RacingKong: Adrien Brody spotted attending the MotoGP Laguna Seca Grand Prix this weekend wearing a King Kong hat and standing next to Brad Pitt. You can watch a repeat of the race on Tuesday at 2:00 PM Eastern and again at 4:00 AM on SPEED TV. Great race by the way. [More]

Volkswagen is planning its first global ad campaign to tie in with the remake of the classic 1933 movie King Kong. The ad for the Touareg premium SUV will be the first fruit of VW's global marketing alliance with Universal Studios. VW's tie-up with the American film company, which was announced in January, is the German automaker's single biggest marketing project to date. [More]

For a year now, and in the greatest secrecy, an elite team from the French studio Ubisoft has been working against the clock on one of the biggest projects currently under way in the videogame industry: the adaptation to videogame format of the film King Kong, of which the cult director Peter Jackson (of “Lord of the Rings” fame) is filming a dramatic remake in New Zealand for the movie major Universal. This cinematographic superproduction, “naturally” accompanied by a videogame with the same name, will not appear on cinema screens around the world before Christmas 2005, but it is already providing an ideal opportunity to take stock of the present situation and goals of the French videogame industry. Indeed, the somewhat surreal combination of Ubisoft, Peter Jackson, Universal, King Kong and the French game designer Michel Ancel is in itself eloquently emblematic of the present situation in the industry. The entire project is shot through and through with all the intertwined issues and difficulties currently associated with videogames. [More]

The latest edition of Entertainment Weekly features this article on King Kong. Check out some great images of Jack Black and Naomi Watts. [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 look of the star of "King Kong" is a work in progress, filmmaker Peter Jackson says. "We are deciding on the length of his fur, how tangled it should be, how much gray to work around the eyes," he said. "He's not the Hulk of gorillas. That's the charm of Kong. He's past his prime and isn't the super-virile ape of 30 years ago." [More]

New Zealand-born director Peter Jackson is having a swinging time with his latest project, King Kong. The Lord of the Rings trilogy director recently finished principal photography on the project and is now in post-production as the film is set to hit the big screens the world over in December. Once again, Jackson has assembled the crew who worked with him on the award-winning Lord of the Rings films including cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, producer and writer Fran Walsh, writer Phillipa Boyens and New Zealand-based Weta Digital and Workshop for visual effects. [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
1:30AM (Friday) in GMT (UK)
2:30AM (Friday) (Central European Time)
10:30AM (Friday) in Sydney, Australia
12:30PM (Friday) in Auckland, Wellington, New Zealand

mini P writes: Japanese audiences are treated to an introduction of the new King Kong trailer by none other than Peter Jackson himself!! The 36 second introduction and trailer are in English with Japanese subtitles. Click on the following URL. The text is in Japanese but scroll down and the quicktime logo will appear next to the usual 3 trailer sizes. [More]

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - BKN International A.G., the Frankfurt and London listed global animation company engaged in the distribution and marketing of animated children's television programmes and related consumer products, announces that it has signed a number of licensing deals with partners in the US on "Kong - The Animated Series" and the animated film "Kong- King of Atlantis". These licensing deals will enable BKN to further exploit this property in the US market and BKN plans to expand significantly its US activities over the next 12-18 months. Disney ABC Cable Networks Group has licensed BKN's 'Kong- King of Atlantis' film and 'Kong- the animated series' properties. The series will premiere this fall on Jetix, the action/adventure programming block which airs during primetime on Toon Disney and mornings on ABC Family. [More]

Nancy Davies from Angelwear writes: Jack Black has created a design for Angelwear, to help raise funds and awareness for one of his favorite charities. We would be very grateful if you would help out this worthwhile cause. [More]

The world heard the new King Kong roar for the first time when the teaser trailer to Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson's film was released last week. The Lord of the Rings creator's latest movie will be released worldwide in December and, judging by the short glimpse we've seen, it looks like creating quite a buzz. But there also be a buzz of a different kind surrounding the movie - or, to be more precise, the video game version of the film which was the talk of the recent E3 computer game expo in Los Angeles. The booth for Ubisoft, the game's publisher, was dominated by a massive wall and gate, similar to the one in featured in the film. [More]

Joe DeVito writes: A heads up on Kong at Comic-Con. There will be a King Kong panel on Friday, July 15, from 2:30PM-4PM with Ray Harryhausen, Mark Vaz (Living Dangerously - The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper), Brad Strickland and myself (I think Ray will have the first half hour and then the rest of us will join in for the next hour. Following the panel, from 4:30PM-6, Ray will join me and Brad at the Dark Horse booth for a signing of my KONG: King of Skull Island book. I'm not sure how long Ray will sign with us, I imagine the first half hour at the least. I'd say the chances it is going to be the only time that it will ever happen. I can't wait! [Comic-Con]

Last year's New Zealand Film Festival records will be hard to top without a Fahrenheit 9/11, but film fans prepared to look a little harder for quality should be rewarded. Alastair Bull reports. Without a big-name drawcard which helped produce record attendances last year, Bill Gosden could be excused if he felt a little anxious as the 2005 New Zealand Film Festival series draws near. The festival has a solid collection of dramas from around the world, while documentaries play a strong part and this year there is a high number of sports films in particular, including Murderball, about wheelchair rugby. The major retrospective is of 1950s American director Nicholas Ray, best-known for his James Dean vehicle Rebel Without A Cause, a new print of which screens at the festival. There are also silent movies with musical accompaniment; in Auckland it's the 1926 Russian silent The Battleship Potemkin, complete with the Auckland Sinfonia, while in Wellington it's the 1926 dinosaur film The Lost World, featuring the animator who would later work on the original King Kong. [More]

TV One has announced a major sponsorship of the Westfield Style Pasifika 2005 spectacular and is also sponsoring the Supreme Winner of the Fashion Award. “Westfield Style Pasifika showcases major New Zealand talent, both in fashion and entertainment and celebrates our unique place in the world which makes it an excellent partnership for us,” said TVNZ’s General Manager of Marketing, Sue Brewster. Oscar winning ‘Lord of the Rings’ costume designer Ngila Dickson is a new judge for the Westfield Style Pasifika Fashion Award as is Chris Cherry of Workshop. [More]