PhantomStranger said:
And just for the record I love the Kong movies. The original, the Asian version and the recent remake. The only one I didn't like was the "76 version:whip:
The '76 version has become much better with age (whereas "King Kong Lives" is still terrible).

When you say Asian do you meant the '60s movies ("vs. Godzilla" & "Escapes")
or "The Mighty Peking Man" from 1977? TMPM is the Shaw Bros. rip-off of the
'76 Kong. Outrageous fun from start to finish! (If you haven't seen it yet, try and
get a hold of a copy for your bad movie night.)

Last year I bought a beautiful, 2 DVD box of the '76 version that has all the extra
parts that were included on the early network airings. Nice packaging that includes
an 80 page booklet with text & tons of photos/making-of stuff.

Sadly, the only place it's only avaibable is France in PAL format but you can
order it here (if anyone is interested):
http://www.studiocanaldvd.com/fr/produit_6_scv_10978.php
Snakes said:
Kong also walked more like Jack Sparrow than a gorilla.
Shouldn't it be the other way around?;)
Yes, Cooper had an amazing life!
 

kongisking

Active member
A new KONG film in the works? Hallelujah!!!

What do ya guys think of this news? I actually own the book that this will be based on, and believe me, it is a fantastic sequel, prequel, tragic romance and kick-ass origin story all in one! An awesome book, and a worthy sequel to the original classic. Here's hoping the movie will be as terrific.

Wouldn't it be cool if they actually made this film in black-and-white, with stop-motion animation and all that stuff? A TRUE sequel to the old film? That would make me wet myself with happiness and joy. Sorry, too much info, I know...
 

Stoo

Well-known member
kongisking said:
A new KONG film in the works? Hallelujah!!!

What do ya guys think of this news? I actually own the book that this will be based on, and believe me, it is a fantastic sequel, prequel, tragic romance and kick-ass origin story all in one! An awesome book, and a worthy sequel to the original classic. Here's hoping the movie will be as terrific.

Wouldn't it be cool if they actually made this film in black-and-white, with stop-motion animation and all that stuff? A TRUE sequel to the old film? That would make me wet myself with happiness and joy. Sorry, too much info, I know...
Are you serious?!? That is GREAT NEWS!:D(y) What is the title of the book, kongisking? Is it that 4-part comic book series "Kong, King of Skull Island"?

I found #1-3 in London last year (as well as a vintage UK mini-mag from '76). Other items I picked up since last writing in this thread are the Ubisoft video game and the rip-off "A*P*E*" which I thought would never get an official release.

Officially stoked! Thanks for the news, kongisking!:hat:
 

DocWhiskey

Well-known member
I believe it is based on "Kong: King of Skull Island" and I heard some rumblings about it that practicality came out of the blue some time last year, but haven't heard a word of progress on it since.
 

Insomniac

New member
Haven't seen the original so throw tomatoes at me!
But I can't see why you wouldn't like the new one it has great actors and really captured the depression and and a beautifully portrayed Captain Nemo type character!

And the emotion was there between a live action character and a CG character it didn't fail any expectations!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Doc Whiskey said:
I believe it is based on "Kong: King of Skull Island" and I heard some rumblings about it that practicality came out of the blue some time last year, but haven't heard a word of progress on it since.
Quick google search says that it is indeed "Kong: King of Skull Island" but it's not going to be a live action movie.:( (I had heard that Harryhausen's abandoned "War Eagles" was on the table and the new Kong is being made by the same company.) Here's a link from this past July:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=57510

The comic series is based on the book which kongisking wrote about and I didn't even know it existed because after buying the comics they were put on the shelf and I forgot all about them. Each issue has a full page ad stating: "SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Fantastic Films International". Issue #1 is from Nov. 2007 but the company that now has the rights is Spirit Pictures so I guess that is why you heard rumblings last year and not much else.

