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August 12, 2005 - August 20, 2005
News for Aug. 20, 2005
King Kong stomps its way to a console near you
8/20/05, 11:22 am EST - Xoanon
If the movie trailer for
Peter Jackson's King Kong has movie-goers eagerly awaiting its end-of-year release, another type of audience has been poring over early scenes from the video game. Gaming websites are abuzz with discussion of King Kong, due for release on all formats in November, at the end of what may prove to be a record year for the industry. [
More]
Keeping 'King Kong' under tight security control
8/20/05, 11:03 am EST - Xoanon
Security experts plan to keep King Kong, one of the year's most anticipated movies, out of the hands of pirates. Night-vision goggles will be used at early screenings of the
Peter Jackson film to make sure no one is videotaping it to make illegal copies. All reels of the film will be held in vaults and transported under escort. The New Zealand distributor, United International Pictures, said this week that there would be "air-tight" security over the printing process. [
More]
News for Aug. 19, 2005
Amazon.com King Kong Pre-Orders Available!
8/19/05, 10:43 pm EST - Xoanon
This is it, no fooling around, Amazon.com is now taking pre-orders for the 1933 King Kong 2-Disc Special Edition and The King Kong Collection (King Kong 2-Disc Special Edition/Son of Kong/Mighty Joe Young). Get yours now!! [King Kong (2-Disc Special Edition)] [The King Kong Collection (King Kong 2-Disc Special Edition/Son of Kong/Mighty Joe Young)]
Activity at Venture Boat
8/19/05, 2:14 pm EST - Xoanon
Gandalf writes: Just a quick snippet of info for you. When I drove past the 'Venture' in Evans Bay today (1:50pm, Fri 19 Aug) I noticed the usually dormant vessel was alive again. Smoke could be seen drifting from its funnel and a pump of some description was ejecting water out the side of the hull. Not sure if it sailed earlier today, but there was definitely some activity on board.
Ubisoft beats its chest
8/19/05, 2:11 pm EST - Xoanon
Ubisoft has snatched up the gauntlet thrown down by EA a few weeks ago, claiming that big movie licence King Kong will be the Christmas number one. Following EA’s dismissal of its Q4 rivals (MCV 29/7), Ubisoft plans to hit back with its biggest marketing spend to date to back the hotly-tipped title. “We have King Kong firmly set for Christmas number one,” marketing director Jon Rosenblatt told MCV. [
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Can King Kong save Hollywood?
8/19/05, 1:49 pm EST - Xoanon
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Darth Vader, Batman and Tom Cruise couldn't do it. Can a bespectacled teenage wizard, a not-so-cowardly lion and an enormous primate lift Hollywood out of its funk? According to figures from Exhibitor Relations Co., a movie industry tracking firm, box office grosses are down 7.3 percent so far this year and attendance at movie theaters is off 10.1 percent. [
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News for Aug. 17, 2005
We love . . . King Kong
8/17/05, 1:35 pm EST - Xoanon
When the 1933 movie King Kong was first released in New York it caused a sensation. Produced by Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack, it played to record numbers during the recession and smashed all records. Voted one of the top 100 classic films of all time by the American Film Institute, King Kong has had a lasting effect on cinema-goers throughout the world and has been the inspiration of many film makers. [
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Life of adventure inspired the tale of a killer gorilla
8/17/05, 1:27 pm EST - Xoanon
It is one of the most memorable film images: King Kong on top of the Empire State Building holding Fay Wray in his palm while being strafed by fighter planes. It is so powerful that it has overshadowed Kong's creator, Merian C.Cooper, a filmmaker, explorer, war hero and aviation pioneer whose adventures were nearly as dramatic as the movie. The film, released in 1933, is in many ways an autobiographical work. This month Villard is publishing a biography of Cooper, Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong, by Mark Cotta Vaz, with an introduction by
Peter Jackson, whose remake of King Kong is released in December. [
More]
News for Aug. 16, 2005
Game on for King Kong
8/16/05, 1:18 pm EST - Xoanon
Ubisoft has released fresh screenshots from the video game based on
Peter Jackson's movie King Kong, which is due to be released in November. Closely following the plot of the movie, the computer game,
Peter Jackson's King Kong is looking pretty fine as these images show: Kong taking on a Tyrannosaurus rex; while another sees him towering over the movie's heroine, Ann Darrow. [
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News for Aug. 15, 2005
Creator of Kong
8/15/05, 12:39 pm EST - Xoanon
Instead of making a third version of "King Kong" (to be released later this year), maybe Peter Jackson should have made a movie about Merian C. Cooper, the man who made the first "King Kong" in 1933. It would be something new, and, if Mark Cotta Vaz's Living Dangerously is any evidence, it would be at least as action-packed and exciting. As Vaz, the author of several books on moviemaking, says in this commendable first-ever biography of Cooper: "His own life was his greatest production." And Cooper's personal motto for moviemaking might as easily apply to his own life: "Keep it distant, difficult, and dangerous." [
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Buy the Book
Amazon.com
News for Aug. 13, 2005
PJ's Kong Novelization
8/13/05, 9:22 am EST - Xoanon
Marko writes: A couple of minutes ago I was browsing through amazon.com and I hit the mark - "The official novelization of the blockbuster film from Universal Pictures", or in other words: "A Novelization by Christopher Golden Based on the Motion Picture Screenplay by
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens". The cover art looks great! Can't wait!!
