King Kong (franchise)

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King Kong is a franchise based on the story of King Kong, an enormous fictional ape living on in the Pacific that is taken to New York City and climbs the Empire State Building before being killed by airplane fire. The 1933 film is considered one of the best films ever made, and many sequels and other adaptations have been made of the story and the world of Skull Island.

Contents 1 Films 1.1 King King (1933) 1.2 The Son of Kong 1.3 King Kong Appears in Edo 1.4 King Kong versus Godzilla 1.5 King Kong Escapes 1.6 King Kong (1976) 1.7 Queen Kong 1.8 King Kong Lives 1.9 The Mighty Kong 1.10 King Kong (2005) 2 Television 3 Print adaptations 4 Characters 4.1 King Kong 4.2 Ann Darrow 4.3 Carl Denham 4.4 Jack Driscoll 4.5 Captain Englehorn 4.6 Minor characters 5 Impact on popular culture 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] Films

[edit] King King (1933)

[edit] The Son of Kong

[edit] King Kong Appears in Edo

King Kong Appears in Edo (江戸に現れたキングコング, Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu^?) is a lost film released in Japan in 1938.^[1][2]

An unofficial and enigmatic Japanese-made monster/period piece by studio Zenkatsu^[3] in which King Kong attacks medieval Edo (the former name of Tokyo), it was one of Japan's first kaiju (giant monster) films, predating Godzilla by sixteen years. Although inaccurate to its historical setting, some Caligari-esque expressionistic buildings were added for Kong to climb.^{[citation needed]} The film has been lost since its theatrical run in 1938. It is claimed the film either "disappeared due to negligent maintenance" or was destroyed during the bombings of Japan in World War II.^[4]

Fuminori Ohashi, who would later create the suit for Godzilla in the original 1954 film, created the ape suit and special effects for this film.^[5] He explained, "The first model making to be counted as "special art direction" in Japanese cinema was a giant gorilla which I did for the movie King Kong Appears in Edo fifty years ago. It was also the first movie to feature certain kinds of special effects."^[6]

[edit] King Kong versus Godzilla

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King Kong vs. Godzilla (キングコング対ゴジラ, Kingu Kongu tai Gojira?) is a 1962 tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Ishiro Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of kaiju films featuring the monster Godzilla. King kong was made much larger to compete with Godzilla and in the battle is brought back to life by lightning bolt and gains the ability to control electricity. In the end both fall into the ocean and only Kong emerges from the water although the fate of Godzilla is unknown.

[edit] King Kong Escapes

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[edit] King Kong (1976)

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[edit] Queen Kong

Queen Kong is a 1976 British comedy film spoofing King Kong. The film was never released theatrically in the UK, due to legal action by Dino De Laurentiis, producer of the 1976 King Kong remake. It got limited release in Italy and Germany. The film has since resurfaced on DVD.

The film has a cult following in Japan. In the late 1990s, a troupe of Japanese comedians produced their own Japanese dialogue for the film, in a similar spirit to Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily. A version of the film with the new Japanese dialogue was released on DVD in 2001.

[edit] King Kong Lives

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[edit] The Mighty Kong

The Mighty Kong is a 1998 animated, musical adaptation of the classic King Kong story. Jodi Benson and Dudley Moore (in his last role before his death) headed its cast of voice actors. It features original songs by the Sherman Brothers. The film features the waterfall shower scene which was in the remake King Kong (1976 film). There is no violence in this movie at all. Kong survives the fall from the Empire State Building to provide a more family friendly ending. The film was panned by critics and fans of the Kong films. The movie was an attempt to cash in on the release of Godzilla (1998 film). The film was a dud resulting in low sales, but has developed a cult following.

[edit] King Kong (2005)

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[edit] Television

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There have been several adaptations of the King Kong story into television.

[edit] Print adaptations

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Kong: King of Skull Island is an illustrated novel labeled as an authorized sequel to King Kong (1933) and was published in 2004 by DH Press, a subsidiary of Dark Horse Comics. A large-paperback edition was released in 2005. Authorized by the family and estate of Merian C. Cooper, the book was created & illustrated by Joe DeVito, written by Brad Strickland with John Michlig, and includes an introduction by Ray Harryhausen. The novel's story ignores the existence of Son of Kong (1933) and continues the story of Skull Island with Carl Denham and Jack Driscoll in the late 1950s, through the novel's central character, Vincent Denham. (Ann Darrow does not appear, but is mentioned several times.) The novel also becomes a prequel that reveals the story of the early history of Kong, of Skull Island, and of the natives of the island. On the novel's official website; it has stated that it would become a major motion picture. It is said to be released in 2009.

