Lost projects: Godzilla vs Mechani-Kong/ King Kong

[Dinosaur1993!]

Out of all the unmade Godzilla films we could have gotten over the years, this is the one I wish we would have gotten the most. A heisei version of King Kong fighting the heisei Godzilla would have been pretty cool.

[Omegazilla]

While I am not a fan of the concept of Godzilla fighting Kong whatsoever, this looks like it could have delivered in a way only a Heisei movie could have! Kong's vastly inferior power level to Godzilla is actually justified in a way that makes sense. A cyborg Kong sounds ridiculous but I think this could have been pulled off if done right.

[Terasawa]

A cyborg Kong sounds ridiculous

Your avatar is an intergalactic Godzilla created by having Godzilla’s cells journey through a black hole, out a white hole, and bombarded by some sort of dark crystal energy.

[The Octopus]

^ That made me spit out my hot cocoa.

[LSD Jellyfish]

A cyborg Kong sounds ridiculous

Your avatar is an intergalactic Godzilla created by having Godzilla’s cells journey through a black hole, out a white hole, and bombarded by some sort of dark crystal energy.

I think the Godzilla Franchise as a whole is plagued by things that are conceptually very out there on paper, and then strange in execution, but people get over and used to it pretty quickly.

But yeah, a Cyborg Kong sounds super tame, especially in comparison to Biollante or 91 King Ghidorah.

Also, do we know if this project would ever actually exist?

[AllosaurHell]

Kong would have probably been like the 76 design but with beefier arms as stated before, and I bet he'd shoot Palpatine levels of lightning at Godzilla.

[Omegazilla]

A cyborg Kong sounds ridiculous

Your avatar is an intergalactic Godzilla created by having Godzilla’s cells journey through a black hole, out a white hole, and bombarded by some sort of dark crystal energy.

So? I said ridiculous, not bad. I think this movie could have been on to something. That being said though, I prefer Ghidorah to Kong so I am content with how things have been established in reality. I also have to give credit to this draft because MKG very well could have been inspired by this draft as well and seems fairly iconic despite this one time appearance in the series.

[Terasawa]

A cyborg Kong sounds ridiculous

Your avatar is an intergalactic Godzilla created by having Godzilla’s cells journey through a black hole, out a white hole, and bombarded by some sort of dark crystal energy.

So? I said ridiculous, not bad.

I know you said "ridiculous." The point was that I thought it was funny you considered a robotic giant ape ridiculous when your avatar reps one of the most outlandish monsters in the Toho canon.

[Omegazilla]

Fair enough. SG is another ridiculous but fun concept. A shame this draft didn't get made though. Some of the Kong purists may have found the cybernetic Kong ridiculous too and out of character, which it kinda is, but isn't entirely new ground if you think of that sequel to the 1976 Kong movie King Kong Lives. Although he didn't go full cyborg, if I recall correctly, he had an artificial heart! I definitely can see why that was panned!

[The One and Only]

Fair enough. SG is another ridiculous but fun concept. A shame this draft didn't get made though. Some of the Kong purists may have found the cybernetic Kong ridiculous too and out of character, which it kinda is, but isn't entirely new ground if you think of that sequel to the 1976 Kong movie King Kong Lives. Although he didn't go full cyborg, if I recall correctly, he had an artificial heart! I definitely can see why that was panned!

Dino De Laurentis had originally considered early on making the sequel to KING KONG '76 have the Skull Island Monarch's remains from the end of the first flick being taken into custody by a group of scientists. Who made Kong in to a cyborg, and ends up even killing Dwan (Jessica Lang) in the course of the flick. The Bionic-Kong idea was scaled back to the artificial heart that we got in Lives. As they were considered the next big thing in medical technology at the time.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I'm reading through a lot of older Godzilla manga, and Mechani-Kong seems to be a wildly popular character to use. He's usually paired up with MG, and works well as a partner for him, supplying the brawl to MG's arsenal.

[edgaguirus]

Sounds like an interesting pairing. The yin and yang of mech warfare.

[Omegazilla]

I actually prefer the idea of Mechani-Kong fighting Godzilla over the real Kong, but given the resemblance to Kong, it would just be odd to have Godzilla fight Mechani-Kong without Kong whatsoever. It'd be like Mothra fighting Mechagodzilla with no mention of Godzilla at all. So if Godzilla were to fight Mechani-Kong, the real Kong is a must somehow as well.

[miguelnuva]

I'd love to get a synopsis for this film after reading the one from Continuation:King Kong vs Godzilla.

[Gigantis]

Reviving this thread, since recent news has popped up..

Pretty interesting that a Heisei era Kong rematch almost happened TWICE. Since 1994 was supposed to be the release date of the last Heisei Godzilla film, I guess Toho wanted to close it out by finally giving the two of them a rematch. Considering that's exactly the same time Universal was working out the rights for when they were trying to make THEIR Kong movie though.. yeah, guessing they didn't have much luck.

What's also interesting is that immediately after that draft was considered, the next one was "Godzilla vs. King Goku". For anyone not aware, (or isn't a Dragon Ball fan lol ) "Son Goku" is actually the Japanese name for Sun Wukong, the character from Chinese Mythology. This would imply that King Goku was also supposed to be a primate monster, so.. This is just a hunch, but my theory is that after the Kong ordeal fell through, Toho wanted to be cheeky and try creating their own monkey monster instead, but they chickened out. Adding onto this theory, the movie after King Goku was "Godzilla vs. Qilin", and the Qilin is also something from Chinese mythology, a weird horse-dragon hybrid thing, which might prove that Goku was, indeed, based on Sun Wukong and also King Kong.

Wow, I got an entire theory just from a couple of titles, wtf?

[edgaguirus]

People have made theories from less.

I think a monkey-based kaiju would've been a safe option for Toho, but The Heisei era wasn't crazy about trying new monsters.

[The One and Only]

People have made theories from less.

I think a monkey-based kaiju would've been a safe option for Toho, but The Heisei era wasn't crazy about trying new monsters.

Well ,with the somewhat disappointing returns of GODZILLA Vs. BIOLLANTE , not too mention the canning of MOTHRA Vs. BAGAN. TOHO no doubt felt sticking with the classics, King Ghidorah, Kong was the way to go. Hell, Godzilla's rematch with King Kong for the first time would've no doubt garnered a lot of attention, interest stateside as well.

Two classic kaiju in Toho's arsenal I'm surprised the company didn't pull the trigger on to use in Heisei Era, not too mention the Millenium, was the Gargantuas. Sanda and Gaira. Two hairy hominids whose sadly only film ,WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS is quite the favorite of many a kaiju fan. And top it off name recognition outside the fan base as well. The monstrous Frankenstein Brothers, Sasquatches would gather some attention from audiences as well.

[edgaguirus]

I don't know about Japan, but the Gargantuas and their movie are well regarded by most kaiju fans state side. If not Kong, they'd be perfect stand ins for a hominid foe for Godzilla.