It says a lot about the current state of the Hollywood film business that studios are flinging insane amounts of money at an overlong remake of a monkey film that’s already been remade to death and that stars him out of Shallow Hal.
But that’s what’s happening. The forthcoming Peter Jackson version of King Kong is reportedly going to be the most expensive film in history – costing $207 million – and has a running time of three hours. Great…
Peter Jackson (DVDs) seems to be a man in need of a decent editor. The Lord
Of The Rings movies were such a tedious exercise in self-indulgence –
the second film’s extended Elvish-language scenes and the last film’s
four billion endings being especially dull highlights – that it looked
like Jackson would never be able to top it. But it seems like he’s
given it a pretty good crack with King Kong.
King Kong is released on December 14th, and stars Jack Black, Adrien
Brody and Naomi Watts. You’ll have seen a King Kong movie before, but
if you haven’t it’s about a big monkey who climbs up a skyscraper and
stays there for three hours.
King Kong is being released by Universal – the studio behind this
year’s mega-hits Kicking & Screaming, The Skeleton Key, The Perfect Man and White
Noise – which is very clearly bricking itself about releasing an
absurdly expensive three-hour long version of a film that everyone has
already seen anyway in a year when people have decided to stop going to
the cinema. Witness all the panicked statements that Universal staff
are throwing out. Marc Shmuger, vice-chairman of Universal Pictures:
“This
is a three-hour feast of an event. I’ve never come close to seeing an
artist working at this level.” Translation: "I’ve never seen anyone
spending so much cash on making a long film about a freaking great big
monkey."
Stacey Snider, Universal chairwoman:
"I anticipated it would be long, but not this long. This is
a masterpiece. I can’t wait to unveil it." Translation: "Please go and watch it. I’ll get the sack if you don’t."
Peter
Jackson’s King Kong is not a guaranteed success by any means. As well
as convincing punters to go and pay to sit in a manky cinema for three
hours instead of just downloading it off the Internet for free, the
film’s subject matter has made for some very hit and miss versions.
As well as the 1933 original and the 1976 remake, there has also
been King Kong Lives, Son Of Kong, King Kong Escapes, King Kong Vs
Godzilla, The Mighty Kong, Konga, Queen Kong and our old friend Donkey
Kong.
Read more:
A big gorilla sits: Universal gets 3-hour Kong – AZ Central
[story by Stuart Heritage]
richard says
sorry, jack black is not the lead of this film. the lead is NAOMI WATTS. listing jack black before the official lead naomi watts is unfair to the actress and giving B-list comic actor jack black unjustified favor and importance he is NOT in this remake of the 1933 classic “the beauty and the beast” story as confirmed by peter jackson and universal executives. for a film as significant as king kong 2005, any listing of the cast not in accordance with the official order is incorrect and misleading.
attached herewith the official cast order as per universal pictures’ trailer, website and press releases for the film:
naomi watts, jack black, adrien brody, thomas kretschmann, colin hanks, jamie bell,……. and andy serkis.
GRC says
Does it really matter that much to you Richard? It will be a big pile of crap anyway.