King Kong
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King Kong is a 2005 epic adventure monster film co-written, produced, and directed by Peter Jackson. It is the eighth entry in the King Kong franchise and the second remake of the 1933 film of the same title, following the 1976 film. The film stars Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrien Brody. Set in 1933, it follows the story of an ambitious filmmaker who coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island. There, they encounter prehistoric creatures and a legendary giant gorilla known as Kong, whom they capture and take to New York City.

Development for the film began in early 1995, when Jackson was offered by Universal Pictures to direct the remake of the original 1933 film, but stalled the project in early 1997, as several ape and giant monster-related films were under production that time and Jackson planned to direct The Lord of the Rings film series. As the first two films in the trilogy became commercially successful, Universal approached Jackson in early 2003, expressing his interest to restart development on the project, which he eventually agreed. Filming for King Kong took place in New Zealand from September 2004 to March 2005. It is currently one of the most expensive films ever produced as its budget climbed from an initial $150 million to a then-record-breaking $207 million.

King Kong was premiered at New York City on December 5, 2005, and was theatrically released in Germany and United States on December 14. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, and eventually appeared in several top ten lists for 2005; it received praise for the special effects, performances, sense of spectacle and comparison to the 1933 original, though some criticisms were focused on its 3-hour long run time. It was a commercial success, grossing over $562 million and became the fourth-highest-grossing film in Universal Pictures history at that time and the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2005. It also generated $100 million in DVD sales upon its home video release in March 2006. It won three Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. A tie-in video game was released alongside the film, which also became a commercial and critical success.

A sequel to the film titled Skull Island was conceptualised in 2013, with Jackson producing the film and Adam Wingard set to direct. However, the project was abandoned after Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the rights and ultimately rebooted the franchise with the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island as a part of Legendary s MonsterVerse. Wingard would later direct the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong.

Plot

In 1933, during the Great Depression, New York City actress Ann Darrow is hired by financially troubled filmmaker Carl Denham to star in a film with actor Bruce Baxter. Ann learns her favorite playwright, Jack Driscoll, is the screenwriter. Filming takes place on the SS Venture, under Captain Englehorn, and under Carl s pretense it will be sailing to Singapore. In truth, Carl intends to sail to and film the mysterious Skull Island. Captain Englehorn has second thoughts about the voyage, prompted by his crew s speculation of trouble ahead. On the voyage, Ann and Jack fall in love.

The Venture receives a radio message informing Englehorn there is a warrant for Carl s arrest due to his defiance of the studio s orders to cease production, and instructing Englehorn to divert to Rangoon, but the ship becomes lost in fog and runs aground on Skull Island. Carl and his film crew, including cameraman Herb, assistant Preston, actor Bruce Baxter, and boom operator Mike, explore the island and are attacked by natives who kill Mike and another crewman. Englehorn intervenes to rescue the film crew, but as they make efforts to leave the waters, a native sneaks onto the ship and abducts Ann. The natives offer Ann as a sacrifice to King Kong, a 25-foot-tall (7.6 m) ape. Jack notices Ann s disappearance, and the crew returns to the island, but are too late as Kong flees with Ann into the jungle. Carl manages to catch a glimpse of Kong and becomes determined to capture him on film.

Though initially terrified of her captor, Ann wins Kong over with her juggling and dancing skills and begins to grasp his intelligence and capacity for emotion. Englehorn organizes a rescue party, led by his first mate Hayes and Jack, and accompanied by Carl, Herb, Baxter and Preston. The party gets caught between a herd of Apatosaurus-like Brontosaurus baxteri and a pack of Utahraptor-like Venatosaurus saevidicus hunting them, with Herb and several other men killed in the resulting stampede. After this, Baxter and some men leave the group to return to the ship.

The remaining party members continue through the jungle when Kong attacks, making them fall into a ravine resulting in Hayes death and Carl losing his camera. Kong shortly rescues Ann from three theropod dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus-like Vastatosaurus rex, then takes her to his lair in the mountains. The remaining rescue party are attacked by giant insects and worms in the ravine resulting in the death of three more crew members, but Preston, Carl, Jack, and Hayes apprentice Jimmy are rescued by Baxter and Englehorn. Jack continues searching for Ann, while Carl decides to capture the beast. Jack goes to the beast s lair and accidentally awakens the beast but manages to escape with Ann. They arrive at the wall with the beast pursuing them. The beast attempts to get Ann back, killing several sailors, but is subdued when Carl knocks it out with chloroform.

In New York City around December, Carl presents Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World on Broadway, starring Baxter and an imprisoned Kong. Ann, who refused to take part in the performance, is played by an anonymous chorus girl. Agitated by the chorus girl not being Ann and flashes from cameras, the beast breaks free from the chains and wrecks the theater. Out on the city s streets and going on a rampage, Kong searches for Ann and chases Jack, before encountering Ann again. The U.S. Army soon attacks, and Kong tries getting Ann and itself to safety by climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, where it fights off six Navy planes. Despite managing to down three of them, Kong is mortally wounded from the planes gunfire and falls. As Jack reaches the top of the building to comfort and embrace Ann, civilians, policemen, and soldiers gather around the beast s corpse in the street, one bystander commenting the airplanes got him. Carl makes his way through the crowd, takes one last look at Kong and says, It wasn t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.

Cast

  • Andy Serkis as Kong (motion capture), a 25-foot (7.6 m) prehistoric ape who is around 100–150 years old. He is the last of his species, Megaprimatus kong. and the possible descendant of the Gigantopithecus. Serkis also plays Lumpy, the ship s cook, barber, and surgeon. A brave sailor, he warns Denham about rumors he has heard about Skull Island and Kong.
  • Serkis also plays Lumpy, the ship s cook, barber, and surgeon. A brave sailor, he warns Denham about rumors he has heard about Skull Island and Kong.
  • Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, a struggling vaudeville actress who is desperate for work. Carl first meets her when she tries to steal an apple from a fruit stand. Further into the voyage, she falls in love with Jack and forms a special relationship with Kong.
  • Jack Black as Carl Denham, a film director who obtained the map to Skull Island. Due to his debts, Carl starts to lose his moral compass and obsesses over his film to the point that he disregards safety.
  • Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll, a screenwriter who falls in love with Ann. He unwittingly becomes part of the voyage when, while delivering a script to Denham, he is deliberately delayed by the latter before he can get off of the Venture. He is the only member of the crew who agrees with Ann that Kong should be left alone.
  • Thomas Kretschmann as Captain Englehorn, the German captain of the Venture. Englehorn shows a dislike for Denham, presumably because of his obsessive nature.
  • Colin Hanks as Preston, Denham s neurotic but honest personal assistant.
  • Jamie Bell as Jimmy, a naive teenager who was found on the Venture, wild and abandoned.
  • Evan Parke as Benjamin Ben Hayes, Englehorn s first mate and a mentor to Jimmy, who leads Ann s rescue mission because of his army training and combat experience gained during World War I.
  • Lobo Chan as Choy, Lumpy s best friend and a janitor on the Venture.
  • Kyle Chandler as Bruce Baxter, an actor who specializes in adventure films. He abandons Ann s rescue mission but brings Englehorn to rescue the search party from the insect pit, and is given credit for rescuing Ann during the Broadway display of Kong.
  • John Sumner as Herb, Denham s loyal cameraman.
  • Craig Hall as Mike, Denham s soundman for the journey.
  • William Johnson as Manny, an elderly vaudevillian actor and colleague of Darrow.
  • Mark Hadlow as Harry, a struggling vaudevillian actor.
  • Jed Brophy and Todd Rippon appeared in the film as crew members.

In addition, director Jackson appears with makeup artist Rick Baker as the pilot and gunner on the airplane that kills the title character, his children appear as New York children, The Lord of the Rings co-producer Rick Porras and The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont appear as a gunners in the other airplanes, and Bob Burns and his wife appear as New York bystanders. Frequent Jackson collaborator Howard Shore makes a cameo appearance as the conductor of the New York theater from where Kong escapes. Shore was initially set to compose for the film before his exit.

Watts, Black, and Brody were the first choices for their respective roles with no other actors considered. In preparation for her role, Watts met with the original Ann Darrow, Fay Wray. Jackson wanted Wray to make a cameo appearance and say the final line of dialogue, but she died during pre-production at 96 years old. Black was cast as Carl Denham based on his performance in the 2000 film High Fidelity, which had impressed Jackson. For inspiration, Black studied P. T. Barnum and Orson Welles. I didn t study move for move. It was just to capture the spirit. Very reckless guy. I had tapes of him drunk off his ass. The native extras on Skull Island were portrayed by a mix of Asian, African, Maori and Polynesian actors sprayed with dark makeup to achieve a consistent pigmentation.

