King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

[edgaguirus]

I agree. It fleshed out the characters more and had a greater sense of danger but was a faithful remake of the film.

[Al Diplodocus]

Imagine you were tasked with remaking King Kong just in time for its 90th annivesary next year. What would your version be?

My idea would be this:
A large vortex opens up in downtown Manhattan, forming a large sinkhole and portal. While the government and the military immidiately quarantine it off, a few newscasters are allowed access, including newly-hired Anne Darnell. However, w wave of the portal sucks them, sending them into a dense jungle populated by all sorts of giant creatures, from dinosaurs to giant insects and amphibians, to naturally Kong, here more like a mandrill or baboon. This world is a parallel dimension and not an island. They manage to return home, but Kong follows them back, and a media blitz keeps spooking Kong until he's up the Empire State Building and you know the drill.

Oh, and Denham's the CEO of a broadcasting company here, and Anne's superior.

[Major sssspielberg!]

Kong, here more like a mandrill or baboon...
...Kong until he's up the Empire State Building and you know the drill.

get it? GET IT????

It's tough to say how I'd approach a remake, maybe stay pretty traditional until the last act, where dinosaurs get transported to New York and Kong has to evade military a clever Meat Eater, playing cat-and-mouse through the streets of NYC to survive.

[eabaker]

Pretty sure if I were re-making it, I'd want to do a contemporary setting, not period. The original, after all, was not a period piece - it was about a monster discovered by people of the modern world, and taken into the heart of a modern city. Turning it into a period piece robs it of some of its immediacy and impact. I'd probably make Denham a documentary filmmaker, and Jack his camera operator, to mirror that aspect of Cooper and Schoedsack's relationship (and because it would be a hook I could invest in to help find a personal story init).

[Al Diplodocus]

Kong, here more like a mandrill or baboon...
...Kong until he's up the Empire State Building and you know the drill.

get it? GET IT????

I did makr that pun, but didn't want to draw attention to it.

[LegendZilla]

What matters the most of any movie is if the story and characters are good, I am not talking about a VFX standpoint.

[ArtMaker]

One idea I had for a remake/reboot adaptation, and it probably would not be well liked, is Kong be a more antagonistic force towards Anne, obsessively hunting her down on the island (cause he did regularly kill his sacrifices before Anne). For this, he’d need to look less ape-ish and animal, be more monstrous. Say, almost ogre-like. Basically Anne gradually growing from practically helpless to fighting for survival like a badass. A mix of Ellen Ripley (Alien) and Dutch (Predator). Her life is hell, being trapped in a marriage w/ a drunkard and tries to leave New York by agreeing to be an actress for Denham’s movie. Said obsessive controlling husband also makes it t9 the boat. Her and Kong relation paralleling her’s and her husband. She’d instigate the iconic meat-eater vs kong fight in an effort to kill off Kong by waking up the slumbering reptile. The rescue crew give up and head back, seeing as it’s not worth more lives lost. Anne just barely makes it back w/ Kong hot on her trail. By that point, basically a good week or so, she look back and ponders staying on the island. Free of society and live her own life. Cause back home, she doesn’t exactly have a lot of freedoms. But, she 2nd guesses herself and goes back anyways. When the shit hits the fan and Kong runs loose it’s back to their cat and mouse game, and Anne eventually leads Kong up the Empire State Building, so the military can shoot him down. Anne toying w/ him by being just out of reach by a few floors up. Is almost caught, but manages to slip away.

Just a thought.

[Spuro]

I think the Peter Jackson film came pretty close, personally.

........it did?

I'll argue until the day I die that it's a stronger film than the original (although, obviously, not nearly as groundbreaking or important for film history).

[eabaker]

And I'll argue until the day I die that the Jackson version tediously spells out character and emotional beats that the original left for the audience to infer.

Plus, the Jackson version does not include a single scene that can come close to the "Scream, Anne! Scream for your life!" scene in the original.

