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December 30, 2005 - January 07, 2006

News for Jan. 07, 2006

Weekend Kong Chat

1/07/06, 11:53 am EST - Xoanon

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

Technical Oscars only hope for NZ films

1/07/06, 11:46 am EST - Xoanon

The chances of New Zealand-made movie blockbusters getting Oscar nominations for anything other than technical awards fell yesterday when they were absent from a major Oscar predictor's nominations. Neither King Kong director Peter Jackson nor Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe director Andrew Adamson were nominated by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) for its annual award. The DGA nominees were George Clooney (Good Night and Good Luck), Paul Haggis (Crash), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Bennett Miller (Capote) and Steven Spielberg (Munich). Adamson was considered an outsider but Jackson was thought to have some chance after receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and excellent reviews for King Kong. At least four DGA award nominees usually go on to earn Oscar nominations, and their movies usually get Best Picture nominations as well. Oscar predictors say it is highly unusual for directors absent from the DGA nominations to win an Oscar. [More]

Solving a giant mystery

1/07/06, 11:43 am EST - Xoanon

For decades, film lovers and King Kong fans alike have been looking for the "missing spider-pit scene" from Merian C. Cooper's 1933 classic, King Kong. In this season's blockbuster remake, director Peter Jackson recreated the scene in which giant spiders devour scared sailors on Skull Island. But a local comic book collector says he has proof the original "missing" spider pit scene was never shot. Warren Reece, owner of Chamber of Fantasy -- which provides research, art and articles for those in the fantasy field -- has a leather-bound 1932 copy of Cooper's King Kong script, given to James A. Creelman, a co-writer of the original film. [More]

The $400 million 'failure'

1/07/06, 11:36 am EST - Xoanon

Chris Kaltenbach writes: Box office shouldn't be only measure for 'King Kong,' other films Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong has pulled in more than $176.5 million at the U.S. box office since it opened Dec. 14 (more than $400 million worldwide), and it's being touted by some observers as a box-office disappointment? Please! OK, Kong didn't do $400 million worth of business its first week and singlehandedly pull Hollywood out of its year-long box-office slump. But let's be reasonable here. The big guy's making plenty of money, critics (including this one) are praising the film, people are loving it, and it will have earned more than half-a-billion dollars before it's been in theaters a month. By no sane person's definition is this movie a failure, or even a notable disappointment. Somehow, a degree of reason needs to inject itself into the whole box-office obsession. Yes, it's nice (especially for the studios) when a film earns a gazillion dollars. But the fact that a film only made half-a-gazillion doesn't make it any less of a success, just less of a moneymaker. [More]

NetApp helps King Kong roar

1/07/06, 11:32 am EST - Xoanon

SUNNYVALE, Calif.: Network Appliance, Inc. has worked with Weta Digital Ltd to store visual effects data on powerful NetApp enterprise storage solutions to bring Universal Pictures' King Kong to life, the company said today. Weta Digital produced thousands of awe-inspiring visual effects shots in recreating this iconic classic, requiring simplified storage architecture for heightened reliability and scalability. [More]

News for Jan. 06, 2006

‘King Kong' on screen at theatre in Augusta, KS

1/06/06, 10:05 pm EST - Xoanon

Hollywood's largest ape will be bounding across the screen at the Augusta Theatre, 523 State, this weekend. “King Kong,”a PG-13 rated film, will be showing at the downtown theatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission cost is $4.50 for all except children under age 2. The little boys and girls are admitted free. [More]

Andy Serkis at Collectormania G-Mex

1/06/06, 9:44 pm EST - Xoanon

This February Manchester will play host to the largest collectors event in the North of England, and to launch the show with a real bang we will be giving you the chance to meet the stars of the greatest tv shows such as Star Trek, Lost and Stargate SG-1, and this Winter’s biggest blockbuster movies, King Kong, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe! [More]

KONG WINNER: M. Clayton of Lower Hutt, New Zealand

1/06/06, 4:09 pm EST - Celeborn

SEt of Three 100 pc King Kong PuzzlesNestle Bars

Congrats to our next winner: M. Clayton of Lower Hutt, New Zealand! They have won a KING KONG pack from Universal Studios, Pressman Toy and Nestle. The pack includes a King Kong Hat, King Kong T-shirt, Three King Kong 100pc Puzzles, and Nestle Chocolate Bars. 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] [Nestle]