[edit] Characters

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[edit] King Kong

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[edit] Ann Darrow

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[edit] Carl Denham

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[edit] Jack Driscoll

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[edit] Captain Englehorn

Captain Englehorn is a fictional captain in the films King Kong and Son of Kong (both released in 1933), the 2005 remake of King Kong, and in the television series The King Kong Show, and a 2004 illustrated-novel Kong: King of Skull Island. The role was played by Frank Reicher in the 1933 films and by Thomas Kretschmann in the 2005 remake.

In the 1933 King Kong, Englehorn appears to be much older than he is in the 2005 version. In the remake he appears to be more rough and heroic, rescuing the main characters twice. In the new version Englehorn treats the character Carl Denham with more anger and is less polite to him than the first version. In the original Englehorn appears to be loyal to Denham, sticking with him during several adventures; in the remake Englehorn is fed up with Denham, finding him barely tolerable and desiring to remove his presence.

[edit] Minor characters

Jimmy is a fictional character who appears in both the 1933 and 2005 versions of the movie King Kong, as well as the 2005 game. He is a sailor aboard the tramp steamer the S.S. Venture. In the 1933 film he is played by an unknown, uncredited actor, and in the 2005 film by actor Jamie Bell. Jimmy is a relatively minor character who doesn't actually appear until after Ann Darrow's sacrifice to Kong by the natives of Skull Island. He is one of the crew members who volunteers to accompany Jack Driscoll and Carl Denham on their mission to rescue her, and is the man chosen to carry Denham's gas bombs. His name is only mentioned once ("Jimmy, bring the bombs!"), and he is killed in the log shaking sequence, the last sailor clinging to the log as Kong drops it down into the deep chasm. (It is possible that the names being the same is coincedental as Jimmy is a common name.) Jimmy's role is expanded here, making him a much more important supporting character, the lookout of the Venture and a close friend with first mate Ben Hayes who he views as a father figure. He is much younger and something of a kleptomaniac, introduced stealing Jack Driscoll's pen when he brings him his lunch. After making him return the pen and chasing him off, Hayes says, to Driscoll, that Jimmy doesn't mean any harm, and tells him that he found him hiding in a cage some years ago, with his arm broken in two places, and "wilder than half the animals in here." Hayes says, further, "He still won't tell me where he came from, but it wasn't anyplace good." He also appears in the video game based on the 2005 film. Jimmy appears in the 1932 and 2005 novelizations of both films, by Delos W. Lovelace and Christopher Golden respectively, as well as the 1991 Monster Comics adaptation drawn by Don Simpson. Although Lovelace and Golden's novels have Jimmy relatively similar to his counterpart(s) in both films - that is, young and not very big - Simpson's comic portrays Jimmy as being middle-aged, and quite large and brawny.

[edit] Impact on popular culture

King Kong is one of the best-known figures in cinema history. He and the series of films featuring him are frequently referenced in popular culture around the world.^[7] King Kong has achieved the stature of a pop-culture icon and modern myth.^[8][9] King Kong has inspired advertisements, cartoons, comic books, films, magazine covers, plays, poetry, political cartoons, short stories, television programmes, and other media.^[7] The forms of references to King Kong range from straight copies to parodies and humorous references.

The 1933 release of King Kong was an immediate hit at the box office, and had a huge impact on the popular culture of the 1930s. It was the first film to play in two of New York City’s largest theatres at the same time, and the first in the 1930s trend for horror films.^[9] The combination of advanced special effects and primitivist content in the film made it popular among American and European intellectuals, especially the surrealists. Ray Bradbury remarked that when King Kong was released, “a mob of boys went quietly mad across the world, then fled into the light to become adventurers, explorers, zoo-keepers, filmmakers.”^[7] There was a version of King Kong in the 1933 animated Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Pet Shop" (also known as "Mickey and the Gorilla Tamer"). In the cartoon, the ape falls in love with Minnie Mouse and climbs to the top of a stack of boxes while holding her. Mickey and a group of birds, imitating the biplanes at the climax of King Kong, defeat the ape.^[10] In the 1933 animated Mickey Mouse short film, "Mickey's Mechanical Man", Mickey's invention, a robot, is engaged in a boxing match against an ape known as "Killer Kong."