[ArtMaker]

And I'll argue until the day I die that the Jackson version tediously spells out character and emotional beats that the original left for the audience to infer.

Plus, the Jackson version does not include a single scene that can come close to the "Scream, Anne! Scream for your life!" scene in the original.

I think that was a deleted scene cause it was used in the early trailer. Instead of on the boat, it was on the island’s rocky shore (around where Kong would later get captured).


An interpretation of the Jackson film I have is that they are the “true” events of what happened and the 1933 King Kong was an adaptation of those events. No disrespect or anything to it, btw.

[eabaker]

And I'll argue until the day I die that the Jackson version tediously spells out character and emotional beats that the original left for the audience to infer.

Plus, the Jackson version does not include a single scene that can come close to the "Scream, Anne! Scream for your life!" scene in the original.

I think that was a deleted scene cause it was used in the early trailer. Instead of on the boat, it was on the island’s rocky shore (around where Kong would later get captured).

I remember that from the trailer. My point wasn't about the movie needing that specific moment, though; it was that as originally executed, that scene is basically a couple of minutes of elegant, evocative, near-perfect filmmaking. It could pretty much be a micro-short in and of itself.

[LegendZilla]

Had the Jackson version trimmed at least 10 minutes of filler, that would've made all the difference.

[Spuro]

Plus, the Jackson version does not include a single scene that can come close to the "Scream, Anne! Scream for your life!" scene in the original.

I'll never get why they cut that from the Jackson movie. It wasn't even in the extended edition.

[darthzilla99]

King Kong 76 is getting a 4k blu ray release. It includes the tv extended cut and the other shout factory features. I'm good with my shout factory blu ray.

[canofhumdingers]

Sweet! I haven’t picked up the Blu ray yet, so I’ll just get the 4K disc instead. Awesome!

[UltramanGoji]

That post neglected to mention that the disc is Region 2, so you might not be able to play the discs on your player.

[Janjira-York]

if there ever was a new kong retelling it shouldnt be a period piece its done very well with the 05 one

[ArtMaker]

if there ever was a new kong retelling it shouldnt be a period piece its done very well with the 05 one

The question would be: what time period this time? We’ve seen the 30s twice, and the 70s twice. If we follow this pattern, it would be moved up to the 90s to early 2000s. Or would we go further back? If it’s kept to the original era, what else can be shown? The ‘05 film did a pretty well done job of showing off the time period.

Actually, that’s a bit of a funny thing I realize, each 2nd time a retelling happens, it’s a period piece vs the originals which were a contemporary movie.

[Janjira-York]

if there ever was a new kong retelling it shouldnt be a period piece its done very well with the 05 one

The question would be: what time period this time? We’ve seen the 30s twice, and the 70s twice. If we follow this pattern, it would be moved up to the 90s to early 2000s. Or would we go further back? If it’s kept to the original era, what else can be shown? The ‘05 film did a pretty well done job of showing off the time period.

Actually, that’s a bit of a funny thing I realize, each 2nd time a retelling happens, it’s a period piece vs the originals which were a contemporary movie.

1833 so guns are even less effective vs animal monsters OR 2033 making it even more of a hard contrast of nature vs modernity

[ArtMaker]

if there ever was a new kong retelling it shouldnt be a period piece its done very well with the 05 one

The question would be: what time period this time? We’ve seen the 30s twice, and the 70s twice. If we follow this pattern, it would be moved up to the 90s to early 2000s. Or would we go further back? If it’s kept to the original era, what else can be shown? The ‘05 film did a pretty well done job of showing off the time period.

Actually, that’s a bit of a funny thing I realize, each 2nd time a retelling happens, it’s a period piece vs the originals which were a contemporary movie.

1833 so guns are even less effective vs animal monsters OR 2033 making it even more of a hard contrast of nature vs modernity

2033 (or higher)? Cool. Symbolism of a “dying age of nature in modernity”.