Production

Development

Earlier attempts and 1990s

Peter Jackson was nine years old when he first saw the 1933 film, and was in tears in front of the TV when Kong was shot and fell off the Empire State Building. At age 12, he attempted to recreate the film using his parents Super 8 mm film camera and a model of Kong made of wire and rubber with his mother s fur coat for the hair, but eventually gave up on the project. King Kong eventually became his favorite film and was the primary inspiration for his decision to become a filmmaker as a teenager. He read books about the making of King Kong and collected memorabilia, as well as articles from Famous Monsters of Filmland. Jackson paid tribute to the 1933 film by including Skull Island as the origin of the zombie plague in his 1992 film Braindead.

During the filming of Jackson s 1996 film The Frighteners, Universal Pictures was impressed with Jackson s dailies and early visual effects footage. The studio was adamant to work with Jackson on his next project and, in late 1995, offered him the chance to direct a remake of the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon. He turned down the offer, but Universal became aware of Jackson s obsession with King Kong and subsequently offered him the opportunity to direct that remake. The studio did not have to worry about lawsuits concerning the film rights from RKO Pictures (the studio behind the 1933 film) because the King Kong character is held in the public domain. Jackson initially turned down the King Kong offer, but he quickly became disturbed by the fact that someone else would take it over, Jackson continued, and make it into a terrible film; that haunted me and I eventually said yes to Universal.

At the same time, Jackson was working with Harvey Weinstein and Miramax Films to purchase the film rights of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, while 20th Century Fox was trying to hire him for the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes. Jackson turned down Planet of the Apes and because Weinstein was taking longer than expected to buy The Lord of the Rings rights, Jackson decided to move forward on King Kong. Weinstein was furious, and, as a result, Jackson proposed a deal between Universal and Miramax that the two studios would equally finance King Kong with Jackson s production company Wingnut Films. Universal would receive distribution rights in the United States, while Miramax would cover foreign territories. Jackson was also warranted the right of final cut privilege, a percentage of the gross profits, as well as artistic control; Universal allowed all filming and visual effects to be handled entirely in New Zealand. The deal was settled in April 1996, and Jackson, along with wife Fran Walsh, began working on the King Kong script. In the original draft, Ann was the daughter of famed English archaeologist Lord Linwood Darrow exploring ancient ruins in Sumatra. They would come into conflict with Denham during his filming, and they would uncover a hidden Kong statue and the map of Skull Island. This would indicate that the island natives were the last remnants of a cult religion that had once thrived on Asia s mainland. Instead of a playwright, Jack was the first mate and an ex-World War I fighter pilot still struggling with the loss of his best friend, who had been killed in battle during a World War I prologue. The camera-man Herb is the only supporting character in the original draft who made it to the final version. The fight between Kong and the three V. rex also changed from the original draft. In the draft, Ann is actually caught in the V. rex s jaws, where she becomes wedged, and slashed by the teeth; after the fight, Kong gets her out but she is suffering from a fever, from which she then recovers.

Universal approved of the script with Robert Zemeckis as executive producer, and pre-production for King Kong commenced. The plan was to begin filming sometime in 1997 for a summer 1998 release date. Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, under the supervision of Richard Taylor and Christian Rivers, began work on early visual effects tests, specifically the complex task of building a CGI version of New York City circa 1933. Jackson and Walsh progressed with a second draft script, sets were being designed and location scouting commenced in Sumatra and New Zealand. In late 1996, Jackson flew to production of the 1997 film Titanic in Mexico to discuss the part of Ann Darrow with Kate Winslet, with whom he previously worked with on his 1994 film Heavenly Creatures. Minnie Driver was also being reportedly considered. Jackson s choices for Jack Driscoll and Carl Denham included George Clooney and Robert De Niro. However, development for King Kong was stalled in January 1997 when Universal became concerned over the upcoming release of the 1998 film Godzilla, as well as other ape-related remakes with the 1998 film Mighty Joe Young and the 2001 film Planet of the Apes. Universal abandoned King Kong in February 1997 after Weta Workshop and Weta Digital had already designed six months worth of pre-production. Jackson then decided to start work on The Lord of the Rings film series.

Revival of the project

With the financial and critical success of the 2001 film The Fellowship of the Ring and the 2002 film The Two Towers, Universal approached Jackson in early 2003, during the post-production of The Return of the King, concerning his interest in restarting development on King Kong. In March 2003, Universal set a target December 2005 release date and Jackson and Walsh brought The Lord of the Rings co-writer Philippa Boyens on to help rewrite their 1996 script. Jackson offered New Line Cinema the opportunity to co-finance with Universal, but they declined. Universal and Jackson originally projected a $150 million budget, which eventually rose to $175 million. Jackson made a deal with Universal whereby he would be paid a $20 million salary against 20% of the box office gross for directing, producing and co-writing. He shared that fee with co-writers Walsh (which also covered her producing credit) and Boyens. However, if King Kong were to go over its $175 million budget, the penalties would be covered by Jackson.

Immediately after the completion of The Return of the King, Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, supervised by Taylor, Rivers, and Joe Letteri, started pre-production on King Kong. Jackson brought back most of the crew he had on The Lord of the Rings series, including cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, production designer Grant Major, art directors Simon Bright and Dan Hennah, conceptual designer Alan Lee, and editor Jamie Selkirk. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens began to write a new script in late October 2003. Jackson acknowledged that he was highly unsatisfied with the original 1996 script. That was actually just Fran and Peter very hurriedly getting something down on paper , Boyens explained. It was more one of many possible ways the story could go. The writers chose to base the new screenplay on the 1933 film rather than the 1996 script. They also included scenes from James Ashmore Creelman s screenplay that were either abandoned or omitted during production of the original film. In the scene where Kong shakes the surviving sailors pursuing Ann and himself from a log into the ravine, for example, directors Merian Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack originally intended to depict giant spiders emerging from the rock to devour their bodies. This was cut from the original release print, and remains known to Kong fans only via a rare still that appeared in Famous Monsters of Filmland. Jackson included this scene and elaborated upon it. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens also cited Delos W. Lovelace s 1932 novelisation of King Kong as inspiration, which included the character Lumpy (Andy Serkis). To make the relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong plausible, the writers studied hours of gorilla footage. Jackson also optioned Early Havoc, a memoir written by vaudeville performer June Havoc to help Walsh and Boyens flesh out Ann Darrow s characterisation. Carl Denham was intentionally modeled after and inspired by Orson Welles. Their new draft was finished in February 2004.

Filming

Principal photography started on September 6, 2004 at Camperdown Studios in Miramar, New Zealand. Camperdown housed the native village and the Great Wall, while the streets of New York City were constructed on its backlot and at Gracefield in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. The majority of the SS Venture scenes were shot aboard a full-scale deck constructed in the parking lot at Camperdown Studio and then were backed with a green screen, with the ocean digitally added in post. Scenes set in the Broadway theater from which King Kong makes his escape were filmed in Wellington s Opera House and at the Auckland Civic Theatre. Filming also took place at Stone Street Studios, where a new sound stage was constructed to accommodate one of the sets. Over the course of filming the budget went from $175 million to $207 million over additional visual effects work needed, and Jackson extending the film s running time by thirty minutes. Jackson covered the $32 million surplus himself and finished filming in March 2005.

The film s budget climbed from an initial US$150 million to a then-record-breaking $207 million and received a subsidy of $34 million from New Zealand, making it at one point the most expensive film yet made. Universal only agreed to such an outlay after seeing a screening of the unfinished film, to which executives responded enthusiastically. Marketing and promotion costs were an estimated $60 million. The film s length also grew; originally set to be 135 minutes, it soon grew to 200, prompting Universal executives to fly to New Zealand to view a rough cut, but they liked it so their concerns were addressed.

Other difficulties included Peter Jackson s decision to change composers from Howard Shore to James Newton Howard seven weeks before the film opened.

Visual effects

Jackson saw King Kong as opportunity for technical innovations in motion capture, commissioning Christian Rivers of Weta Digital to supervise all aspects of Kong s performance. Jackson decided early on that he did not want Kong to behave like a human, and so he and his team studied hours of gorilla footage. Serkis was cast in the title role in April 2003 and prepared himself by working with gorillas at the London Zoo. He then traveled to Rwanda, observing the actions and behaviors of gorillas in the wild. Rivers explained that the detailed facial performance capture with Serkis was accomplished because of the similarities between human and gorilla faces. Gorillas have such a similar looking set of eyes and brows, you can look at those expressions and transpose your own interpretation onto them. Photos of silverback gorillas were also superimposed on Kong s image in the early stages of animation. Serkis had to go through two hours of motion capture makeup every day, having 135 small markers attached to different spots on his face. Following principal photography, Serkis had to spend an additional two months on a motion capture stage, miming Kong s movements for the film s digital animators.

