If the gossip mags are to be believed - and lately they haven't been that far off the mark - Australian actress Naomi Watts is pregnant, due to be engaged, may be the next Bond girl and will be nominated for an Oscar in 2006. It's been a phenomenal year for the King Kong star, who moved on from her relationship with Australian actor Heath Ledger (who has since had a baby with Dawson's Creek star Michelle Williams) and formed close ties with The Manchurian Candidate's Liev Schrieber, 38. [More]

King Kong mania continues at Burger King. After the whopping success of 1,000 cinema tickets give-away to go and watch the movie of this years' Christmas, KING KONG -- The 8th Wonder of the World, now Burger King and Coca-Cola are offering another opportunity to their customers to collect 3 different King Kong collectible extreme action cups. [More]

If all you wanted for Christmas was a giant ape holding a beautiful woman atop a landmark building on a superwide screen, this holiday has certainly turned out for you. “King Kong” roared into theaters just in time for the holiday, carrying big name talent, Oscar buzz and eye-bending special effects. The visual effects were created by Weta Digital, the same company that did the effects for Kong director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. And as it did for “Rings,” Weta used Shake as its primary compositing tool on “King Kong.” [More]

It is time to come together and talk Kong! The chatroom has been a great success, however some people have been popping in at odd hours when there is no one to chat with. To that end I've devised a KONG Chat time, a set time and day of the week for all Kong chatters to meet and have fun! The bi-weekly Kong Chats will be Thursday nights at 8:30PM Eastern Standard Time (a new Saturday chat has been added click here for more info). World times are below, if you need more help click here. [Kong Java Chat Room] [irc chat settings: SERVER www.theonering.net ROOM: #kongisking.net]

8:30pm (Thursday) EST in New York, Montreal
5:30pm (Thursday) PST in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco
1:30am (Friday) in GMT (UK)
2:30am (Friday) CET in Berlin, Barcelona, Amsterdam
12:30pm (Friday) in Sydney
2:30pm (Friday) in Auckland and Wellington

A repeat airing of Jack Black on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' will air tonight on CBS. Feel free to watch it tonight or simply download Jack's segment right here. [More]

Congrats to our next winner: T. Cavanaugh from Iowa City, IA! They have won a KING KONG pack from Universal Studios, Playmates and Nestle. The pack includes a King Kong Hat, King Kong T-shirt, King Kong vs. Juvenile V-Rex Toy, and a paperback copy of 'KONG UNBOUND.' Have you entered our giveaway? There are no strings attached and its the easiest way to win the coolest Kong stuff out there! [Giveaway Entry] [Purchase the Book] [Purchase Kong vs Juvenile V-Rex] [Nestle]

Congrats to our next winner: M. Coulombe from Quebec, CANADA! They have won a KING KONG pack from Universal Studios, Unisoft and Nestle. The pack includes a King Kong Hat, King Kong T-shirt, KING KONG PS2 Video Game, and a paperback copy of 'KING KONG The Island of the Skull.' Have you entered our giveaway? There are no strings attached and its the easiest way to win the coolest Kong stuff out there! [Giveaway Entry] [Purchase the Book] [Purchase the Game] [Nestle]

Psion brings us more news from his part of the world. Seems when a big movie opens in Japan there is merchandise *everywhere* related to it, here are some of the better Kong themed goodies! [More]

Psion sends along these photos from the Japanese King Kong exibition: Ok, not alot of pics, due to you can not actually take pictures. I snag some before they caught me. It is held at Roppongi Hills, high class place. The Gallery is on the 50th floor, very awesome. [More]

The folks from the King Kong Official Magazine sent along these scans from the magazine, in stores now, and 3 articles. Here is one with an interview with Peter Jackson. "He’s now known as one of the greatest modern filmmakers – and it all started with King Kong. Oscar-winner Peter Jackson explains to KING KONG MAGAZINE why he’s wanted to make his latest fantasy epic for over 35 years…" [More]

Simon Gray writes: Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS outlines his approach to an ambitious remake of King Kong. King Kong is cinema’s most famous “monster movie.” Launched on an unsuspecting public in 1933, the picture features several of cinema’s most memorable moments, among them Fay Wray squirming in the giant ape’s hand, and Kong atop New York’s Empire State Building, swiping in vain at Curtiss Helldiver biplanes. [More]