Pre-Order The BookAmazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
For actor Adrien Brody, the straitjacket fits
8/13/05, 9:01 am EST - Xoanon
LOS ANGELES -
Adrien Brody is not an actor who takes the easy, pain-free options. Brody is a method actor. A hardcore method actor. To prepare for the New Zealand shoot of
Peter Jackson's new special effects-filled epic, King Kong, Brody, with pen and paper, spent hours at Sydney's Taronga Zoo studying the idiosyncrasies of silverback gorillas. For his 2002 Oscar-winning performance in The Pianist, playing a Jewish survivor of the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, Poland, Brody starved himself, eventually stripping 15kg from his already lean 1.87cm frame. [
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Premiere date for Jackson's Gallipoli film
8/13/05, 8:58 am EST - Xoanon
Peter Jackson's restored version of the only film taken of the Anzacs at Gallipoli in 1915 will have its New Zealand premiere at a documentary film festival in Auckland and Wellington next month. The film Heroes of Gallipoli screens at the DOCNZ Documentary Film Festival in Auckland from September 15 and in Wellington from September 29. Jackson, a World War I buff, approached the Australian War Memorial two years ago to see if technology developed by Weta Digital could be used to restore archival film. [
More]
Richard Taylor Interview
8/13/05, 8:51 am EST - Xoanon
Joe Utichi, Editor for
FilmFocus.Co.UK writes: We had a chat on the phone with Richard Taylor the other day about just about everything Weta is working on and I thought you and your readers might be interested in it. Richard talks a little about Kong, of course, and he revealed that Weta have plans to produce an almost wholly original book of illustrations (mostly created for the book with some created for the film) exploring the “history,” flora and fauna of Skull Island as though it were a real place. I also joked with him that Weta Collectibles should consider turning Son of Kong into a polystone statuette and he said he’d consider it! [
More]
King Kong Actor misses the action
8/13/05, 8:40 am EST - Xoanon
American actor
Adrien Brody has admitted struggling in scenes of
Peter Jackson's King Kong where most of the action, including the giant ape, would be added later as special effects. [
More]
Get The KongisKing.net Newsletter Today!
8/13/05, 8:35 am EST - Xoanon
The latest newsletter is ready to go! Do you want to receive our free weekly newsletter? Packed with tons of info to keep you up to date on the latest? Plus filled with exclusives from time to time! Join the crowd of over
2100 mailing list members! Sign up now! [
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Weekend Kong Chat
8/13/05, 8:22 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
News for Aug. 12, 2005
Post Production Diary - 18 Weeks To Go
8/12/05, 12:09 pm EST - Xoanon
With 18 weeks to go Colin Hanks introduces us to the ADR studio in Wellywood. As explained in this PPD ADR is the process in which the actors must record a new audio track over their own performance. Queen of the Geeks Philippa Boyens makes a rare PPD appearance and gives us more information about the process. Colin Hanks shows us his many 'breath' lines and we get some great little scenes from the film featuring Hanks, Jack Black, Thomas Kretschmann and others! Hold your breath, say 'yup' a few million times and here we go! [QT6 240x132px 7Mb] [QT4 320x176px 13Mb] [QT6 480x264px 18Mb] [Bit Torrents!]
Email us your questions and PJ may answer them in a future Post Production Diary!
Like what you see? Discuss it in our Chat Room! [Click Here] Or the Message Boards? [Click Here]
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