Apart from Kong, Skull Island is inhabited by dinosaurs and other large fauna. Inspired by Dougal Dixon s works, the designers imagined what 65 million years or more of isolated evolution might have done to dinosaurs and the other creatures.

Music

The original score was initially set to composed by Howard Shore and has written several cues for the film. Due to creative differences with Jackson, Shore opted out of the project in October 2005 and subsequently James Newton Howard replaced him. With scoring beginning by late-October 2005, Howard had only five weeks to work on the film, as a result, he found the film hardest to compose . Recording sessions took place at the Sony Scoring Stage, California and Todd-AO, Los Angeles, consisting of 108-piece orchestra and 40-member choir, and consists varied range of instruments used.

The film s soundtrack includes Al Jolson s recording of I m Sitting on Top of the World , Peggy Lee s Bye Bye Blackbird , and some themes from Max Steiner s soundtrack for the original 1933 film. The score was released on December 7, 2005 by Decca Records to positive response. Howard s score was later nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

Marketing

The marketing campaign started in full swing on June 27, 2005, when the teaser trailer made its debut, first online at the official Volkswagen website at 8:45 p.m. EDT, then 8:55 p.m. EDT across media outlets owned by NBCUniversal (the parent of Universal Studios), including NBC, Bravo!, CNBC, and MSNBC. That trailer appeared in theatres attached to War of the Worlds, which opened on June 29.

Jackson also regularly published a series of Production Diaries , which chronicled the film s production. 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.

A novelisation of the film and a prequel novel entitled King Kong: The Island of the Skull were also written. A multi-platform video game, entitled Peter Jackson s King Kong, was released, which featured an alternate ending. There was also a hardback book entitled The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island, featuring artwork from Weta Workshop to describe the film s fictional wildlife.

Jackson has expressed his desire to remaster the film in 3-D at some point in the future. Jackson was also seen shooting with a 3-D camera at times during the shoot of King Kong.

Reception

Box office

In North America, King Kong grossed $9,755,745 during its Wednesday opening and $50,130,145 over its first weekend for a five-day total of $66,181,645 from around 7,500 screens at 3,568 theaters. Some analysts considered these initial numbers disappointing, saying that studio executives had been expecting more. The film went on to gross $218,080,025 in the North American market and ended up in the top five highest-grossing films of the year there. The film grossed an additional $344,283,424 at the box office in other regions for a worldwide total of $562,363,449, which not only ranked it in the top five highest-grossing films of 2005 worldwide, but also helped the film bring back more than two-and-a-half times its production budget.

During its home video release, King Kong sold over $100 million worth of DVDs in the largest six-day performance in Universal Studios history. King Kong sold more than 7.6 million DVDs, accumulating nearly $194 million worth of sales numbers in the North American market alone. As of June 25, 2006, King Kong has generated almost $38 million from DVD rental gross. In February 2006, TNT/TBS and ABC paid Universal Studios $26.5 million for the television rights to the film.

Critical response

King Kong received positive reviews from critics. On aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 267 reviews, with an average rating of 7.68/10. The site s critical consensus reads, Featuring state-of-the-art special effects, terrific performances, and a majestic sense of spectacle, Peter Jackson s remake of King Kong is a potent epic that s faithful to the spirit of the 1933 original. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating universal acclaim . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A− on an A+ to F scale.

It was placed on the top ten lists of several critics, with Roger Ebert giving it four stars, and listed it as 2005 s eighth-best film. The film received four Academy Award nominations, for Visual Effects, Sound Mixing (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, Hammond Peek), Sound Editing, and Production Design, winning all but the last. Entertainment Weekly called the depiction of Kong the most convincing computer-generated character in film in 2005. Some criticised the film for retaining racist stereotypes that had been present in the 1933 film, though it was not suggested that Jackson had done this intentionally. King Kong ranks 450th on Empire magazine s 2008 list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. The Guardian reviewer Peter Bradshaw said that it certainly equals, and even exceeds, anything Jackson did in Lord of the Rings. However, Charlie Brooker, also of The Guardian, gave a negative review in which he describes the film as sixteen times more overblown and histrionic than necessary .

Accolades

Award Subject Nominee Result
Academy Awards Best Art Direction Grant Major, Dan Hennah, and Simon Bright Nominated
Best Sound Editing Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn Won
Best Sound Mixing Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, and Hammond Peek Won
Best Visual Effects Joe Letteri, Brian Van t Hul, Christian Rivers, and Richard Taylor Won
British Academy Film Awards Best Special Visual Effects Joe Letteri, Brian Van t Hul, Christian Rivers, and Richard Taylor Won
Best Production Design Grant Major Nominated
Best Sound Hammond Peek, Christopher Boyes, Mike Hopkins, and Ethan Van der Ryn Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Director Peter Jackson Nominated
Best Original Score James Newton Howard Nominated
Saturn Award Best Fantasy Film Nominated
Best Director Peter Jackson Won
Best Writing Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and Peter Jackson Nominated
Best Actress Naomi Watts Won
Best Costume Terry Ryan Nominated
Best Make-Up Richard Taylor, Gino Acevedo, Dominie Till, and Peter King Nominated
Best Special Effects Joe Letteri, Brian Van t Hul, Christian Rivers, and Richard Taylor Won
Visual Effects Society Outstanding Visual Effects in an
Effects Driven Motion Picture
Joe Letteri, Eileen Moran, Christian Rivers, and Eric Saindon Won
Outstanding Performance by an Animated
Character in a Live Action Motion Picture
Andy Serkis, Christian Rivers, Atsushi Sato, and Guy Williams Won
Outstanding Created Environment in a
Live Action Motion Picture
Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Matt Aitken, and Charles Tait Won
Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture Erik Winquist, Michaell Pangrazio, Steve Cronin, and Suzanne Jandu Nominated

Cinematic and literary allusions

  • Jack Black and critics have noted Carl Denham s similarity to Orson Welles.
  • When Driscoll is searching for a place to sleep in the animal storage hold, a box behind him reads Sumatran Rat Monkey – Beware the bite! This is a reference to the creature that causes mayhem in Jackson s 1992 film Braindead. In that film, the rat monkey is described as being found only on Skull Island.
  • Jimmy reads part of Joseph Conrad s Heart of Darkness while en route to Skull Island, at one point comparing their journey to that of the novella.

References to original 1933 King Kong

  • Fay Wray, the original Ann Darrow, was asked by Jackson to appear in a brief cameo role in which she would utter the film s final line: It was beauty killed the beast. At first, she flatly refused, but then seemed to consider the possibility. However, she died shortly after her meeting with Jackson. As in the original film, the line ultimately went to the character of Carl Denham.
  • An ad for Universal is visible while Kong is tearing up Times Square. In the 1933 film, an ad for Columbia Pictures appeared in the same spot, and the production designers replicated it, but Columbia asked for a large amount of money for its use, so effects artists replaced it.
  • When Denham is considering who to play the part before meeting Ann, he suggests Fay , but his assistant Preston replies, She s doing a picture with RKO. Music from the 1933 film is heard, and Denham mutters, Cooper, huh? I might have known. Fay Wray starred in the 1933 film, which was directed by Merian C. Cooper and released by RKO. At the time she was performing in another Cooper/Schoedsack production, The Most Dangerous Game with Robert Armstrong.
  • In the 1933 film, Cooper made up an Arabian proverb about beauty and beast . The 2005 remake repeats the fake proverb.
  • Early in this film, Denham shoots a scene for his film in which Ann, in-character, proclaims she s never been on a ship before, and Bruce Baxter improvises lines proclaiming annoyance. The dialogue they exchange is taken verbatim from early scenes between Ann and Jack Driscoll in the 1933 film. Ironically, in this film, Jack Driscoll expresses disapproval of such words toward Ann.
  • Kong s New York stage appearance looks very much like a re-enactment of the 1933 film s sacrifice scene, including the posts the beauty is tied to and the nearly identical performance, costumes, and blackface makeup of the dancers. In addition, the music played by the orchestra during that scene is Max Steiner s original score for the 1933 film.
  • The battle between Kong and the final V. rex is almost move-for-move like the last half of the fight between Kong and the T. rex in the 1933 film, right down to Kong playing with the dinosaur s broken jaw and then standing, beating his chest and roaring victoriously.
  • After the crew captures Kong on the beach, Denham speaks a line from the 1933 film: The whole world will pay to see this! We re millionaires, boys! I ll share it with all of you. In a few months, his name will be up in lights on Broadway! KONG, THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD!

