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Kong: King of Skull Island optioned

The book Kong: King of Skull Island, which is a prequel to Kong’s adventures before that blonde girl came along and changed everything, has been optioned and might show up at a theater near you.
Variety sez:

Spirit Pictures is looking to breathe new life into King Kong and a project initially developed by effects legend Ray Harryhausen.

Producers at the shingle have picked up the rights to the book “Kong: King of Skull Island,” a prequel to the well-known tale of the big ape.

Penned by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland, book focuses on the backstory of Skull Island and how the giant gorilla became king there. It introduces other giant gorillas and dinosaurs only hinted at in the previous films.

The book was published at the same time Peter Jackson was producing his remake of “King Kong.”

Oh, and we also have this:

Spirit also is developing “War Eagles,” a project Cooper and Harryhausen had developed together and were nearly set to produce before the outbreak of WWII. The period actioner is set in 1939 and revolves around an ace fighter-pilot who tests a new jet and winds up crash-landing in the arctic, where he encounters a lost civilization that’s been thriving there for centuries.

So we got two monster movies possibly coming soon!

King Kong on Ike! Greenman

Here are some cool photos of the Toho King Kong suit (from King Kong Escapes) used in the tv shorts tokusatsu series Ike! Greenman. Posted on the Classic Horror Film Board by The Giant Pacific Octopus. Kong was simply called Gorilla and was in episode 33. The original costume had long arm struts which were removed, so his arms flop around. These episodes are not available on DVD anywhere and I don’t have them. It is a tragedy that I hope is corrected one day. (The suit from King Kong vs. Godzilla was modified into the monkey Goro for the Ultra Q episode Goro and Goro)


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King Kong (Review)

King Kong


1933
Starring
Fay Wray as Ann Darrow
Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham
Bruce Cabot as Jack Driscoll
Frank Reicher as Captain Englehorn

The granddaddy of all giant monster films! An icon of film! The Eight Wonder of the World! It holds up pretty well for being 72 years old. Sure, effects have come a long way since then, but aside from a few points in the beginning, King Kong keeps pretty much action filled, and follows a modern style pacing after the first half hour. The “Beauty killed the beast” message has been repeated countless times, especially in the dozens and dozens of knock offs over the years. Willis O’Brien pulled off a masterpiece here, and it didn’t take any Dino De Laurentiis, any Twin Towers, any robot apes, or any CGI nonsense. Big budget remakes cannot improve on this, and Peter Jackson’s upcoming version will not take the spotlight away from this one, either.