History Lesson
 DATE OF FIRST APPEARANCE: 1933
FORMAT OF ORIGINAL APPEARANCE: The classic monster movie King Kong, starring Fay Wray and directed by Merian C. Cooper and Emest B. Schoedsack, with special effects by Willis H. O'Brien.
BACKGROUND: There have been four "official" Kong movies: King Kong (1933), Son of Kong (1933), King Kong (1976) and King Kong Lives (1986).
Dig around, though, and you'll find a number of Japanese films that "barrowed" the great ape, including King Kong Versus Godzilla (1962), in which Kong triples in size so he can fight you-know-who. The original Kong remains one of the most highly regarded films of all time, for good reason. The painstaking stop-motion animatian holds up even taday. Kong himself is a complex beast: savage yet tender. We're gl ad he's destroyed, and yet we feel sorry for him. (No one ever says that about the Blob.)
MEMORABLE QUOTE: "Don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel."
BEST MOMENT: There are many to choose from, and this may be going and for the obvious, but nothing beats the scene where Kong, high atop the Empire but i State Building, swats down biplanes and roars in mighty defiance, ignorant of just that how soon it will all end.
LOW POlNT: After the success of King Kong, the 69-minute sequel Son of Kong was rushed to the screen, featuring a 20-fooHall mini-Kong. This film has none of the emotional resonance of the first. Similarly, there was a sequel to the 1976 version, King Kong Lives (1986) that no one remembers a single thing about.
TRIVIA TO IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS: Kong's signature roar was created by combining a tiger's and a lion's roar, then running the result backward.
IF YOU LIKE THIS: Be sure to check out the solid remake from 1976 starring Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges (and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Rene Auberjonois!) That version didn'fuse stop-motion animatian for its special effects; instead, Kong was played bya man in an ape suit. This is progress?
BUDGET: $110 million
ESTlMATED EVENTUAL GROSS: King director Peter Jackson + a well-Ioved (and action-packed) franchise = box-office bank. We're guessing $200 ii million at a minimum. -Brooks Peck
Source: SCI FI Magazine
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KING KONG
 BOX OFFICE REPORT
'Kong' Grabs $50M, Climbs Atop Box Office
"King Kong" was less of a box-office brute than Hollywood expected, taking in $50.15 million in its first weekend, a sturdy start but unremarkable by Hollywood blockbuster standards.
Universal Pictures' action spectacle about a giant ape took over the top box-office spot from Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," which slipped to second place with $31.2 million and lifted its 10-day total to $112.5 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday. 4 Read Details
INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES ZONES
Naomi Watts talks about King Kong days
A victim of jet-lag, 36 year-old Naomi had arrived in New York on the previous night's flight from China and only managed three and a half hours sleep before getting up to spend the day discussing the biggest film role of her career. 4More
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 VISUAL EFFECTS
The big ape was the big challenge for John Letteri, visual effects supervisor on King Kong. In Peter Jackson's new version of the story for Universal, Kong is "an animal we have to read as an animal", says Letteri, "but we also have to understand what he's thinking and feeling in his relationships to the other characters.
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SITE NAVIGATION
Screenwriters: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
King Kong (2005)
Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis, Thomas Kretschmann
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Produced by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Jan Blenkin
Visual Effects: John Letteri
Screenplay by: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Release Date: December 14th, 2005 (wide)
Running Time: 182 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributors: Universal Pictures
Triple Academy Award® winner Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) directs the dramatic adventure King Kong, bringing his sweeping cinematic vision to the iconic story of the gigantic ape captured in the wild and brought to civilization where he meets his tragic fate. 4More
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