King Kong won only 1 award at the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards tonight (February 19th) in the UK. Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers & Richard Taylor were on hand to collect the award (no idea where Brian Van't Hul was) for best Achievement in Special Visual Effects. Take a look at the list of winners and nominees here. [More]

Oscar-winning writer, director, and producer Peter Jackson has already left an indelible mark on Hollywood with his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, which stands out as one of the best marriages between cutting-edge special effects and J.R.R. Tolkien's rich narrative. Jackson's most recent project, the big screen re-make of King Kong, resulted in another successful melding of entertainment -- this time between the linear film and the video game that bears Jackson's name in the title. Not since Enter the Matrix has there been such collaboration between a Hollywood director and a video game based on his creation. Like the Wachowskis, Jackson has been a gamer all of his life, so he brings gaming sensibilities to the table in his interactive collaborations. Jackson hand-picked Rayman creator Michel Ancel to spearhead the King Kong game because he had been impressed with his critically acclaimed, but commercially unrecognized adventure game, Beyond Good and Evil, several years ago. [More]

Universal Studios Home Video has finally released the long awaited specs and features for Peter Jackson's "King Kong (2005)", the remake of the 1933 original, which stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody and Andy Serkis, onto DVD. The disc will arrive in three editions- both seperate Widescreen and Full Screen Single-Disc Editions and a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. Each will carry an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track and optional English SDH, along with English, Spanish and French subtitles. Extras on the single disc edition will include two featurettes. The 2-Disc editon will include over 3 hours of footage. "King Kong" (2005) is yours to own when it hits store shelves March 28, 2006. [More]

Neil writes: Thought I'd let anybody in the Ipswich area of the United Kingdom know that the original Kong will be showing at the CineWorld theatre on the 28th of February at around 8:30pm. [cineworld.co.uk]

Actor Andy Serkis wants to meet serial killer Ian Brady - in preparation for his portrayal of the infamous murderer on a new TV production Serkis, the body behind King Kong in the 2005 remake, claims he'd like to come face to face with the child killer, so he can give a more convincing performance. He says, "I'm not sure if my views of Brady have changed since researching the role - I just know a lot more about him and if it would be possible to get in touch with him then I would. "It's very difficult as he is in Ashworth Hospital, where he has been held for six years." The 37-year-old actor insists he has no qualms about playing such a controversial character, as the film explores a vital philosophical question. [More]

8thWonder, one of our chatroom operators, tells us that a screening of 1949’s Mighty Joe Young will be held in our #moviechat chatroom at 5:30PM New York City time today! The previous two movie showings of King Kong '33 and Son of Kong were quite successful and fun! So get yourself a copy of the tape or DVD of Mighty Joe Young and join us. Even if you don’t have the film, but know it, it is fun to sit in and hang out. Details of the showing are explained in two of our message board threads located here and here.

Los Angeles, February 16, 2006 – The VES Awards were given out last night during the Visual Effects Society’s (VES) fourth annual gala event at the Hollywood Palladium. The sold-out event attracted more than eight hundred celebrities, visual effects and animation artists, dozens of nominees and members of the film, television and games industries. [More]

Richard Taylor—best known for his Oscar-winning work with the New Zealand F/X house Weta, as well as his collaborations with King Kong director Peter Jackson—told SCI FI Wire that he's spent four years developing a children's television production company, and that the company's first show, Jane and the Dragon, is currently in full production. "There's very little television in the Western world that empowers young girls to act above their station, and our story is a very simple story of a young girl born into a medieval court," Taylor said in an interview. "She's going to become a lady-in-waiting as her mother has and her mother before that, but she doesn't want to do that. She doesn't want to do that. She wants to become a knight, because by being a knight she can change the world around her for herself and her friends." [More]

King Kong has garnered 7 Saturn Nominations; BEST FANTASY FILM, BEST ACTRESS, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST WRITER, BEST COSTUME, BEST MAKE-UP & BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS [More]

From tvweek.com: Turner Broadcasting agreed to license the network premiere window for the 2005 remake of "King Kong" from NBC Universal, the companies said Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The film will premiere on TNT or TBS in 2008. Turner also acquired the premiere rights to air "Doom," "Ice Harvest," and "Two for the Money," as well as the second window for "Prime."

Raul Burriel writes: I'm the director of the Internet Entertainment Writers Association and we operate the Internet Movie Awards. I thought that the visitors to your web site would be interested in knowing that King Kong has been nominated for the 2005 Internet Movie Awards in the categories of Favorite Visual Effects and Favorite Director (Peter Jackson). Anyone with Internet access can cast a vote in the Internet Movie Awards by visiting internetmovieawards.com. Voting lasts until March 3, 2006.

nessa writes: The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising has now opened their annual display in their Museum which features a variety of costumes from many of the year's top films. Among the many wonderful costumes included in the Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition are the costumes worn in 'King Kong' which were designed by Terry Ryan. The exhibit is open to the public, and runs February 6 through April 29, 2006 (Closed April 14 - 16) at the museum in Los Angeles, California. [fidm.edu]

Al sends along the good word that the King Kong DVD is now available on Amazon.com & .ca. UPDATE Pre-Orders are now being taken! Street date is March 28th rejoice! rejoice! [Amazon.com] [Amazon.ca]

Robert sends along these images from figures.com covering this weekend's NY ToyFair. Some great pictures of Mezco Toyz' 18" rotocast Kong, with 2 different facial expressions. He can be posed hunched over or upright. [More]

Andy Serkis is slated to be a guest this weekend at 'Collectormania G-Mex' in Manchester, UK. From the press release: 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]

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Weeks before the blockbuster ``King Kong'' opened in U.S. theaters in December, illegal copies of the movie were already for sale on the streets of Bolivia's impoverished capital for less than $1.50 each. Sidewalk vendors in Brazil sell pirated versions of San Jose-based Adobe Systems' photo editing software Photoshop for as little as $7 a copy, less than 1 percent of its list price, and in October, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva admitted to watching an illegal copy of a hit Brazilian film on the presidential jet. Some 99 percent of all the recordings sold in Paraguay are pirated. [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