Home media

King Kong was released on DVD on March 28, 2006 in the United States and Canada. The three versions that came out are a single-disc fullscreen, a single-disc widescreen, and a two-disc Widescreen Special Edition .

A three-disc Deluxe Extended Edition was released on November 14, 2006 in the U.S., and on November 3 in Australia. Twelve minutes were reinserted into the film, and an additional forty minutes included with the rest of the special features. The film was spread onto the first two discs with commentary by Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens, and some featurettes on discs one and two, whilst the main special features are on disc three. Another set was released, including a WETA figurine of a bullet-ridden Kong scaling the Empire State Building, roaring at the Navy with Ann in hand. The extended film amounts to 200 total minutes.

A special HD DVD version of King Kong was part of a promotional pack for the release of the external HD DVD Drive for the Xbox 360. The pack contained the HD DVD drive, the Universal Media Remote and King Kong on HD DVD. It was also available separately as a standard HD DVD. The film s theatrical and extended cuts were released together on Blu-ray Disc on January 20, 2009. A re-release of the Blu-Ray with a new bonus disc containing nearly all of the extras from the 2-disc Special Edition DVD, the Deluxe Extended Edition 3-disc DVD, and the Peter Jackson s Production Diaries 2-disc DVD titled the Ultimate Edition was released on February 7, 2017. An Ultra HD Blu-ray followed in July 2017.

Cancelled sequel

In March 2021, Adam Wingard said in an interview that back in 2013, Peter Jackson had been interested in producing a sequel to the film, titled Skull Island, with Wingard as director and Simon Barrett writing it. Jackson had been impressed with Wingard s work in You re Next, and investigated a potential sequel. However, the King Kong rights had already been transferred to Warner Bros. by 2013, which complicated a sequel to a Universal-produced movie. Wingard says that Jackson was thinking of setting the proposed movie during World War I, which would make it a prequel, but that the studio was uninterested in a World War I era film. Wingard pivoted to offering a modern day sequel, but ultimately nothing came of the proposal.

Ultimately, Warner Bros. rebooted the franchise with Kong: Skull Island in 2017, which was part of the MonsterVerse. Wingard would later direct 2021 s Godzilla vs. Kong, another film set in the MonsterVerse.

Theme park

The Universal Orlando Resort location Islands of Adventure features an attraction called Skull Island: Reign of Kong which is based on Peter Jackson s remake. While the King Kong part of the Universal Studios Hollywood resort was destroyed by a massive fire, a 3D short inspired by the film was eventually created in 2010, King Kong: 360 3-D, which is another attraction based on Peter Jackson s remake.

