King Kong (2005 film)
| King Kong | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for King Kong | |
| Directed by | Peter Jackson |
| Written by | Merian C. Cooper (story) Edgar Wallace (story) Peter Jackson Fran Walsh Philippa Boyens |
| Produced by | Peter Jackson Fran Walsh |
| Starring | Adrien Brody Naomi Watts Jack Black |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
Release dates | December 14, 2005 |
Running time | 187 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $207,000,000 |
King Kong (2005) is a fantasy-adventure movie. It is a remake of the original 1933 movie about a giant ape named Kong, which was written by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film was directed by Peter Jackson, produced by Jackson and Fran Walsh, and written by Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The cast includes Naomi Watts in the role of Ann Darrow, Jack Black as Carl Denham, and, through performance capture, Andy Serkis as Kong. Much of the crew had previously worked on Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, with the exception of the composer James Newton Howard, who replaced Jackson's Lord of the Rings collaborator Howard Shore due to "differing creative aspirations for the score of King Kong."
Filming was completed in Miramar, New Zealand, and the film was released on December 14, 2005. It was rated at the last minute, in November, as PG-13 (in the US), and a 12A (in the U.K.) for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images.
- Tagline: The Eighth Wonder of the World
Story
Carl Denham is a documentary filmmaker whose penchant for "safari films" does not go over well with his studio bosses who prefer to see him turn in a romance film for a change. When he discovers that they would rather sell his films off as stock footage than fund his latest movie, Denham steals the film and quickly organises to leave for his next shoot immediately. Still in need of a leading lady, along the way he meets Ann Darrow, an unemployed vaudeville actress whose theater was recently closed down due to lack of money. He convinces Ann to join him in his latest movie endeavour and boards a tramp steamer with her; Jack Driscoll - a hapless playwright who has written part of the screenplay - is tricked by Denham into joining the journey in order to finish the story. The ship leaves just in time for Denham to escape the police, and sets off on a voyage to what Ann and Jack believe to be Singapore.
Along the way, Denham reveals they're actually heading for Skull Island, a place unknown to the outside world that Denham believes will make for some spectacular footage for his production. Although the captain of the steamer voices his concerns about their destination, he sets out to find the island anyway. Meanwhile Ann, a fan of Jack's plays, falls in love with the playwright.
Eventually the ship's captain discovers Denham has an arrest warrant out for him and decides to change course and head to Rangoon for the sake of his crew. However, a thick fog sets in and they find themselves at the island, almost crashing the boat on to massive rocks.
As the steamer's crew try to fix the ship, Denham, Ann, Jack and the film crew go ashore where they are ambushed by a mob of angry natives. Some of the crew are killed, but Denham and the rest of the landing party are saved by the ship's captain. They return to the boat and make preparations to leave, but a native slips on board and kidnaps Ann. She is soon tied up and strapped to a wooden frame that juts across the other side of a massive wall which separates the natives from the rest of the island. The ship's crew arm themselves and attempt a rescue mission, but are too late as Carl watches Ann get taken away by a giant ape.
The crew discover that the ape, named "Kong" by the natives, lives in a massive jungle where prehistoric creatures have been protected and hidden for millions of years. After some discussion, the captain allows Denham and Jack to go look for her, with 15 armed crewmen as bodyguards. As they trek through the jungle, the crew has a number of encounters with the local fauna, escaping from a dinosaur stampede and finding themselves trapped in a ravine with giant insects. A number of the crew are killed, and Jack ends up looking for Ann on his own while Denham, whose camera and film is destroyed in the fall down the ravine, decides to capture Kong and bring him back to New York City.
Meanwhile, Kong brings Ann to his home high up on a cliff. In an attempt to keep Kong from killing her, Ann dances and does tricks, which amuses Kong, but when Ann stops, Kong becomes angry, and after failing to intimidate her, he leaves. Ann takes the opportunity to escape, but is attacked by three huge Vastatosaurus Rex dinosaurs. Kong shows up and defeats the creatures, protecting Ann from being eaten alive. Tired, Kong carries Ann back to his cliff and falls asleep with her in his hand.
Eventually, Jack finds Ann and they escape while Kong is busy defending himself from an attack by a colony of giant bats. Kong catches up to them, but Denham and the surviving crew members are waiting and attempt to capture Kong, but Kong breaks free of the trap. At the last minute, Denham successfully captures Kong by smashing a bottle of chloroform across his face.
Months later in New York City, Ann is an anonymous chorus line dancer, while the lovelorn Jack watches a play he wrote whose lead role was meant for her. Denham puts the shackled and captive Kong on display in front of a large audience on Broadway, insisting that the chains holding him are "made of chromed steel". Intimidated by the attention and frightened by the press flashbulbs, Kong breaks free from his chains, destroys the theatre, and runs amok through the city searching for Ann. After finding her, Kong calms down and takes her to Central Park where he slides around with her on the ice in a brief moment of happiness. Moments later, they are ambushed by the Army, who attack Kong with machine gun fire and artillery rounds. Reminiscent of his cliff-dwelling, Kong escapes to the Empire State Building, which he proceeds to climb, with one hand, holding Ann gently in the other.