The folks from wetanz.com send along some more bits of coolness from their website. Check out the profiles of a few more creatures from Skull Island; The Needlemouth and Stinkfish, Termito'saurus, The Carrion Storks & The Nefundusaurus. All of these and more are available for in the amazing full color hardcover book 'The World of Kong : A Natural History of Skull Island'

Congrats to our next winner: B. Shelton of Brooklyn NY! They have won a Ferrucutus Skull, Nestle Candy and KING KONG Official Hat from WETA Collectibles, Nestle Corporation and Universal Studios! Have you entered our giveaway? There are no strings attached and its the easiest way to win the coolest Kong stuff out there! [Giveaway Entry] [Purchase the Skull] [Nestl&eacuate;]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "King Kong" reigned at the North American box office for a second weekend on Monday, leading a busy field of Christmas newcomers and expansions even as overall ticket sales fell. Director Peter Jackson's big ape remake sold an estimated $31.4 million worth of tickets in the four days beginning Friday, taking its total to a modest $118.7 million after 12 days. Because of the holiday season, movie industry observers are still not certain how to classify the performance of Universal Pictures' $207 million movie. After a slow start, it picked up steam last weekend, but was surpassed in subsequent days by the weekend's No. 2 movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." "It is forging its own pattern of performance, but it is doing sizable business every day," said Marc Shmuger, Vice Chairman of the General Electric Co.-controlled studio. [More]

Actors like Andy Serkiss (SIC), who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, are professionals in the truest sense says Mark Kermode. When is an actor not an actor? When he is a 'computer-graphically-enhanced motion-capture-reference performance-artiste'. Or so a hopefully dwindling band of Luddites thinks. Hence the foolish claim that British performer Andy Serkis's sterling work bringing the CGI star of King Kong to life is something less than 'acting', and more akin to mere technological monkeying around. [More]

Games based on movies are generally avoided if one wants a solid gameplay experience. Peter Jackson knew this, however, when he selected Michel Ancel to direct the adaptation of King Kong. Ancel is a name that won’t be familiar to many, except those who played the amazing Beyond Good and Evil. His excellent talents, combined with Jackson’s hands-on approach to the game, combine to make one of the best movie games to date. When playing as Jack (played by Adrien Brody in the film), the game takes on a first-person shooter perspective. Upon landing on Skull Island, you’ll spend much of your time exploring with Carl (Jack Black) and Ann (Naomi Watts). Things quickly go downhill as Kong gets his hands on the girl, dinosaurs attack, and you spend much of your time on the run. [More]

ATLANTA—Even King Kong had to research his part. That's why actor Andy Serkis — whose movements were electronically captured to help create Kong — turned to Zoo Atlanta's Tara Stoinski to learn the ways of real gorillas in Rwanda. A primatologist who also works with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Stoinski talks about the movie. [More]

Camillu writes: There's a discussion about the themes and motifs in James Newton Howard’s KING KONG score CD over at moviemusic.com. It is a works in progress and the discussion is ongoing, but Kong fans might wish to have a look. [More]

While you're watching "King Kong," Director Peter Jackson's special effects spectacular at the movie theater this week, take a second or two to think about Fay Wray. Wray played the oft-screaming Ann Darrow in the original 1933 classic film about the big ape. As it turns out, the actress was born on the Wray Ranch outside Cardston, a town just north of the Canadian-Montana border in Alberta. Wray was born in the area, but the family didn't stay in Alberta long, moving to Arizona when Fay was three years old and later California. It was in California that Wray, born Vina Fay Wray, began to get bit parts in the movies as a youngster. [More]

Cheryl writes: Here is an interview with Kyle Chandler and Colin Hanks on Real player. [More]

Happy post-Christmas day! I woke up this morning in what is traditionally called 'Boxing Day' here in Canada to find this wonderful email in my inbox. Seems Kong's influence has gone full circle. See if you can follow me around this one; PJ watches Kong, PJ wants to make movies, PJ makes zombie movie, PJ makes LOTR, PJ inspires young Emily Hagins, Emily Hagins makes zombie movie. Read this! [More]

Colin Hanks was a guest on 'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' last night on CBS. He spoke a little about King Kong, but mainly tried to convince Craig that there were no big monkeys in New Zealand. Colin also talked about his home town of Sacramento, California. Take a look! (26MB MOV)[More]