Year 2005
ReleaseDate 2005-12-14
RuntimeMins 187
RuntimeStr 3h 7min
Plot A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
Awards Won 3 Oscars, 46 wins & 104 nominations total
Directors Peter Jackson
Writers Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody
Produced by Jan Blenkin,Philippa Boyens,Carolynne Cunningham,Peter Jackson,Eileen Moran,Fran Walsh,Annette Wullems
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie
Film Editing by Jamie Selkirk
Casting By Victoria Burrows,Barbara Harris,Daniel Hubbard,John Hubbard,Liz Mullane
Production Design by Grant Major
Art Direction by Joe Bleakley,Simon Bright,Dan Hennah
Set Decoration by Simon Bright,Greg Cockerill,Dan Hennah
Costume Design by Terry Ryan
Makeup Department Gino Acevedo,Michael Ashton,Vinnie Ashton,Hayley Atherton,Saul Barnes,Michal Bigger,Hayden Bloomfield,Corinne Bossu,Steven Boyle,Shiree Collier,Margiana Cullinan,Susan Durno,Rick Findlater,Ryk Fortuna,Sheree Gillespie,Susie Glass,Trish Glover,Megan Gordevich,Louise Harris,Elizabeth Hilton,Steve Hopgood,Gareth J. Jensen,Frankie Karena,Erin Kelly,Peter Swords King,Edyta Koscielecki,Davina Lamont,Natasha Lees,Georgia Lockhart-Adams,Samantha Lyttle,Catherine Maguire,Jaime Leigh McIntosh,Amy McLellan,Amy McLennan,Kelly Mitchell,Melisa Mitchell-Bridle,Angela Mooar,Les Nairn,Hayley Ness,Rose Parsons,Cristina Patterson,Frances Richardson,Jessica Rose,Allie Rutherford,Claire Rutledge,Gavin Skudder,Warren Dion Smith,Fiona Sole,Emily Sturrock,Richard Taylor,Dominie Till,Nancy Vincent,Deb Watson
Production Management Pippa Anderson,Anne Bruning,Belindalee Hope,Emily Ireland,Miguel Ángel Poveda,John Shelby,Brigitte Yorke
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director Marc Ashton,Sarah Bicknell,Del Chatterton,Randall William Cook,Carolynne Cunningham,Bryon Darling,Anna Groves,Zo Hartley,Darren Mackie,Richard Matthews,Robin Murphy,Dave Norris,Jacqui Pryor,Skot Thomas,Robbie Titchener,Stephanie Weststrate
Art Department Daniel Aird,Christopher Aitken,Jacqui Allen,Ruben Allen,Glenn Altman,Frazer Anderson,Kevin Anderton,Karl Anton,Werner Anton,Dustin Archer,Stephen Archer,Hjalmar Arnold,Nick Ashby,Clare Ashton,Matt Austin,Simon Barker,Tim Barlowe,Timothy Barnett,Paul Bashford,Ian Batten,Robert Bavin,Keith Begley,Nicole Bell,Miriam Bellard,Stephen Belsten,Jeremy Bennett,Brett Blenkin,Jeremy Blincoe,Shaun Bolton,Garry Bonnar,Michael J. Bonnar,Eric Boyle,Kristie Breslin,John Brien,Jeffrey Brown,Hamish Bruce,Jack Budd,Adam Bulman,John Burke,Kevin Butson,Luke Butters,Pete Butters,Toby Buxton,Rory Byrne,Art Caddy,Marie Campbell,Howard Carr,Nash Carr,Ruth Carr,Juanita Carroll,Daniel Carswell,Paula Carswell,Tim Castelow,Tanea Chapman,Simon Chisnall,Gillian Christian,Stephanie Chung,Edward Clark,Chantal Clayton,Sol Clement,Andrew Clifton,Vanessa Cole,Steven Collie,Jody Conaglen,Matthew Coogan,Dave Cook,Iain Cooper,Buck Couchman,Zachary Cousins,Chris Covich,Christina Crawford,Stephen Crene,Victor Crooks,John Cruickshanks,Colin Davidson,Aaron Davies,Raweyn Davis,Michael Donohue,Daniel Dorman,Murray Douglas,Tony Drawbridge,Andrew Driver,John Duffy,Rei Duncan,Paul Earlshaw,Matthew Easton,Therese ‘Bobo’ Eberhard,W. Therese Eberhard,Adam Ellis,Ryan Esler,Eti Eves,Grant Fahey,Dylan Faint,Eli Faulkner,Richard Fennell,Tony Ferrier,Lio Fili,William Finch,Aaron Fitzpatrick,Paora Flavell,Peter Forde,Andrew Fraser,Roger Frater,Malcolm Frazer,Alistair Fyfe,Aaron Gardiner,Sam Genet,Reuben Gibbs,Chris Gifford,Stephen Gilbert,Trevor Gillan,Jacqueline Gilmore,Campbell Gledstone-Brown,Dean Gledstone-Brown,Royce Goddard,Stephen Goddard,Sean Golding,Jeanette Goode,Matthew Goodin,Te Ngaru Grant,Tane Griffin,David Hadley,Simon Hames,Victoria Hamilton,Jules Hancock,Lucas Hancock,Matthew Handscomb,Garrett Haney,Troy Hannett,Andrew Harding,Michael Harper,Murray Hartley,John Harvey,Leanne Harvey,Andrew Hastings,Timothy Hastings,Gareth Haughey,Nicole Hay,Paul Hay-Chapman,Mike Heffernan,Chris Hennah,Kurt Hobman,Ross Hoby,Jason Holland,Gregory Hooper,Andy Hope,Roger Houston,John Howe,Dale Hudson,David Hudson,Gus Hunter,Roland Hunter,Amos Kane Ibell,Peter Ingram,Barry Jack,Clinton James,Kim Jarrett,Tane Jarrett,Richard Jermyn,Ross Joblin,Murray Johnson,Sa Johnson,Stuart Johnson,Dean Johnston,Hal Jones,Nikki Jones,Andrew Kaye,Nicole Keating,John Keegan,Anthony Kelly,Hemi Kemp,Shane Kenneally,Warren Kennedy,Green Kim,Dan King,Gareth King,Justine King,Thomas Kipa,Mark Kitchin,Tony Kling,David Kolff,Mariana Bindia Kolff,Jeffrey Koning,Damian Kotsapas,Ionanis Kotsapis,Rob Kraamwinkle,Tony Kraamwinkle,David Lacey,Phil Lamberg,Sarah Larcombe,Brett Larsen,Nic Larsen,Alan Lee,Kathryn Lim,Tama Liumaihetau,Andrew Lloyd,Mark Locker,Greg Long,Pip Longson,Darryl Longstaffe,Dilvenis Lorente,Paul Lovato,Simon Lowe,Damian Lund,Patrick Mabey,Garry MacDonald,Travis MacKay,Peter Mackinnon,Michael MacPhail,Alastair Maher,James Manley,Finn Marsden,Jim Marsden,Tom Marsh,Simon Marshall,Blair Martin,Daniel Marwick,Brian Massey,James Matthews,William Maxwell,Tristan McCallum,Eileen McCann,Kelly McDonald,Alexander McDougall,Declan McEwery,Robert McGovern,Aaron McGuire,Markus McIntyre,Andy McLaren,Taupihu McLetchie,Bradley McMillan,William McPhedron,Chris Meder,Eliza Meldrum,Laurie Meleisea,Ian Miller,Ben Milsom,David Miskell,Derek Misseldine,Kenneth Mitchell,Vibol Moeung,Grace Mok,Mark Molnar,Daniel Moore,Dave Moore,James Moore,Reegan More,Bruce Morton,Johno Morton,Andrew Moyes,Rodney Muganza,Ed Mulholand,Alex Mulholland,Timothy Munro,Graham Neal,Keith Newdick,Kirk Nicholls,Daena Nichols,Reece Nicol,Paul Ny,Kelly O’Keeffe,Hamish Palmer,Phred Palmer,Matthew Panzera,Michael Paterson,Thomas Paton,Daniel Peta,Carole Pettitt,Raynia Pikari,Michael Plant,Ricky Plant,Taya Polkinghorne,Cedomir Popovich,Kerry Priston,Lawrence Pritchard,Hank Prujean,Jethro Pullyn,Paul Quested,David Radford,Paul Radford,Chris Ramsay,Michael Ranson,Tony Rapira,Chris Ratau,Barry Read,Campbell Read,Robert Reedy,Daniel Reeve,Nigel Regan,Jack Reid,Michiel Reunecamp,Amber Richards,Dave Richards,Andrew Richardson,Craig Richardson,Nick Riera,Michael Roberts,Quinn Roberts,Murray Robinson,Allan Rockell,Jonathan Rodgers,Jason Rogan,Lana Rosenberg-Smith,Anthony Russell,Gary Russell,Vicki Russell,Andy Rust,Bill Ryalls,Mike Ryan,Anna Saunt-Lord,Jolanda Schnitker,Gary Schott,Arnaud Schweitzer,Merlin Scott-Smith,Lance Setephano,Quinn Shaw-Williams,Sam Shepherd,Tui Simmonds,William Simpson,Marcus Simpson-Wild,Sione Sionetama,Donald Smith,Warren Dion Smith,Xerxes Smith,Murray Sparrow,Craig Spaulding,Melissa Spicer,Mark Stevens,Shanon Stevens,Alexander Still,Chris Streeter,Richard Sturkenboom,Nicholas Sutton,Dale Sweetman,Jon Tack,Samuel Tack,Quentin Tait,Zedric Tamati,Kathleen Tapsell,Winiata Tapsell,Brent Tasker,Lawrence Taula,Albert Taurerewa,Dylan Taylor,Richard Taylor,Rod Te