Kong and Ann take in the sunrise at the top of the building but soon enough, six Navy biplanes appear and and fire at Kong. Ann wants to stay with him but Kong puts her down, climbing to the top of the skyscraper as the planes attack. Ann tries to climb higher to save him, waving at the biplanes to stop. Above her, Kong manages to destroy three of the planes, but is badly wounded. Eventually Kong succumbs to his injuries and falls to his death.
Jack rushes up to the building to comfort Ann after Kong falls, while Carl Denham arrives at the scene where reporters, police, soldiers, and bystanders crowd around Kong's body. Gazing upon Kong's corpse, he notes that it wasn't the planes that killed Kong, but rather "It was beauty killed the beast". In truth, it was beauty that saved the beast. Where Kong started out as a savage creature, Ann made him "beautiful" and gave him peace. It was societies fear, arrogance and ignorance that destroyed him.
Adaptation
The 2005 version follows the overall pattern of the original film closely, but changes some details and adds considerably more background and depth to the characters:
- Unlike the original, the existence of Kong is unknown to Carl Denham before he reaches Skull Island; his reasons to look for the island is to film a land unknown to modern eyes. Along with his desire for fame, fortune and acceptance by his peers, his motivation to capture Kong later in the film is also linked to the deaths of his cameraman and sound recordist, and the destruction of the footage he had already shot.
- Ann Darrow becomes a struggling vaudeville actress who charms Kong by entertaining him with her acrobatic skills.
- Jack Driscoll is changed from the ship's first mate to a playwright and screenwriter.
- The 2005 film emphasises the poverty of Depression-era New York more than the original.
- Kong destroys three fighters in the 2005 film, while in the original he only destroys one.
- The 2005 film includes a sequence in which the explorers are attacked by insects after Kong makes them fall into a chasm: this is based on a sequence that was cut from the original film (as it was felt to distract from the battle between Kong and the Tyrannosaurus) and has since been lost.
- In the 1933 film, Ann Darrow was simply terrified of Kong. In the remake, she comes to sympathize with him and even feel affection, to the extent that she tries to save his life in New York.
- Kong is seen overtly killing fewer people in the 2005 film, however the fates of the many he has put in harm's way (such as the women he mistakes for Ann or the numerous automobile accidents he causes) are not disclosed to the audience.
Finance
Budget
The budget climbed from an initial $150 million to a record-breaking $207 million, making it, by a small margin, the most-expensive film ever made in actual dollars spent and the sixth-most expensive film adjusted for inflation. Universal Studios only agreed to such an outlay after seeing a screening of the unfinished film, to which executives responded enthusiastically.
Marketing Campaign
The marketing campaign for King Kong started in full swing on 28 June 2005, when the teaser trailer made its debut, first online at the official Volkswagen website at 8:45 pm EST, then 8:55 pm EST across media outlets owned by NBC-Universal, including NBC, Bravo!, CNBC and MSNBC. That trailer appeared in theatres attached to War of the Worlds, which opened on 29 June.
Jackson regularly published a series of 'Production Diaries', which chronicled the making of the film. The diaries started shortly after the DVD release of The Return of the King as a way to give Jackson's The Lord of the Rings fans a glimpse of his next project. These diaries are edited into broadband-friendly installments of three or four minutes each. They consist of features that would normally be seen in a making-of documentary: a tour of the set, a roving camera introducing key players behind the scene, a peek inside the sound booth during last-minute dubbing, or Andy Serkis doing his ape movements in a motion capture studio.
The production diaries were released on DVD on December 13, one day before the U.S. release of the film.
In a unique co-promotion, New York State held a special King Kong lottery game in which tickets were sold for a one time drawing to be held on December 5, 2005 offered a grand prize of $50 million and several second prizes of $1 million.
Box Office
Sporting the 36th widest opening weekend release of all time, King Kong had the 21st best Wednesday opening ever with 9.7 million USD and an opening weekend gross of 50.15 million USD. While the opening day gross was well below expectations with Universal previously setting a benchmark close to Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring 18 million USD opening, the film did outgross Fellowship's 47.2 million USD (unadjusted) weekend take.
This start has been considered unremarkable by Hollywood blockbuster standards. However, Jackson and Universal believe that King Kong will be successful in the long run as a "slow burner", attracting moviegoers through word of mouth and staying in theatres and drawing audiences longer than a typical theatrically released film. Other factors attributed to the lesser box office include the three-hour-plus runtime of the film (which effectively limits the number of possible showings per day) and the acknowlegment that there is a far smaller "built-in" audience compared to that of Jackson's Rings films or 2005's highest grossing film Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
As of 30 December 2005 the film became the 10th highest grossing release of 2005 after it had $305,083,000 USD in ticket slaes. This included $151.5 million USD in the United States and Canada with an additional 153.6 million USD in other countries. See 2005's Top 10 films for the complete list.
