THE RETURN OF KING KONG

One of the first movies I can remember seeing at the theatre with my family was Dino deLaurentis' 1976 adaptation of King Kong (other early movies I remember going to see include The Great Waldo Pepper and the original Star Wars as well as a fair number of war movies).  In fact, we may have gone to see it on my birthday (a family tradition for years).  I liked the movie enough to buy (or perhaps it was a gift) a "making of" paperback — which I still own (in a box somewhere).

However, the 1933 original became my favorite once I finally saw that one sometime afterwards.  There's something about the black & white that lent an extra air of mystery to Skull Island (and I liked Fay Wray much better than Jessica Lang's overacting for some reason).

Now I find out that Lord Of The Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson has made yet another version of the King Kong story.  Judging from the promo artwork I stumbled upon (while looking for a release date for another anticipated movie), this one is set in the 1930's with Jackson's native New Zealand doubling for Skull Island.

The cast sounds pretty spectacular:  Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, and Jack Black, for starters.  Release date is December 15.  Hopefully, the studio will try and capitalize on the interest by releasing the original on a special edition DVD (restoring the scene of the cameramen being eaten by giant spiders that was cut from the VHS version).  In the meantime, check out the really cool Kong Is King.net which has all the latest news and plenty of info about the older movies.