News for Jan. 05, 2006

TV Watch: Serkis on 'Conan' Clip

1/05/06, 10:10 pm EST - Xoanon

Andy Serkis was on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' Wednesday night (Jan 4th). He mentioned studying gorillas and even the incident in London Zoo where a female gorilla was very jealous of andy's wife. Be sure to check out his Smeagol/Gollum vs. Kong bit! Take a look! (28.8MB MOV)[More]

KONG WINNER: W. Wu of Seal Beach, CA

1/05/06, 5:37 pm EST - Celeborn

King Kong: Venatosaurus SkullNestle Bars

Congrats to our next winner: W. Wu of Seal Beach, CA! They have won a KING KONG pack from Universal Studios, WETA Collectibles and Nestle. The pack includes a King Kong Hat, King Kong T-shirt, Venatosaurus Skull, and Nestle Chocolate Bars. 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 Venatosaurus Skull] [Nestle]

Kong Chat Tonight

1/05/06, 4:55 pm EST - Xoanon

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

News for Jan. 04, 2006

KONG WINNER: B. Dietz of Florstadt, Germany

1/04/06, 1:02 pm EST - Celeborn

Vastatosaurus RexKong vs TerapusmordaxNestle Bars

Congrats to our next winner: B. Dietz of Florstadt, Germany! 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. Terapusmordax, and Vastatosaurus Rex. 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 Vastatosaurus Rex] [Purchase Kong vs Terapusmordax] [Nestle]

Weta Publishing Site Updates

1/04/06, 11:00 am EST - Xoanon

The folks from WETA write: The last of the Featured Creatures of this series, the Malamagnus is now online. [More]

Order 'The World of Kong : A Natural History of Skull Island' on Amazon.com Today!

Watch Kong Out in the Open in NZ

1/04/06, 10:52 am EST - Xoanon

KKoG writes: The new Openair Cinema season starts on Waiheke Island for 18 days opening 29 December with Harry Potter, The Goblet of Fire, followed by Peter Jackson's King Kong. "We're thrilled to have Peter's support to show King Kong in its first outdoor screening ... it suites our island set-up at Onetangi Rd Vineyard on Waiheke", says Urs Bauer of Openair Cinema, Waiheke Island. This season we have added two new cinema venues. After Waiheke we continue our January screenings in Matakana Country Park, followed by The Auckland Viaduct in February, then the Auckland Britomart precinct in March. [More]

News for Jan. 03, 2006

Michael Pellerin Interview on AintitCoolNews

1/03/06, 8:22 pm EST - Xoanon

Michael Pellerin with MrCere at the Kongfest party in NYC AICN writer Quint writes: Quint here with a chat I had recently with a man by the name of Michael Pellerin. Michael is the dude most directly responsible for those amazing LORD OF THE RINGS Extended Edition DVDs and has also recently contributed to that fantastic documentary on the 1933 KING KONG DVD as well as providing all those weekly (or bi-weekly as it was during the filming) Production Diaries for Peter Jackson's KING KONG. I met Michael on one of my last days on the set of KONG. He's a big fan of the site and even though the pressure of recording DVD material as well as cutting material for the online Production Diaries was obviously stressing him out I could still tell that he was in his element, doing what he loves. [More]

Illustration by Michael Brewer Featured by Peter Jackson in His Blockbuster Film King Kong

1/03/06, 8:17 pm EST - Xoanon

Zurich, Switzerland, (PRWEB) January 3, 2006 -- Peter Jackson had dreamed of remaking the classic film King Kong since he was a young teenage filmmaker. After his amazing success with the Lord of the Rings franchise he was finally ready to realize this dream. True to his legendary attention to detail, while looking for a specific illustration to use within the film, Peter Jackson was personally searching the Internet for just the right image when he found Michael Brewer’s site at www.wordandimage.chwhich features over 400 illustrations by the CalArts trained artist. Peter Jackson called to compliment Michael Brewer on his interesting website and wide range of illustration styles. Like so many other clients through Michael Brewer's 25 year career, Peter Jackson found exactly what he was looking for at www.wordandimage.ch. After successful negotiations with Universal Studios, Michael Brewer agreed to grant Peter Jackson the use of his illustration in the remake of King Kong. [More]

What Time is it? Hell O'Clock

1/03/06, 7:52 pm EST - Xoanon

The Hell O'Clock News is back with another exciting update for Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. Catch Jack Black live with King Kong on tenaciousdmovie.com. [More]

TV Watch: Andy Serkis on 'Conan'

1/03/06, 7:31 pm EST - Xoanon

Andy Serkis will be a guest on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' on NBC tomorrow (January 4th, 2006). He is there to talk Kong, expect sillyness to erupt with Conan around. 'Late Night' airs on NBC at 12:35 AM.
Be sure to check out other clips of Andy from our TV Listings page. We have clips of him on Access Hollywood & The Culture Show