In 1938,^[7] King Kong received its first re-release, although some shots, such as King Kong removing parts of Ann Darrow’s dress, and his chewing and stomping various extras, often in graphic close-up (via use of full-scale mechanical head and foot props), were removed because they were now considered unacceptable under the Production Code.^[9][11] King Kong was again re-released in 1942 and 1946.^[11] Despite its success, King Kong was not yet as important a part of popular culture as it would become in the future.^[7]

The film was re-released in 1952, becoming one of the media events of that year. Time magazine named it “Movie of the Year”. The film’s studio RKO tried an experimental reissue of King Kong in the Midwest United States in 1952. In an unprecedented move they committed most of King Kong’s promotional budget to television spots. The re-release was an enormous success, with the film attracting triple the usual business in its markets. This showed that television was a powerful tool for promotion. King Kong generated more box office receipts than the original 1933 release had.^[7] Theatre owners named it Picture of the Year.^[11] It was at this time that King Kong acquired its reputation as a popular culture phenomenon. The two most significant spinoffs of King Kong in this period were Mighty Joe Young (1949) and Godzilla (1954). Godzilla was inspired by King Kong’s popularity in Japan. Godzilla revived and reconfigured parts of the King Kong story more powerfully than any other spinoff has.^[7] RKO theatrically re-released King Kong for the last time in 1956.

King Kong was sold to television after the conclusion of the 1956 release. One channel in New York showed the film seventeen times in a single week, with each showing topping the ratings. From then on, the film was a television mainstay that captured many new fans.^[11]

There is a reference to the real-world revival and massive success of King Kong in the 1950s in the 1959 movie A Summer Place. In the movie, two teenagers, Molly and Johnny, tell their parents that they are going to a classic movie showing of King Kong, when they are actually going to an abandoned lookout. Molly calls King Kong “one of those wonderful old horror numbers.” Johnny frets that if he doesn't watch the movie, he might not be able to answer his parent's questions, but Molly tells him, "It's kind of sad. If anybody asks, just tell 'em about the end. That's the part everybody remembers."^[7]

King Kong reached the height of its public visibility in the twentieth century in the 1960s and 1970s, as part of a nostalgic trend to 1930s Hollywood. King Kong was becoming a cult film with nostalgia value. During this period the character and story of King Kong was most frequently used as a parody in popular culture. The frequency of its use as a parody at this time shows how significant it had become in popular culture.^[7] In the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, the characters look in a room where a monster ape smashes through a window to get at a screaming woman on a bed. "Do you think we're interrupting something?" George nonchalantly comments of it, to which John replies, "I think so."

In the mid-1960s RKO began to license a series of King Kong-related products in response to a heavy demand from the public. These products included comic books, games, models, and posters. In 1969 most of the censored shots were found. In 1971 a version of King Kong with these long-missing portions returned to their proper places was released to art houses.

References to King Kong in popular culture have been widespread since the 1960s. The references have different tones, with some being parodies while others are parodies or oppositional critiques. Some of these references are fleeting (for example, Frank Zappa named one of his more complex compositions with the Mothers of Invention after Kong), but nevertheless are evidence of King Kong’s importance in popular culture. King Kong has been cited in films such as Morgan! (1966), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Amazon Women on the Moon (1987).^[7] In The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" pays homage to King Kong with the lyric: "Then something went wrong for Fay Wray and King Kong ... they got caught in a celluloid jam." At the end of the film, Rocky carries Dr. Frankenfurter on the RKO logo, replicating King Kong carrying Fay Wray in the climax of King Kong.

In 1965 Monocle, a political satire magazine, co-hosted a publisher’s party at the Empire State Building with Bantam Books, who were reissuing Delos W. Lovelace's novelization of King Kong. A panel of Monocle satirists was due to give an ironic commentary on King Kong, followed by a screening of the film. One of the titles on the satirists’ program was “King Kong to Viet Cong: Thirty Years of Gorilla Warfare”. Andy Warhol, who was not on the guest list, used the occasion to generate publicity and create a performance by complaining to the press that King Kong should be screened with his own film Empire (1964). Warhol was permitted to show three minutes of Empire after King Kong. Empire was then criticized in the press for being too dull and being upstaged by King Kong.^[7]

By the 1970s the character of King Kong was constantly referenced in cartoons and jokes. In a 1972 New Yorker cartoon, a man at a cocktail party atop the newly constructed World Trade Center comments that he is impressed that it was "finished so quickly and without incident," while King Kong climbs up the building below him. It was at this time that the film began to be studied by academics and film theoreticians, who found hidden subtexts and symbolic meanings in the film. However, Merian C. Cooper maintained that the film was nothing more than a simple adventure story.^[11]

After the highly promoted but vastly inferior 1976 remake of King Kong, Elliot Stein wrote a nostalgic fan homage essay to King Kong called “My Life with Kong” in Rolling Stone magazine. Stein was one of the most famous of the “Kongophiles” along with Forrest J. Ackerman and Jean Boullet. In the essay Stein talks about the contexts in which he has seen King Kong during his life, including in the 1930s in New York picture palaces like Radio City Music Hall, and the RKO Roxy and in Paris with Jean Boullet in the 1950s. There was an art deco retrospective of King Kong at the Radio City Music Hall in the 1974 and a King Kong homage was staged for the Telluride Film Festival in the 1970s.^[7] King Kong was also mentioned by name by Kermit the Frog in lyrics from the song "I Hope that Something Better Comes Along" from The Muppet Movie: "She made a monkey out of old King Kong/I hope that something better comes along." A 1976 Italian film called Kong Island involves an ape reputed to be a relative of King Kong, but has no other connection.