Chris Alexis writes: I'm a producer on a highly-rated talk Internet radio show called "Movie Zone" -- which is hosted by film critic Kevin Carr, heard nationwide on Clear Channel. Our most recent episode, we recorded a show all about the new KONG movie. We thought you and your readers might enjoy to hear it. Discussed is the history of the Kong movies, Jackson as a director, the much debated running time of the new film, and more. It's a completely free download, popular with i-Pods actually. I hope you enjoy it. [More]

The folks from the King Kong Official Magazine sent along these scans from the magazine, in stores now, and 3 articles. Here is one with an interview with Naomi Watts: It takes a special actress to follow the legendary screen queen – but NAOMI WATTS has been widely recognised as an inspired choice to play Ann Darrow. KING KONG MAGAZINE finds out why she’s thrilled to be sharing the screen with a legendary primate… [More]

Bawpcwpn writes: Join the King Kong DVD Cover and Disc Art Competition. There is a great prize to be won (to be announced soon) for the best design. Design the Outside and Inside Cover Sleeve for the DVD as well as the art for 2 discs for making this DVD the King Kong 2 Disc DVD Set! [More]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - King Kong is on the loose in the Springfield area. A 200-pound, 33-foot-tall inflatable Kong vanished before dawn Thursday from the roof of the Springfield 8 movie theater, apparently snatched by thieves. "We sent a photographer over there to take some pictures this morning, and that's when we discovered it was missing," said Adam Brown, vice president of Amberg Entertainment Inc., which rented the big ape to the movie theater to promote the new "King Kong" movie. [More]

It is time to come together and talk Kong! The chatroom has been a great success, however some people have been popping in at odd hours when there is no one to chat with. To that end we've devised 2 KONG Chat times, a set time and day of the week for all Kong chatters to meet and have fun! Tonight's chat will be at 5:30PM Eastern Standard Time (click here for more info). World times are below, if you need more help click here.

5:30PM (Saturday) EST in New York, Montreal
2:30PM (Saturday) PST in Los Angeles, Seattle
11:30PM (Saturday) (Central European Time)
7:30AM (Sunday) in Sydney
9:30AM (Sunday) in Auckland, Wellington

The Utah Film Critics Awards were announced today and Andy Serkis was named Best Supporting Actor for his work on King Kong, just beating out Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man, impressive! [More]

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Think "King Kong" is nothing but a big ape? Director Peter Jackson turned to a former Rutgers professor to help make Kong sound more human in his new film. Jackson tapped Dieter Stecklis, a former professor of anthropology, for the job, Millennium Radio reported. The professor spent 10 years working in the field for Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. The director used actual field recordings of Rwandan mountain gorillas made by Stecklis. He then enhanced the audiotapes using studio sound effects. [More]

The Playstation 2 version of King Kong is an exciting albeits lower-paced adventure for fans. FAIZUL AZIM SAIFUL is engrossed. There's no doubt about it. King Kong is IT as far as cinemagoers in Malaysia are concerned. People are lining up at the cineplexes to watch this giant gorilla bond with a blonde! Well, now you can re-live the whole movie experience with Playstation 2’s latest offering, Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of The Movie. While most games cast you (the player) as a powerful hero, King Kong casts you as the quiet screenwriter Jack Driscoll (played by Adrien Brody in the movie). Jack doesn’t say much, partly because he isn’t given the chance since director Carl Denham (the inimitable Jack Black), the filmmaker who brings everyone to Kong’s island in the first place, won’t shut up. [More]

Congrats to our next winner: G. Hook of Philadelphia, PA! They have won a King Kong vs. V-Rex Bookend Set and some Nestlé Candy Bars from Nestlé, WETA Collectibles, and Universal Studios! Have you entered our giveaway? There are no strings attached and its the easiest way to win the coolest Kong stuff out there! [Giveaway Entry] [Purchase the Bookends] [Nestle]

Colin Hanks is slated to be a guest on 'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' tonight on CBS. He is there to talk King Kong of course! 'The Late Late Show' airs at 12:35AM on CBS. Set those TiVo's! Catch other clips from Colin's previous chat show appearances on 'David Letterman' & 'Conan O'brien'. [TV Listings]