3D version in the making?
The BBC and Hollywood Reporter disclosed in late November that a 3D version of the film was proceeding on a test basis, with a spring or summer release planned. This has been officially disclaimed by Universal Studios, however, it is a fact that both Shrek and Terminator 2 had short 3D versions made for the Studio as theme park attractions. With 7 animation features coming out in 2006 in 3D, it is somewhat likely that a 3D version might be created. The film is more than 90% CGI mastered, so converting the scene to 3D is largely a software excercise, with some creative work required for the closer shots of actors. All the face shots of Kong can be 3D-ized from the original animation files. It is estimated that the conversion will cost about 10 million dollars, due to the great length of the movie. (3 hours 7 minutes)
Bestiary
Template:Spoiler Apart from Kong, Skull Island is also inhabited by dinosaurs and other large fauna. However, though they may look similar, they are not the familiar species. Inspired by the works of Dougal Dixon, the designers have imagined what 65 million years of evolution would have done to the dinosaurs. Naturally, the creatures are presented as more scientifically accurate than those portrayed in the 1933 version. The names are taken from those given to them on the official website.
Dinosaurs
- Venatosaurus: 16-24 feet long.
- Foetodon: 15-20 feet long.
- Brontosaurus (not to be confused with Apatosaurus): 80-120 feet long.
- Ligocristus: 26-34 feet long.
- Vastatosaurus Rex: 40-50 feet long.
Arachnids and insects
- Moonspider: 6-8 inches long.
- Decarnocimex: 5-10 feet long.
- Arachno-Claw: 4-6 feet long.
- Deplector: 4-8 feet long.
- Carnictis: 7-13 feet long.
Centipedes of the jungle floor and canopy
- Gyas gyas: 20-30 inches long.
- Idolon illotus: 10-14 inches long.
- Idolon venefaucus: 20-24 inches long.
- Megapede dereponecis: 3-5 feet long.
- Megapede horridus: 3-4 feet long.
- Megapede humus: 26-40 inches long.
- Omnimatercimex harpeforceps: 30-35 inches long.
Mammals
- Terapusmordax (bat-like flying rodent): 8-10-foot wingspan.
Response
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King Kong received a mostly positive critical response, garnering an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes [1]. The most common criticism of the film was of its length and moments where the audience was aware of CGI effects. Still, most regarded it as one of the few good epics and all-round better movies of 2005. Similarly, King Kong has been included in many critics' Top Ten of 2005 lists.
Trivia
- For the character of Kong, Andy Serkis, who modelled its movement, went to London Zoo to watch the gorillas, but was unsatisfied. He ended up going to Rwanda to observe mountain gorillas in the wild, with a company called Rainbow Tours.
- Peter Jackson was a nine-year-old in the New Zealand town of Pukerua Bay when he first saw the 1933 version of King Kong. He was in tears in front of the TV when the big gorilla slipped off the Empire State Building.
- Fay Wray], the actress who played Ann in the original movie, was originally planned to say the movie's final line ("It was beauty killed the beast.") However, when she passed away before doing the scene the line went back to the character of Carl Denham (played by Jack Black).
- Forbes Magazine asked real scientists who would win in a battle between King Kong and a Tyrannosaurus rex. The consensus named Kong as the probable victor.
- An ad for Universal Pictures is visible while Kong is tearing up Times Square.
- In the scene where Jack Driscoll is searching for a place to sleep in the animal storage hold, a box behind him reads 'Sumatran Rat Monkey - Beware the bite!' - a reference to the creature that causes all the mayhem in Peter Jackson's film Braindead (and is also, according to the 1992 film, only found on Skull Island).
- In the film, King Kong is displayed at the Palace Theatre in New York City. Along with the film itself, the marquee makes references to the folktale of "Beauty and the Beast". Interestingly enough, the Palace is the same theater that Disney's Beauty and the Beast opened at in 1994 (and ran here until 1999). On a side note, by 1933, the Palace had beome a full-fledged movie house no longer running stage acts.
- The two scenes in the trailer contain music from this film's composer, James Newton Howard's, earlier work, Batman Begins, which was just released Summer 2005. The scenes:
- The scene in which the crew is searching for Ann has music from the scene in Batman Begins in which Bruce Wayne rescues Henri Ducard from the burning building.
- The sequence after we see Kong and the dinosaur battle has music from the scene where Bruce and Ra's al Ghul swordfight.
- After the scene where Kong meets Ann, Jack is seen running in the streets. if you look closely, a man wearing track pants can be seen in the background.