'Mighty Joe Young' actress to attend Castro screening

1/03/06, 7:23 pm EST - Xoanon

If the new "King Kong" sharpened your appetite for screen simians, you might want to check out the Castro Theatre's presentation of "Mighty Joe Young," a 1949 ape fantasy directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, who directed the original "Kong." As a bonus, actress Terry Moore will be at the theater at 7 tonight for a question-and-answer session in connection with the screening. Moore, who is still appearing in movies, has had an extensive acting career and was nominated for an Oscar for "Come Back, Little Sheba" (1952). [More]

Narnia Edges Kong For No. 1

1/03/06, 7:20 pm EST - Xoanon

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe edged out King Kong for the top slot at the New Year's weekend box office, trading first place again in a neck-and-neck race, the Associated Press reported. Less than $2 million has separated Kong from Narnia each of the past two weekends. From Dec. 30 through Jan. 2, Narnia took in an estimated $32.8 million, surpassing Kong's four-day gross of $31.6 million. [More]

New 'For Your Consideration' Ads

1/03/06, 7:17 pm EST - Xoanon

Kong 'For your Consideration' AdsKong 'For your Consideration' Ads

Nessa sends along these 2 scans featuring King Kong 'For Your Consideration' ads, these are published in all the big magazines this time of year. They are designed to get the attention of the few thousand Oscar voters who decide the Academy Award Nominees.

Keppel Elementary School Goes Kong

1/03/06, 6:49 pm EST - Xoanon

Chris Drake writes: Mrs. Cleverly's 4th Grade class at Keppel Elementary School in Glendale, CA celebrated the last day of school before Xmas vacation by having a very special presentation about the Stop Motion SFX of the original 1933 KING KONG! The children learned about Willis O'Brien, and Marcel Delgado's pioneering work by watching and discussing clips from the new DVD release of the 1933 film, as well as a peek into the 21st century motion capture techniques used today by Peter Jackson for his new film. [More]

Giveaways Resume Tomorrow!

1/03/06, 2:16 pm EST - Celeborn

Don't forget to sign-up for our daily giveaways of great Kong stuff! The giveaways will start up again tomorrow and the prizes just keep getting bigger! (And when I mean bigger, I mean 9lb Nestle Chocolate Bar bigger!) [Click Here]

News for Jan. 01, 2006

Kong Lands 5 Chicago Film Critics Noms

1/01/06, 6:42 pm EST - Xoanon

Richard sends along word that the Chicago Film Critics Nominations were announced on December 30th and King Kong was nominated for the following; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Score & Best Cinematography. See who it is up against here. [More]

News for Dec. 30, 2005

Wellington Premier Timelapse Video

12/30/05, 11:57 pm EST - Xoanon

Calvin writes: I thought I'd send you in this movie file showing a series of timelapse photos from the Wellington webcam taken over 24 hours before, during and after the Wellington Premier. I thought others might like to see it. (4.1MB MOV) [More]

Fantasy fatigue grips New Zealand

12/30/05, 11:46 pm EST - Xoanon

AUCKLAND Two of the biggest fantasy films of the year were made in a small land of the Pacific Ocean. Yes, Hollywood has invaded New Zealand again - but it turns out not all the locals are happy about that. As mean-spirited as it may seem with the recent release of "King Kong" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," two blockbuster movies mostly made in New Zealand, there are some film industry insiders in this country who don't like giant apes, witches or magical lions at all. In fact, at their least generous, these insiders wish the mythical creatures had never come to this small Pacific Rim nation. It has the rest of New Zealand's inhabitants, who generally take great pride in the achievements of movies like the award-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, wondering why. [More]

Omaha restaurant owner wants Burger King to stop using King Kong

12/30/05, 11:34 pm EST - Xoanon

OMAHA — Burger King is violating a Nebraska eatery’s trademarks by promoting the new “King Kong” movie. That’s according to Nick Triantafillou, who owns Omaha-based King Kong Restaurants. In 2000, Triantafillou gained the exclusive trademark to use the big-screen ape’s name in restaurant and food service businesses. Burger King’s latest ad campaign encourages customers to “feed their Kong-sized hunger” at their restaurants. [More]

King Kong DVD Cover and Disc Art Competition!!