King Kong was the first film to feature a giant monster running amok in civilization (the silent The Lost World was actually the first--although it featured a rampaging Brontosaurus rather than a non-science-based monster--but was rarely seen after its first release until the video and cable-TV booms of the 1980s), there are echoes of the original King Kong film in every giant-monster film that has been made since 1933. These include The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Godzilla (1954) and Jurassic Park (1993).^[8] The dinosaur scenes from King Kong are referenced or mimicked in the three Jurassic Park films (especially the second film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). In the third act of the film, a creature (a tyrannosaurus rex) is brought to civilization from a remote island where it runs amok in a city (the ship that transports the beast is even called The Venture, which is the name of the ship in King Kong). Kong is even mentioned directly in the first one: as the tour group approaches the massive Jurassic Park gate that is reminiscent of the gate in King Kong, Jeff Goldblum's character asks, "What have they got in there, King Kong?" In the third film in this series, a spinosaurus vs. tyrannosaurus rex fight is similar to the Kong/rex battle in the original and the second remake.^[12]

One of the most frequently used images of King Kong in popular culture is the scene where King Kong and Ann Darrow are on top of the Empire State Building. This image has been copied or parodied in cartoons, comic books, horror films, and television commercials.^[8] A popular television spoof was the segment 'King Homer' from The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror III", in which the King Kong story was retold featuring Simpsons characters, with Homer as Kong, Marge as Ann Darrow and Mr. Burns as the Carl Denham analogues. The spoof follows the plot of the 1933 film closely; however, it ends with Marge marrying King Homer after he collapses in exhaustion, failing to climb beyond the second story of the Springfield State Building. King Homer also has a cameo in the music video for "Deep Deep Trouble" from The Simpsons Sing the Blues CD, and years later, makes another appearance in the opening couch gag of "Jazzy and the Pussycats." Homer grabs Marge from the couch and scales the Empire State Building, all while fending off 1930s-style airplanes.^[7] The film was referenced again on The Simpsons in the episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", where Mr. Burns captures the Loch Ness Monster and brings him back to America to entertain an audience; however, instead of the Monster going berserk during its debut, Burns himself is startled by the flash photography and causes the carnage.^[13]

King Kong is often used in commercial culture, for example in advertisements for Coca Cola and Energizer Batteries.^[7][11] A New York insurance company used clips from the film to persuade people of the hazards of city life.^[11] A two-part Energizer Battery commercial had the 1933 Kong himself contracted by a rival battery corporation (SuperVolt) to get rid of the Energizer Bunny for them. The commercials were done in black-and-white, and used cleverly edited 1933 Kong sequences (possibly combined with new computer-generated Kong shots). The concluding second-part had Kong cornering the Bunny on the roof of a New York City building, complete with biplanes flying in the sky. His foot in an open window interrupts a couple that resemble Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll having a romantic moment. The woman, extremely annoyed, slams the window on Kong's toes, making him lose his balance and grip, sending him falling.^[14] In 1990 Kongfrontation became one of the original rides at Universal Studios Florida.

The film character was the inspiration for the 1981 Nintendo video game Donkey Kong and subsequent spin-offs. In the game, the hero must rescue his girlfriend from the eponymous ape. The maurading ape climbs a huge structure after kidnapping the woman, as in the film. The game's creator Shigeru Miyamoto, intended the name "Donkey Kong" to mean "stubborn gorilla." MCA/Universal attempted to sue Nintendo for copyright infringement in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., claiming that the game infringed its copyright for the film. However, they lost and had to pay Nintendo $1.8 million in damages when it was discovered that King Kong was in fact in the public domain at that time and that MCA/Universal knew this when they filed the lawsuit. They did not own the copyright to King Kong and had not trademarked the name "King Kong". They had even argued in the past that the name "King Kong" was in the public domain in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. RKO General Inc., et al.^[15][16] In the movie Cloverfield, there are a few still frames that show a picture of King Kong fighting helicopters in the original 1933 film. ^[17]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Erb, Cynthia Marie, 1998, Tracking King Kong: A Hollywood Icon in World Culture, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0814326862.
• McCutcheon, Camillel, "Review of Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong," Journal of Popular Culture 39.4 (August, 2006), 687-688.
• Megalania Dinosaurs In Popular Culture - King Kong.

[edit] External links

v • d • e King Kong films King Kong (1933) · The Son of Kong (1933) · King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) · King Kong Escapes (1967) · King Kong (1976) · King Kong Lives (1986) · King Kong (2005)