The comics (5 issues and not 4 as I thought) are not very good at all but knowing that there's 2 more to go instead of 1 gives me some hope that the story will improve. The book has received some good reviews but I'd rather see the movie first before reading it.
Insomniac said:
Haven't seen the original so throw tomatoes at me!
...Throwing a whole basketload of rotten BANANAS at you!:p:whip:
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
I was watching some special features or something at a friends house...
the "Peter Jackson King Kong production diaries" to be exact and in one of the episodes they revealed that they indeed were going to film two sequels to Kong... back to back. The first was to be called- KING KONG: Son of Kong, The other was to be called- KING KONG: Into the Wolf's Lair.

They talked about the latter being in world war II and the son of kong fighting Nazi's and mutants that the Nazi's had created. Now that sounded like a horrible idea to me... still does... but I wanted to know if anyone else out there knew about this?

It obviously got scrapped since Jacko has finished the "Lovely Bones" film and is on to something else. What happend to this film? If you don't believe me then go find a copy or some one who has the Peter Jackson production diaries... watch it for yourself... they had the scripts done, Universal had already given them a rather large budget and they had concept art and pre-visualization sequences for both sequels finished!

Im glad they did not happen but...
How did the bottom drop out?
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Yes, I have the Production Diaries on the Deluxe Extended Version DVD and *think* that the "King Kong: Into the Wolf's Lair" segment was a very elaborate joke (but I could be wrong). There is a lot of hammy content in the Bonus Features that is played straight & serious. (Ex. the extra "missing" Diary episode where the actors are addicted to watching themselves on the playback monitor, having a group session to discuss their problem, etc.) The Nazi mutant thing is just too crazy to be true, IMO.:eek:

Regarding, "Son of Kong", I really hope P.Jackson does this because then we would have 2 Kong movies from every phase. 2 from Cooper/Schoedsack/O'Brein, 2 from Ishiro Honda/Toho Studios, 2 from Guillerman/DeLaurentiis and 2 from Peter Jackson/WETA! That would be sweet...
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Checked the link and, yes, NOW I remember that it was an April Fool's joke! The production diary was uploaded on April 1st.:D
 

kongisking

Active member
Stoo said:
Yes, I have the Production Diaries on the Deluxe Extended Version DVD and *think* that the "King Kong: Into the Wolf's Lair" segment was a very elaborate joke (but I could be wrong). There is a lot of hammy content in the Bonus Features that is played straight & serious. (Ex. the extra "missing" Diary episode where the actors are addicted to watching themselves on the playback monitor, having a group session to discuss their problem, etc.) The Nazi mutant thing is just too crazy to be true, IMO.:eek:

Regarding, "Son of Kong", I really hope P.Jackson does this because then we would have 2 Kong movies from every phase. 2 from Cooper/Schoedsack/O'Brein, 2 from Ishiro Honda/Toho Studios, 2 from Guillerman/DeLaurentiis and 2 from Peter Jackson/WETA! That would be sweet...

Indeed! I actually think this concept would make for a terrific pulp-styled adventure sci-fi B-movie...just like KOTCS! Shame it was only a joke though, because at the very least I hoped Jackson would do a genuine remake of Son of Kong. Stoo, if you research that film, you'll discover that Copper originally had a much bigger, better epic-scaled sequel in mind, before RKO made the choice to rush SON into production for a Christmas release, in order to cash in on the first Kong's still-strong appeal! Damn stupid movie studio bureaucracy and greed!

And yes, the book I was talking about was Kong: King of Skull Island. Fantastic book! Would be a awe-inspiring film for the ages!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Hi, kongisking. Yes, I read about the bigger & more ambitious "Song of Kong" in the book, "King Kong - From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson". Amazing book. What a cryin' shame that was never realized.:(

Speaking of books, there was one I saw in a store and didn't buy it (for reasons I don't recall) and I really regret it because now I don't remember the title! It was a small paperback that had LOADS of photos of test shots, outakes, etc. including many more shots of the legendary missing spider scene that I had never, ever seen before (for years there was only *1*). Would you happen to know of this book?

While searching for it on the 'net, I stumbled across this one. "King Kong: The Island of the Skull":

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416516697

It's another novel from 2005. Apparently it's a prequel :)confused:) to "King Kong". Have you read this?
 
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