12/30/05, 12:18 pm EST - Xoanon

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]

Pittsburgh Post Interviews WETA's Don Waller

12/30/05, 11:51 am EST - Xoanon

You never know which childhood rituals -- a standing Saturday night date with Bill Cardille, a trip to an Oakland museum to gawk at the dinosaur skeletons -- will shape your life. Take Don Waller. "I think I first saw 'King Kong' on Bill Cardille's 'Chiller Theater.' Do you remember that show?" If you're a Pittsburgh native, your passport to Steeler Nation will be revoked if you don't. Waller's question comes, by phone, from New Zealand, where he's been living since September 2004 and working as an animator on Peter Jackson's "King Kong." He contributed to some of the epic's signature scenes featuring rampaging dinosaurs, supersize spiders and a girl, a gorilla and a skyscraper. [More]

Fictional King Kong mirrors odd island facts

12/30/05, 11:49 am EST - Xoanon

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - King Kong may be a far-fetched creation of Hollywood but scientists say the big ape has some basis in biological fact: animals on islands often evolve into gigantic versions of their mainland kin. "There is a whole body of research on islands which suggests gigantism occurs on them but of course nothing on the scale of King Kong," said Sue Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist and director of the global species programme for WWF International. "There is evidence that this happens because of isolation and a lack of competition ... the further an island is from the mainland the more potential there is for the evolution of new species," she told Reuters by telephone from Rome. [More]

Half-baked Web sites set bad tone for films

12/30/05, 11:43 am EST - Xoanon

Gregg Kilday writes: LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It's far too early to write any obituaries for "King Kong." As of Tuesday, the end of its first two weeks in release, Peter Jackson's remake had amassed $128 million (74.2 million pounds) in the U.S. and $153.6 million internationally, for a combined worldwide haul of $282.1 million. With those numbers, it's just about halfway home to recouping its $207 million production costs, give or take the added millions spent on marketing as well as the participations earmarked for Jackson. One of the problems for "Kong" is that the much of the media covers the box office battles with all the subtlety of colour commentators at a demolition derby. At one holiday gathering this past week, when the conversations turned to movies, one friend mentioned that her sister said she wouldn't be going to see "Kong." When he asked her why, her woman replied, "Because I read on Drudge that it was bombing." In fact, the always hyperventilating Drudge Report first responded to the early, ecstatic reviews of "Kong" by reporting unrealistic expectations that it could challenge "Titanic" as the biggest film of all time -- a feat that no movie has come anywhere close to since "Titanic" set sail in 1997. Then, on December 16, Drudge headlined the first reports of "Kong's" less-than-record-breaking first day with the ominous words "'King' Bomb?" But the anecdote also suggests that in this media-saturated moment, Hollywood doesn't just have to worry about genuine word-of-mouth coming from moviegoers who actually attend a movie before spreading the word -- good or bad -- it also has to defend against secondary word-of-mouth based on little more than a half-baked opinion or a snarky headline. [More]

Clash of King Kong, Narnia enters 3rd weekend

12/30/05, 11:37 am EST - Xoanon

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The four-day New Year's holiday weekend should look similar to the Christmas session just passed as nary a wide release will enter the marketplace. But one major difference this weekend is that New Year's Eve is not the theater-emptying holiday Christmas Eve is. So with a true four-day holiday frame ahead, ticket sales for all films should be higher than the $176.5 million recorded this past weekend. The only bows belong to limited runs of Woody Allen's "Match Point," Richard Shepard's "The Matador," starring Pierce Brosnan, and Chen Kaige's "The Promise." Once again, "King Kong" and "Narnia" will dominate. The films have been trading places in the top two positions for the past two weeks, with "Narnia" taking the lead during several midweek sessions and "Kong" capturing key weekend days. Together, they have provided much-needed relief at the beleaguered box office. [More]

'King Kong' has style stature

12/30/05, 11:36 am EST - Xoanon

The beast might rule the jungle in King Kong, but beauty takes center stage when it comes to the blockbuster film's fashions. Terry Ryan, Kong's fashion and costume designer, produced all of Naomi Watts' outfits. As Ann Darrow, Watts looks "soft and feminine, because she's the girl in love with the ape, after all," Ryan says. It took him 24 weeks to create the costumes. USA TODAY asked Ryan about his inspiration for four key ensembles. [More]

KONG WINNER: T. Paddock of Lawrenceburg, IN

12/30/05, 10:51 am EST - Celeborn

Venatosaurus SkullNestle Bars

Congrats to our next winner: T. Paddock of Lawrenceburg, IN! They have won a Venatosaurus Skull, Nestle Candy, and KING KONG Official Hat and T-Shirt 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] [Nestle]

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