Go KING KONG crazy with Nestlé as they offer a wide selection of their popular candies in special KING KONG editions. In fact, Nestlé was kind enough to send us a boxful of chocolate for our KongisKing.net giveaway! And don't miss your chance to win a trip for 4 to New York City by unwrapping special marked packages of NESTLE® CRUNCH®, NESTLE® CRUNCH® with Caramel NESTLE® BABY RUTH®, NESTLE® BUTTERFINGER® and NESTLE® 100 GRAND®. While the grand prize is spectacular, the 100 first place prizes aren't too shabby either! A Nintendo DS console, Nintendo DS Starter Kit and one King Kong video game. Check out the complete details on their official website and in the press release. [Press Release] [Official Site]

Larry writes: Only after selling on eBay for several years and maintaining a high rating was I able to convince a dear old friend to part with this treasure. My friend wrote to Mr. Cooper back in 1952 requesting a photo/still of KING KONG. What a surprise he received in the mail when this letter arrived with an apology that they no longer had any stills. However, KONG animator Willis O’Brien was present when Cooper wrote his reply and he provided this unique (possibly one of a kind) drawing/sketch of his masterpiece KING KONG! I am a proud member of the UACC, Universal Autograph Collectors Club, Inc. and support the UACC CODE OF ETHICS. For more information see the web site. [Ebay Auction]

The folks from the King Kong Official Magazine sent along these scans from the magazine, in stores now, and 3 articles. Here is one with an interview with Andy Serkis: How do you bring the largest and most famous gorilla in the world to life? Fresh from their groundbreaking work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the crew of the Weta Workshop and Weta Digital talk ape with KING KONG MAGAZINE… [More]

Isabel writes: We are auctioning a King Kong Director's Chair signed by no other than Peter Jackson himself on eBay. 100% of the proceeds are going to support Variety - The Children's Charity of Southern California. It is a great charity that gives help to Los Angeles children who need it. Could you please pass along the info to your website visitors? You would be helping a great cause and we would really appreciate it! We are going to list another chair at the end of the week. This chair will also be signed by Peter Jackson but will have a different color logo. [More]

Andy Serkis was given a special citation for his work on King Kong by the Toronto film critics this week. Congrats Andy!

The Phoenix Film Critics Awards were announced a few days ago and King Kong won the following. Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects & Best Trailer it was also listed as one of the top ten films of 2005. The rest include;

A History of Violence
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Cinderella Man
Crash
Good Night and Good Luck
In Her Shoes
Sin City
Walk the Line

BUTTERWORTH: A total 27,000 pirated DVDs worth about RM400,000 were seized by the state Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs enforcement unit in a raid at Taman Chai Leng, here. State enforcement director Fahmi Kasim said a 10-man team led by his deputy assistant director Norashikin Abdul Hamid, raided a house in Lorong Kurau at about 10.30am yesterday. New blockbuster movies such as King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Aeon Flux were among the titles seized. [More]

Roheryn writes: Featuring some of the "Kong" team members, this article on smart production techniques appears in the current issue of the trade journal "Film & Video." It gets a wee bit technical, but among other things, we learn how they keep Kong from having a bad fur day! [More]

SLOUGH, U.K. (22nd December, 2005) - French gaming giant Ubisoft is working with RightNow Technologies to ensure it can give fans of "Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of The Movie" a seamless gaming experience. Released on November 17th, the $30m King Kong video game is expected to become an international bestseller across all eight gaming formats. To counter any associated growth in customer enquiries to the call centre and the website over the extended Christmas period, Ubisoft has fortified its customer service operation to cope with the increased pressure. [More]

The cast of `Lost,' ABC's hit drama of air crash survivors marooned on a mysterious island, have won one battle - they beat a 40-year-old virgin and King Kong's girlfriend for the title of Entertainment Weekly's 'Entertainer of the Year." Third was Naomi Watts, who plays the blond actress befriended by Kong in the new film reviving the classic tale of ape meets girl, ape loves girl, ape loses girl. [More]

HOLLYWOOD - King Kong beauty Naomi Watts is reportedly set to wed her beau Liev Schreiber. The couple has enjoyed a low-key relationship, with British-born Watts only recently breaking her silence on the romance. And while representatives for the screen stars have yet to comment, pals say Schreiber has already proposed. A source says, "Naomi not only said yes, but she wants to get married as soon, and as secretly, as possible. [More]

"KING KONG" STAR Adrien Brody says he's feeling the heat of having to be a hunk in Hollywood. "People can't get that I'm a real American actor," he says. "I embody America. I love cars. I ride motorcycles. But people think I'm this emaciated Polish actor. ... I was recently on the cover of Men's Health magazine and even my own rep was blown away when he saw I had a six-pack. He said, 'How did this happen?' I said, 'Well, I worked out and took my shirt off!' [More]