Nada,Renee Te Pairi,Te Mata Te Rangi,Steven Templer,Lesley Earle Templeton,Tatiana Terezakis,John Ternent,Neil Testa,Miles Teves,Eric Thesen,Aaron Thomas,Philip Thomas,Wayne Thomas,Aron Thorpe,Dylan Todd,Jacob Townley,Barry Traynor,Marc Trunk,Stephen Tuiletfuga,Terrence Turner,Lisa Twort,Mark Unwin,Sjef Van Gaalen,Bodhi Vincent,Ra Vincent,Samuel Von Kersinberg,Hamish Wain,Axel Wakelin,Jim Walker,William Walker,Kirstine Wallis,Beau Walsh,Stuart Walter,Thomas Wang,Susan Ward,Graham Watkins,Bianca Watson,Edmund Wealthell,Anthony Weinberg,Nick Weir,Gillian West-Walker,Rob Westholm,Ben Whale,Adam Wheatley,Mark Whelehan,Michael White,Peter White,Kris Whitehead,James Wickison,Tim Wigmore,Prunella Wilde,Kevin Willcocks,Norman Willerton,Duane Williams,Joanna Williams,Mark Cameron Williams,Noel Williamson,Sandy Wilmar,Anthony Wilson,Elizabeth Wilson,Nick Wilson,William Wilson,Alan Wilton,Abi Wollcombe,Shane Wood,Brigitte Wuest,Alan Wyllie,Jacob Yocum,Daniel Birt,Genevieve Cooper,Nathan Gray,David Kolff,Darryl Longstaffe,Dallas Poll,Christian Rivers,Jeremy Shaw,Troy Stephens,Gillian West-Walker
Sound Department Neil Aldridge,Ray Beentjes,John Boswell,Christopher Boyes,Brent Burge,Eddie Bydalek,Rick Canelli,Jason Canovas,Derek Casari,Hayden Collow,Matt Cuirc,Corrin Ellingford,Bruce Emery,David Farmer,Melanie Graham,Michael Hedges,Mike Hopkins,Tom Johnson,Brian Kahanek,Martin Kwok,Gilbert Lake,Matthew Lambourn,Robyn McFarlane,Polly McKinnon,Carolyn McLaughlin,Peter Mills,Magic A. Moreno,John Neill,Thomas J. O’Connell,Jordan O’Neill,Ferand Peek,Hammond Peek,Ken Saville,Michael Semanick,Abigail Sie,John Simpson,Nigel Stone,Matt Stutter,Craig Tomlinson,Ethan Van der Ryn,Chris Ward,Jenny T. Ward,Justin Webster,Dave Whitehead,Katy Wood,Vikram Biswas,Malcolm Cromie,Chris Hiles,Sam Spicer,Sreejesh
Special Effects by Frazer Anderson,Ross Anderson,Matt Appleton,Rebecca Asquith,Robert Baldwin,Wendy Bambro-Tilyard,Jack Barber,Jeremy Barr,John Baster,Samantha-Kate Belcher,Jamie Beswarick,Shaun Bolton,David Booth,Greg Broadmore,Don Brooker,Dean Bushby,Karl Chisholm,Stephanie Chung,Dean Clarke,Ross Collinge,Nicole Cosgrove,Emma Cotsell,Stephen Crowe,Bryce Curtis,Geoff Curtis,Paul Davenport,Lawrence Decker,Jason Docherty,Joe Dunckley,Jon Ewen,Daniel Falconer,Doug Falconer,Alex Falkner,Rodney Ford,Oliver Gee,Rob Gillies,Simon Godsiff,Dave Goodin,Geoff Goss,Christian Gossett,David Griffiths,Emily Griffiths,Jonathan Roy Grindlay,Chris Guise,Scott Harens,Sven Harens,Ben Hawker,Luke Hawker,Keith Huggins,Bill Hunt,Gary Hunt,Iain Hutton,Brent Ingram,Steve Ingram,Dave Irons,Peder Kallin,Seth Kelly,Tom Lauten,Christopher Lawton,David Lenna,Darian Lumsden,Damian Lund,Warren Mahy,Ross Martindale,Mike McDonald,Phil McLaren,Bruce McNaught,Michael McNeal,Kevin McTurk,David Meng,Hector Morales,Tracey Morgan,Melanie Morris,Gayle Munro,Christian Pearce,Craig Poll,Tania Rodger,Ivan Rooda,Iwan Peter Scheer,Jeremy Shaw,Eden Small,Jonas Springborg,Richard Taylor,Rod Tervoort,Miles Teves,Bill Thomson,Paul Tobin,Greg Tozer,David Tremont,Steve Unwin,Paul Van Ommen,Matt Ward,Timothy Watson,Fraser Wilkinson,Ben Wood,Ben Wootten,Brigitte Wuest,Marco Wuest,Kate Wyatt,Petar Zivkovic
Visual Effects by Holly Acton,Richard Addison-Wood,Malcolm Aitchison,Matt Aitken,Dan Akers,Belinda Allen,Stan Alley,Jon Allitt,Colin Alway,Stella Ampatzi,Svend Andersen,Glenn Anderson,Scott E. Anderson,Malcolm Angell,Hillary Yeo Tze Ann,Christine Arboit,Joe Ardent,Elisabeth Arko,Daniel Ashton,Alvise Avati,Jean-Luc Azzis,Sindharmawan Bachtiar,Michael Bain,Richard Bain,Michael Baltazar,Josh Bare,Jeff Barnes,Andy Barrios,Peter Baustaedter,Dugan Beach,Jamie Beard,Kelly Bechtle-Woods,Lyse Beck,Cory Bedwell,Joel Behrens,Adrian Bell,Paula Bell,Daniel Bennett,Glen Bennett,James Bennett,Jeremy Bennett,John R.A. Benson,Niki Bern,Teresa Berus,Hannah Bianchini,Erik Bierens,Kris Bieringa,John-Michael Bills,Graham Binding,Danielle Birch,Colette Birrell,Håkan Blomdahl,Jennifer Bloomfield,Martin Body,Jeremy Bolan,Anto Bond,Samati Boonchitsitsak,Nick Booth,Philip Borg,Jake Botting,Adam Bradley,Lee Bramwell,Bruce Branit,Michael Brazelton,Phil Brennan,Decharne Brian,Julian Bryant,Stephen A. Buckley,Danilo Buendia,Matthew Bullock,Joerg W. Bungert,Clare Burgess,Kate Burgess,Alex Burt,Greg Butler,Julian R. Butler,Andrew Calder,Sonia Calvert,Andrew Camenisch,Warwick Campbell,Cedric Enriquez Canlas,Dave Cardwell,Ean Carr,Steve Casa,Norman Cates,Tom Chamberlain,Tim Cheng,Evan Christie,Glen Christie,Kirsty Clark,Hannah Clarke,Heather Clarke,David Clayton,Simon Clutterbuck,David Cole,Buckley Collum,Rob Conn,Peter Connelly,Paul Conway,Josh Cooper,Shane Cooper,Michael Corcoran,Jessica Cowley,Christine Cram,Doug Cram,Jim Croasdale,Steve Cronin,Aaron Cubis,John Curtis,Marion Davey,Chris Davies,Mark Davies,Juliette Davis,Chris Davison,Mario de Dios,Paul Debevec,Matthew DeJohn,Peter Demarest,Graeme Demmocks,Robb Denovan,Richard Dexter,Marco Di Lucca,Nadia Diggins,Gareth Dinneen,Benoit Doidic,Jonny Doig,Eran Dolev,Hugo Dominguez,Tim Donlevy,Yann Doray,Rebecca Downes,Christina Drahos,Emanuel ‘Emey’ Druckmann,Brian Ducharme,Simeon Duncombe,Shawn Dunn,William Dwelly,Frank Dürschinger,William J. Earl,David Ebner,Areito Echevarria,Erich Eder,Oliver Exmundo,Luca Fascione,Ellie Faustino,Christine Feistl,Patrick Felgueras,Florian Fernandez,Brian Fisher,Paul Flanagan,Joel Fletcher,Kanen Flowers,Ben Forster,Fiona Foster,Angela Frame,Richard Frances-Moore,Zachary Franks,Rod Fransham,Aidan Fraser,Alex Funke,Jeanmarc Furio,Nick Gabchenko,Christopher Otto Gallagher,Stefan Galleithner,Vicki Galloway-Weimer,Eric Gambini,Jason Gandhi,Christoph Gaudl,Mark Gee,Chris George,Filippo Giansante,Bill Gilman,Kenneth Gimpelson,Moritz Glaesle,Julian Gnass,Peter Godden,Agnes Gould,David Gould,Justin Graham,Matt Greig,Paul Griffin,Jason Grindlay,Michael Grobe,David ‘Rudy’ Grossman,Bassim Haddad,Geoff Hadfield,Mikael Hakansson,Christian Haley,Anne Hall,Ben Hall,Keith Hamakawa,Jeff Hameluck,David Hampton,Joe Han,Bruce Harris,Todd Harvey,Dietrich Hasse,Christopher Hatala,Aron Hatfield,R.A. Haupt,Ed Hawkins,Tim Hawkins,Trevor Hazel,G.G. Heitmann Demers,Quentin Hema,Allen Hemberger,Sandro Henriques,Jayne Herrmann,Tim Hey,Martin Hill,Christian Hipp,Joseph Hoback,David Hochstadter,Nic Hodgkinson,Matt Holland,Matt Holmes,Tom Holzinger,Richard Hopkins,Traci Horie,Steven Hornby,Gray Horsfield,Kathryn Horton,Christopher Horvath,David Houghton-Williams,Sandy Houston,Victor Huang,Graham Hudson,Katherine Hurst,Steve Hutchins,Joe Jackman,James Jacobs,Mel James,Suzanne Jandu,Paul Jenness,Allan Torp Jensen,Mia Jewett,Lars Johansson,Jeff A. Johnson,Danny Jones,Dennis Jones,Les G. Jones,Kate Jorgensen,Simon Jung,Kory Juul,Sandip Kalsy,Patrick Kalyn,Miae Kang,Mel Kangleon,Matt Kasmir,Mike Kelly,Joe Ken,Tim Ketzer,Scott Kilburn,Ronny Kim,Oliver