- The 1933 movie features a startling sexual subtext with the scene wherein King Kong examines Darrow's clothes. The new movie instead presents Darrow (now played by Naomi Watts) as an acrobatic juggler instead of a simple object of lust. In addition, in the new film King Kong is more snubbish towards Darrow after she tries running away during their stay in the island.
- The number 42 can be seen stamped on a crate in the background of the cargo hold where Jack is forced to stay, a possible reference to Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where it is given as the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
References to the 1933 version
- When Denham is considering who to play the part, before he meets Ann, he suggests "Fay", but his assistant replies "Fay...no, she's working for RKO". Denham mutters "Cooper" under his breath. In 1933, Fay Wray would have been filming the original King Kong at RKO with Merian C. Cooper directing. She also filmed The Most Dangerous Game on the same sets.
- During the ship voyage, Denham films a conversation between his stars Ann Darrow and Bruce Baxter. The dialogue used is from the meeting between Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll in the original 1933 film.
- The first line of the 1933 film, "Is this the moving picture ship?" is included in this version, spoken this time by Ann.
- The original Max Steiner score can be heard peppered throughout the movie, with the most notable cue accompanying the "Kong on Stage" scene.
- The performance and costumes of the dancers during Kong's New York stage appearance is nearly identical to the one done by the natives on the island in the 1933 version of the film.
- The scene in which Kong breaks the V-Rex's jaw and then plays with it mimics a similar moment in the original 1933 film.
- The background under main titles at the beginning of the movie is the same as the background of the 1933 RKO film.
- The Bruce Baxter character is based on the actor Bruce Cabot, who played Jack Driscoll in the original 1933 film. In an interview Peter Jackson did with Fay Wray when preparing for making the movie, she talked about Cabot being a very vain ladies man, more interested in chasing women than acting. The actor portraying Bruce Baxter, Kyle Chandler, is a spitting image of Cabot.
- Two gas bomb props can be seen stored with the cloroform during the first third of the film.
- The film has many references to the book "Heart of Darkness" and its themes are linked with the novella.
- the cab driven by Jack Driscoll in the end has a licence plate that reads "NZ 16". "NZ" is the abbreviation for New Zealand (Jackson's homeland) and "16" is most likely a reference to the 16-millimeter camera that Jackson got at the age of 20, which he credits as starting his film career. [2]
Unanswered questions and inconsistencies
The original King Kong featured several inconsistencies and unanswered questions. Perhaps deliberately, the 2005 remake makes no attempt at dealing with them.
- As in the 1933 film, there is no explanation of how Denham transports King Kong from Skull Island to New York on a tramp steamer apparently not much larger than him; nor is it shown how he was put onto the stage in New York.
- As in the 1933 film, there is no explanation of where Kong comes from. Unlike the 1933 film, however, bones of huge gorillas are visible in his cave, implying that he is the last surviving member of his species, an explanation that Peter Jackson has offered in interviews.
- One of the most famous absurdities of the 1933 film is that the natives of Skull Island, when building a solid wall to protect themselves from the island's giant monsters, included a giant wooden door large enough to accomodate any of the creatures. Additionally, a creature that can scale the Empire State Building with one hand should be able to get over a 100 foot wall. Even though the wall is shown with a firey moat around it, the film showed Kong leaping the moat and climbing the wall. The 2005 film provides no answers.
Cast
- Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow
- Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll
- Jack Black as Carl Denham
- Andy Serkis as Lumpy the Cook, and King Kong (motion capture and voice - using live digital morphing, refered to as a "Kongalizer")
- Colin Hanks as Preston
- Jamie Bell as Jimmy
- Lobo Chan as Choy
- Kyle Chandler as Bruce Baxter
- Thomas Kretschmann as Captain Englehorn
- Evan Parke as Hayes
- Ray Woolf as Helmsman
- Chris A. Romero as Jeff
- Al Jolson performer of song that plays during the introduction of New York.
Awards and nominations
Won (1)
- Special Achievement Award - For the special effects
Nominated (2)
- Best Director - Motion Picture (Peter Jackson)
- Best Original Score - Motion Picture (James Howard)
Video game
- Peter Jackson's King Kong is a multi-platform video game based on the 2005 film.
External links
- Official website
- King Kong at IMDb
- Trailer(s) in HD
- Kong is King.net - fansite featuring behind-the-scenes footage
- KingKongthemovie.com - all Kong news and other media
- Headlines for the new King Kong
- WIRED: Return of the King
- KongLives.net
- The post production diaries can be found at KongisKing.net
- Webcam of premier location
- King Kong at Boxofficemojo.com
- King Kong movie review at The Horror Channel
- King Kong movie review and critics opinions, at Lithuanian web site (LT)
- Why Jackson's King Kong will Make You Cry