Christopher Abel writes: I don’t know about you, but the previous two film versions of “King Kong” (the 1933 original starring Fay Wray and the 1976 remake with Jessica Lange) presented a relationship between the titular ape and his female hostage that seemed to me rather creepy. In the history of odd couple romances brought to the screen, King Kong and a screaming blonde takes the cake, and nobody (I hope) wants to see a 30-foot tall ape poking suggestively at his sexy captive. Such an awkward physical romance, mutual or otherwise, could easily have sunk Peter Jackson’s $200 million remake. But he’s smarter than that, and fresh off his Oscar wins for “The Lord of the Rings,” he’s managed to breathe new life into an old story, infusing it with dazzling visual flair and, more importantly, an emotionally resonant dramatic story that turns that creepy relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow into something sweetly innocent. [More]

NEW ZEALAND-made movies King Kong and Narnia are pulling in audiences in unprecedented numbers and will "probably knock Harry Potter off his perch", Regent 3 Cinemas co-owner Brent Goodwin says. Mr Goodwin said since the films, now screening in Masterton, had opened this month there had been an amazing response, with both playing consistently to full houses and with no sign of slowing down. "King Kong especially has been incredible, and if a three-hour movie can keep 60-odd kids transfixed in their seats, that is an extraordinary achievement. [More]

If you're wondering how Peter Jackson's new King Kong compares to the original or other versions, there are several ways to explore it. Turner Classic Movies has a screening of the original 1933 movie starring Faye Wray and the stop-motion Kong at 5:15 p.m. Monday. The original King Kong is also available in several new DVD packages with extra material, $27-$40. In this version, Ann is much less protective of Kong — she screams a lot — though he certainly seems very captivated by her. [More]

King Kong has knocked Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe off the top of the UK and Ireland box office in its debut week. Peter Jackson's remake of the classic film took £6m, ending Narnia's reign after just one week. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire also fell one place to number three, after taking slightly more than £1m. The Family Stone, starring Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker, entered the chart at number five. Also in the top five was Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster, which has taken a total of £5,550,239, since its release four weeks ago. [More]

Whatever else it may be, Brokeback Mountain was supposed to be this Christmas season's big, double-hanky love story. It's got competition, however, from an unlikely source — the soaring romanticism of Peter Jackson's King Kong. That's right, the Lord of the Rings director turned Merian C. Cooper's 1933 adventure-horror classic into the ultimate story of unrequited love. The ending, in fact, may remind you as much of Titanic as of the two previous King Kong versions. [More]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - King Kong, late of Skull Island, was big and hairy. He had an eye for the ladies. He didn't like flashbulbs. He didn't like planes. He was not a fan of New York. Antisocial though he may have been, after his unveiling in 1933, Kong quickly took his place as moviedom's archetypal great ape. And, though it seems unlikely given how many scary monsters we've seen since, Kong Mark I produced plenty of sleepless nights for plenty of impressionable viewers. One of them is Ray Morton, a writer and script consultant who admits to a happy lifelong obsession with Kong, introduced to the pleasures of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack's creation as a child. "It was simultaneously the strangest, scariest, most exciting, and most touching thing I had seen in my young life, and I was completely bewitched by it," he writes. "I remain so to this day." [More]

Congrats to our next winner: D. Gies of Alberta CANADA! They have won a GameBoy Advance KONG: Eigth Wonder of the World video game from Ubisoft and Universal Studios! Have you entered our giveaway? There are no strings attached and its the easiest way to win the coolest Kong stuff out there! [Giveaway Entry] [Buy]

Thomas Blackshear's 'The 8th Wonder of the World' Now on Sale!

Since July we have been offering Thomas Blackshear's 'The 8th Wonder of the World' limited edition litho print for sale on our site. Recently the company that fulfills these orders let us know they've changed their number and worked out a new order system. Give them a call if you have had trouble ordering in the past!

Introducing The 8th Wonder of the World, the Thomas Blackshear image that captures the essence of the movie experience. Available in both an archival collector poster ($25 unframed: 24” wide X 36” high) and a limited edition litho print ($150 unframed: 21” wide X 30-1/2” high). Call today while supplies last at 866-662-KONG. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.