Kirchhoff,Balazs Kiss,Susie Kleis,Arek Komorowski,Sergei Koudriautsev,Alex Kramer,Lars Kramer,Dmitri Krasnokoutski,Derek Krauss,Jan Kruse,Martin Kumor,Andrew Kunzel,René Kuys,Suzanne Labrie,Laure Lacroix,Andrew Lambert,Cam Langs,Alexandra Lanzensberger,Michael Lanzensberger,Douglas Larmour,Mathias Larserud,Kimberly Lashbrook,Jessica Laszlo,Gary Laurie,Kim Lavery,Luisma Lavin,Jason Lazaroff,Jake Lee,Eric Leighton,Dan Lemmon,Iva Lenard,Michael Leonard,Phillip Leonhardt,Joe Letteri,Mark Tait Lewis,Staffan Linder,Randy Link,Florian Linner,Sophie Lodge,Thomas Loeder,Lance Lones,Jade Lorier,Ruth-Anne Loveridge,Robyn Luckham,David Luke,Lap Van Luu,Natalie MacDonald,Keith MacGowan,Tibor Madjar,Aron Makkai,Campbell March,Evans Mark,C.J. Markham,Nic Marrison,Ray Massa,Jean Matthews,Timothy McCallum,Steve McGee,Steve McGillen,Nathan McGuinness,Adam McInnes,Nick McKenzie,John P. McMullen,Chad Meire,Jennifer Giovanna Meire,Joel Meire,Matthias Menz,Andrea Merlo,Tom Mikota,Simon Millanta,Keith Miller,Mark Miller,Seth F. Miller,Derek Milner,Ben Milsom,Saki Mitchell,Kaori Miyazawa,Chad Moffitt,Dejan Momcilovic,James Moore,Richard Moore,Eileen Moran,Ben Morgan,Gwilym Morris,Phillip Moses,Chris Moss,Matt Mueller,Nicky Muir,Daryl Munton,Hiroaki Muramoto,Laura Murillo,George Murphy,Alfred Mürrle,Dylan Neill,Jeremy Nelligan,Kurt Nellis,Sergei Nevshupov,Natalia Nevshupova,Tim Nicholas,Carlos-Christian Nickel,Wolfgang Niedermeier,Stephen Nixon,Sverker Nordqvist,Alexander Nowotny,Murray Nuttall,Jane O’Callaghan,Cyndi Ochs,James Ogle,George Oliver,Tor-Bjorn Olsson,Desi Ortiz,David A. Ostler,David Owen,Scott Owen,Paul George Palop,Michael Pangrazio,Stephane Paris,JaeWook Park,Sujin Park,Helen Paul,Emily Pearce,Christine Penn,Mike Perry,Dana Peters,Eric Petey,Aaron Pfau,Lorenzo Pierfederici,Chris Pinto,Emrys Plaisted,Ed Plant,Darren Poe,Kelly Port,Glen Pratt,Steve Preeg,Martin Preston,Niklas Preston,Michael Prince,Henk Prins,Jean-Colas Prunier,Robin Prybil,Brett Purmal,Lucas Putnam,Philip Quaglino,Inge Rademeyer,Pascal Raimbault,Richard Raimbault,Troy Ramsey,Dane Rapaport,Jennah Rasmussen,Christine Raymond,Mathieu Raynault,Alireza Razmpoosh,Paul Redican,Richard R. Reed,Raine Reen,Stephan Remstedt,Marco Revelant,Eric Reynolds,Mark Richardson,Matthew Riordan,Anne Ritter,Christian Rivers,Sandra Roach,Becky Roberts,Loren Robinson,Troy Robinson,Ruben Rodas,Bernardo Rodriguez,Kevin Romond,Michael Root,Kenny Roy,Trina M. Roy,Frank Rueter,Katya Ruslanova,Bill Ryder,Mark Sagar,Karim Sahai,Eric Saindon,Christoph Salzmann,Brian Samuels,Mahria Sangster,Olivier Sarda,Michael Sarkis,Minoru Sasaki,Atsushi Sato,Jennifer Lee Scheer,Caterina Schiffers,David Schnee,Rolf Schneider,Florian Schroeder,Jason Schugardt,Junko Schugardt,Hamish Schumacher,Jens Schwarz,Brad Selkirk,Damon Selkirk,Adam Shand,Glen Sharah,Kevin L. Sherwood,Roger Shortt,Adam Sidwell,Martin Simcock,Zeb Simpson,Kawaldeep Singh,Cameron Smith,Hugh Smith,Cameron Smither,Ben Snow,Jason Snyman,Jed Soane,John Sore,Nic Spier,Brett Stapleton-French,Hilary Sperling Stauffer,Albrecht Steinmetz,Andy Stevens,Joe Woodward Stevenson,Sam Stewart,Tamara Stone,Paul Story,Ileana Stravoskiadi,Petra Stueben,Roxanne Sutherland-Valentine,Åsa Svedberg,John Swinnerton,Peter Syomka,Gaku Tada,Charles Tait,Mark Tait,Chu Tang,Eric Tang,Hanzhi Tang,Taisuke Tanimura,Sandy Taylor,Vincent Thomas,Ben Thompson,Gerald Thompson,Andrew Titcomb,Geoff Tobin,Syria Toliver,Ben Toogood,Alexis Torres,Greg Towner,Stefano Trivelli,Guerdon Trueblood,Denis Trutanic,Can Tuncer,Les Umberger,Jeff Unay,James Van Der Reyden,Phil Van Der Reyden,Brian Van’t Hul,Trish Van’t Hul,Kara Vandeleur,Jon Veal,Karla Ventocilla,Jenny Vial,Marco Vidaurre,Matt Villa,Andres Vitale,Steve Vojkovic,Michelle Waitzman,Don Waller,Matt Wallin,Mike Wallis,Nancey S. Wallis,Martin Walsh,David Weitzberg,O.D. Welch,Matt Welford,Craig Wentworth,R. Christopher White,Melissa Widup,Christian Wieser,Lisa Wildermoth,Guy Williams,Pete Williams,Tommy Williamson,Erik Winquist,Chris Winter,George Wong,Malcolm Wright,Klaus Wuchta,Billy Wychgel,Kwan Wayne Yu Yee,Dennis Yoo,Chris Young,Joyce Young,Marvyn Young,Johan Åberg,Steve Arguello,David Blythe,Mike Bozulich,Kristie Breslin,Jon R. Brown,Jeff Goldman,Phil Greig,Michael Kennen,Votch Levi,Michael Lori,Alastair Maher,Ed Mendez,Matthias Menz,Todd Napier,Toby Newell,Brian Openshaw,Dean Parks,Danny Torres,Leigh van der Byl
Stunts Chris Anderson,Daniel Andrews,Sean Button,Ryan Carey,Justin B. Carter,Rodney Cook,Mana Hira Davis,Shane Dawson,Branko Dordevich,Steve Drage,Clint Elvy,Morgan Evans,Sebastian Foxx,Marcus Goldfinch,Winham Hammond,Baz Karbouris,Greg Lane,Thomas J. Larsen,Tony Marsh,Kirk Maxwell,Tim McLachlan,David J. Muzzerall,Jess Page,Steve Reinsfield,Markos Rounthwaite,Bronson Steel,Andrew Stehlin,Jason Tahu,Stuart Thorp,Mark Trotter,Min Windle,Tim Wong,Robert Young,Jonathan Costelloe,Peter Dillon,Amanda Foubister,Dayna Grant,Kirk Maxwell,Sharon Maxwell,Shane Rangi
Camera and Electrical Department Taipua Adams,Steve Allanson,Dave Anderson,Matt Andrews,Mike Arthur,Kane Asher,Andrew Ayrton,Glen Ayrton,Alan Baird-Smith,Neil Benseman,Alexandra Bishop,Phil Blackburn,Richard Bluck,Darren Bradnock,Michael Braid,Shane Braid,David Brown,Chris Cavill,John Cavill,Chris Chandler,Giles Coburn,Olly Coleman,Jamie Couper,Brian Crump,Tim Dallas,Tammy Davis,Colin Deane,Rhys Duncan,Sally Eccleston,Richard Elworthy,John Enright,Craig Farrand,Ants Farrell,Samuel Fordham,Alan Fraser,Ian Freer,Reg Garside,John Graham,Huw Griffiths,Simon Harding,Dion Hartley,Grant Harvey,Frank Hruby,Will Hutchinson,Peter James,Mark Jefferies,Regan Jones,Ross Jones,Warren Jones,Tony Keddy,Sean Kelly,James Kennedy,Rob Kerr,Jo Kilgour,Mike Knudson,Peter Kruk,Christopher Kruszona,Brian Laird,Natacha Lee,Dana Little,Luke Macready,Keri Manuel,Iain Mathieson,Chris McAllister,Dean McCarroll,Cameron McLean,Steven McNicholl,Garth Michael,Tony Monk,Reuben Morrison,Chris Murphy,Paul Murphy,Paul Naylor,Mark Newnham,Jens Normann,David B. Nowell,Ryan O’Donnell,Luis Olivares,Chris Palmer,Matthew Parsons,Nick Payne,Warrick Peace,Nigel Percy,Dan Rabarts,Noor Razzak,Jay Rei,Nicholas Riini,Richard Riwaka,Jason Robertson,Alys Rowe,Gus Salla,David Sargison,Luke Saulbrey,Paul Sawtell,Damian Seagar,Matthew Sharp,Sam Sheppard,Marc Sim,Zeb Simpson,Michael Slater,Harry Slowery,Peter Smith,Philip A.T. Smith,Allen Solly,Byron Sparrow,Tim Stratton,Andrew Stroud,Blair Teesdale,Leon Thomas,Ben Thurston,Michael Toki,Edward Tyrie,Pierre Vinet,Michael Vivian,Angus Ward,Helen Ward,Andrew Warrington,Geoff Weir,Maia Whittet,Akakoa Williams,Danny Williams,Alan Wilson,Daniel Wilson,Hohepa Winiata,Jennie Winter,Scott Woolley,Kim Worthington,Luke Worthington,James Yuill,Ben Ruffell
Animation Department Jamie Beard,Andy Cadzow,Kit Conners,Frédéric Côté,Kameron Gates,Cheryl Kerr,Nadine Lavoie,Joel Meire,Bill E. Miller,Jackey Mishra,Jakub Pistecky,Kristin Solid,Jon Turburfield,Ben Wiggs
Casting Department Joel Champagne,Barbara Harris,Kelly Valentine Hendry,Julie Hutchinson,Miranda Rivers,Sarah Valentine
Costume and Wardrobe Department Lucy Adams,Paul Booth,Chantelle Bowkett,Hamish Brown,Sam Brown,Tom Caddy,Susan Casey,Miriam Christie,Nancy Collini,Katrina Collins,Hillary Crawford,Sam Farquar,Carolyn M. Fenton,Zoe Fox,Lois Girdwood,Eliza Godman,Sally Gray,Michael Grealish,Tammy Green,Paul Hambleton,John Harding,Cilla Harnett,Emma Harre,Cathy Harris,Awanui Te Huia,Tamsyn Hunnewell,Vanessa Kirkham,Pauline Laws,Pip Lingard,Lachlan Mayclair,Moya McBrearty,Gareth McGhie,Rick McGill,Karen McGovern,Tracey McKay,Lucy McLay,Valerie Metin,Sophie Mills,Katherine Milne,Melissa Mundt,Anna Munro,Amanda Neale,Maja Neumann,Tira O’Daly,Erin O’Neill,Anita Oram,Alice Paton,Mirinda Penny,Andrea Plested,Lucy Reece,Julie Zavala Ron,Sheree Roud,Sandie Sixtus,Hannah St. John,Siosi Tamapoulu,Greta Tapper,Kate Trafford,Simon Ward,Lee Williams
Editorial Department Niklas Aldergren,David Birrell,Nadia Diggins,Peter Doyle,Mark Hawthorne,David Hollingsworth,Shara Hudson,Henry Karjalainen,Damian McDonnell,James Meikle,Eszter Nagy,Jon Newell,Jabez Olssen,Simon Price,Lynne Reed,Rebecca Rowe,Vickie-Lynn Roy,Holger Spill,Lee Wimer,Jonathan Woodford-Robinson,Dan Dolan
Location Management Carl Bellavia,Jared Connon,Mathew Gordon,Sam Rohn,Peter Tonks,Mark Waniga
Music Department Nico Abondolo,Annica Ackerman,Mark Adams,Steve Amerson,Beth Anderson,Pete Anthony,Jeff Atmajian,Bruce Babcock,Chris Bacon,Rick Baptist,Jennifer Barnes,Joel Batson,Joan Beal,Mark Beasom,Samela A. Beasom,Steve Becknell,Frank Bennett,Becky Bentham,Chris Bleth,Bill Booth,Susan Boyd,Tom Boyd,Eric Bradley,Jacqueline Brand,Leanna Brand,Aleta Braxton,Tom Brown,Reid Bruton,Nathan Campbell,Darius Campo,Elin Carlson,Agostino Castagnola,Alvin Chea,Judy Chilnick,Heather Clark,Bryan Clements,Harvey Cohen,Kevin Connolly,Tony Cooke,Craig Copeland,Chris Cozens,Randy Crenshaw,Wade Culbreath,Douglas Davis,Tim Davis,Brad Dechter,Sandy DeCrescent,Brian Dembow,Marcia Dickstein,Tim Divers,George Doering,David Donaldson,Monique Donnelly,Carol Drake,David Duke,Bruce Dukov,Richard Duven,Marie Ebbing,Bill Edwards,Mark Eshelman,Pedro Eustache,Georg Faust,Malcolm Fife,Rob Frear,Gregory Geiger,Jody Golightly,Galina Golovin,Gregory Goodall,Agnes Gottschewski,Jenny Graham,Mark Graham,Richard Grant,Danny Greco,Fred Greene,Stephen Grimm,Debbie Hall,Trevor Handy,Tom Hardisty,Karen Harper,Walter S. Harrah,Scottie Haskell,Todd Hemmenway,Paul S. Henning,Amy Hershberger,Dan Higgins,James T. Hill,Jim Hoffman,Michael Hoffman,Steve Holtman,Scott Hosfeld,Greg Huckins,Jonathan A. Hughes,Christoph Igelbrink,Alex Iles,Joel Iwataki,Elissa Johnston,Bob Joyce,Alan Kaplan,Ron Kaufman,Ronn Kaufmann,Dan Kelley,Solene Kermarrec,Brian Kilgore,Jenny Kim,Paul Klintworth,Teri Koide,Chris Kollgaard,Armen Ksajikian,Jon Kull,Timothy Landauer,Tim Lauber,Songa Lee,Edie Lehmann Boddicker,Gayle Levant,Daniel Lewin,Jon Lewis,Bill Liston,Dane Little,Jason Lloyd,David Long,Greg Loskorn,Warren Luening,Martin Löhr,Jonathan Mack,Guy Maeda,Larry Mah,Sal Malaki,Andy Malloy,Peter Mandell,Olaf Maninger,Aaron Martin,Darrin McCann,Tonoccus McClain,Malcolm McNab,Martin Menking,Alan Meyerson,Adam Michalak,John W. Morgan,Yvonne S. Moriarty,Kristy Morrell,Tim Morrison,Diane Muller,Peter Myles,Blake Neely,Daniel Nielsen,Mike Nowak,Brian O’Connor,Grace Oh,David Olson,Robin Olson,Bobbi Page,Joel Peskin,Bryan Pezzone,Radu Pieptea,Plan 9,Conrad Pope,Cal Price,Ludwig Quandt,Leslie Reed,Bill Reichenbach,Diane Freiman Reynolds,John Reynolds,Emil Richards,Michele Richards,Cassandra Richburg,David Riniker,Rafael Rishik,Steven Roberts,Steve Roche,Janet Roddick,Nikolaus Romisch,Geri Rotella,Patrick Russ,Bob Sanders,James Sawyer,Dietmar Schwalke,Nigel Scott,Jim Self,Fletcher Sheridan,Howard Shore,David Shostac,Andrew Shulman,Kirsten Smith,Steven L. Smith,Tim Starnes,Tom Steel,Jonathon Stevens,Sally Stevens,Chet Swiatkowsky,Bill Talbott,Phillip A. Teele,George Thatcher,James Thatcher,Stuart Michael Thomas,Richard Todd,Doug Tornquist,Louise Di Tullio,Irina Voloshina,Giancarlo Vulcano,David Wailes,James Walker,Brad Warnaar,Dave Washburn,Knut Weber,Jim Weidman,David Weiss,Helen Werling,Mel Wesson,Gerald White,Don Williams,Mark Willsher,Phillip Yao,Kenneth Yerke,Ed Zajac,Joe Zimmerman,Jim Bruening,Paul S. Henning,The Hollywood Studio Symphony,Marika Rauscher,Steve Schaeffer
Script and Continuity Department Aria Harrison,Veronique Lawrence,Merrin Ruck,Victoria Sullivan
Transportation Department Collin Butrum,Clive Denham,Spencer Faulkner,Michael Fogerty,Helen Greenway,Daniel Hannah,Jenny Morgan,Jaffray Sinclair,Vaughn Williams
Additional Crew Guy Adan,Judy Alley,Joel Anscombe-Smith,Gunner Ashford,Aimee Aspinall,Fiona Bartlett,Colette Birrell,Tanya Blumstein,Rachael Boggs,Melissa Booth,James Boyce,Amy Brennan,Bob Buck,Andy Buckley,Joanna Bunce,Victoria Burkhart,Al Cerullo,Rebecca Cheyne,Rachel Devenport,Matthew Dravitzki,Ruben Ferguson,Jo Foster,Samuel V. Franco,Kylie Gaudin,Reece Geraghty,Jessica A. Gihon,Piers Gilbertson,Melissa Goldstein,Thea Govorko,Jill Guice,Chris Guise,Simon Hawkings,Alana Henderson,Cale Hetariki,Elizabeth Himelstein,Tom Hobbs,Chris Hodgetts,Petrina Hodgson,Aaron Huriwaka,Linda Klein-Nixon,Karen Kong,Stephanie Kuttner,Caroline Lackey,Jamie Lawrence,Josie Leckie,Annaliese Levy,Lindsay Little,Brian Mahony,Karen March,Shona McCullagh,Jacob McIntyre,Clare McKee,Sarah Milnes,Manilo Miodino,Milano Miodino,Arwen Munro,Phil Nixey,Carter Nixon,Steve Old,Clare Olssen,Scott Owen,Gabe Page,Philippa Race,Bob Roath,Kristen Crabtree Roath,Jay Roberts,Tara Robinson,Peter Russell,Andrew Smith,Rod Smith,Nick Sorenson,Alfie Speight,Kat Stephens,Helene Takacs,Stuart Michael Thomas,Edith Thompson,Brenna Townshend,Natasha Turner,Michelle Twigden,Hansel Verkerk,Fabrizio Vidale,Angela Waller,Mac Warbrick,Andy Wickens,Jamie Wilson,Chris Winter,Philippa Wood,Ngaire Woods,Julie Adams,Ben Fransham,Toby Froud,Stephen Gledhill,Cori Gonzalez-Macuer,Julia Marie Newmann,Court Reinland,Chris Walker,Julia Walshaw
Thanks Robert Armstrong,Jean-Pierre Bousquet,Peter Cobbin,Merian C. Cooper,David East,John Gibson,June Havoc,Lora Hirschberg,Ken Kamins,Richard Kelly,Graham Kennedy,Lenny Kornberg,John Kurlander,Rick McKay,Peter Nelson,Willis H. O’Brien,Victoria Riskin,Ernest B. Schoedsack,Sam Schwartz,Bryan Singer,Darryl Stack,Max Steiner,Philip Sumner,Pat Weber,David Woodcock,Fay Wray
Genres Action, Adventure, Drama
Companies Universal Pictures, WingNut Films, Big Primate Pictures
Countries USA, New Zealand, Germany
Languages English
ContentRating PG-13
ImDbRating 7.2
ImDbRatingVotes 421569
MetacriticRating 81
Keywords gorilla,island,new york city,jungle,expedition