NBC Universal's "King Kong" will still be nine days short of its opening. But on that day the studio plans to introduce the third incarnation of its soulful simian to 8,000 of his closest friends at what promises to be a gargantuan movie premiere. Nearly a year in the making, the party - with a seat for New York's mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, and 3,000 for admirers who win tickets in various promotions - is expected to tie up Times Square in Manhattan and 38 screens in a pair of 42nd Street theaters at the height of the holiday shopping season. Actually, 7,000 fans already made a passing acquaintance with Kong in July, when the director, Peter Jackson, sent a seven-minute scene (in which the ape battles dinosaurs) to Comic-Con, the comics convention in San Diego. And 30,000 theatrical trailers, dubbed in 11 languages and subtitled in 20 others, have been playing around the globe since June 29, two days after a 150-second teaser had its debut on the Web site of Volkswagen, a promotional partner for the movie, and on various NBC-Universal outlets. [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

Kong Spy runaway blues sends along these scans from Total Film Magazine, take a look! [More]

From our friends at dvdanswers.com: Universal has announced a director's cut release of The Frighteners which stars Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, John Astin and Jeffrey Combs. This single-disc special edition will be available to own from the 29th November this year, and should set you back around $26.98. I'm afraid we have no word on the extra material for this one yet, but we can confirm the feature runtime of 2 hours and 3 minutes. The film itself will be presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. The set itself will include over four hours of material, produced by Peter Jackson himself. [Pre-Order 'The Frighteners (Director's Cut)' on Amazon.com today!]

WAYNE, N.J., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. ("Toshiba"), announced today a major promotional alliance with Universal Pictures that allows the company to use the eagerly awaited remake of "King Kong" to promote Toshiba's High Definition TVs and gigabeat digital audio players. Beginning in October, Toshiba will launch an integrated marketing campaign in the U.S. in anticipation of the worldwide release of "King Kong" in theaters on December 14, 2005. Continuing the effort to enhance Toshiba's lifestyle brand, this exciting campaign will include consumer promotions tied to key retailers to promote strong holiday sales. In support of the consumer and retailer promotions, Toshiba will launch marketing initiatives including the development of a web site and a print and online media advertising campaign. [More]

Elijah Wood, who starred as the hobbit Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, told SCI FI Wire he was disappointed that he couldn't coordinate a surprise cameo of hobbits for Jackson's next epic, King Kong. "I think that early on we had conceived of maybe trying to get the hobbits out there, maybe Billy [Boyd], Dom [Monaghan] and myself to try and do some kind of cameo: get stomped on by a giant foot or something or maybe even dressed as hobbits way in the background or something," said Wood, who is traveling with director Liev Schreiber at the Toronto International Film Festival promoting his latest little film, Everything Is Illuminated. "We never got to do it, because Dom was super busy on Lost, and Billy has been working," Wood said in an interview. "So we couldn't coordinate schedules to do it." [More]

Volkswagen has a thing for classic horror - how else can you explain the Thing? Or the original Fox, for that matter. Still, we can’t help but think the new King Kong movie might not be the Touareg SUV’s best friend. We were with Benz when The Lost World chewed up a dozen M-Class prototypes and it was not pretty. And while VW execs safely ensconced in their Wolfsburg HQ might think it’s safe out there — “The film and the creature itself fit very well to this SUV with its off-road capabilities and ability to move confidently from rugged jungle outposts to city streets,” says Joern Hinrichs, Head of Volkswagen Global Marketing. [More]

Wow...just...wow..that is all I can say about this weeks PPD...digital doubles! PJ gives us a quick lesson on how a digital double is made, how the digital teams go from scans to (naughty naked) computer models to fully rendered, photo-realistic digital versions of the actors! Watch Naomi's double walk on a computer screen with eerie realistic movement..amazing. Some great shots from the film as well, Kong running and jumping and throwing..really great stuff! 'Ok, I've been cloned...I'm going to lunch!' Take a look! [QT6 240x132px 6Mb] [QT4 320x176px 13Mb] [QT6 480x264px 15Mb] [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]

Kerewyn writes: There is is an article on the uprise of the casting scene in NZ, from a recent issue of Australian filmmakers magazine ‘Inside Film’. Thought it may interest TORn readers, as it speaks to Liz Mullane and other people who cast for LOTR, King Kong etc. [More]

From Empire Online We've just received a communiqué from our man at the Venice Film Festival, Mr Damon Wise, who in between hobnobbing with stars, being shut out of beer tents, and trying to charge his mobile phone, has by some miracle been managing to send us reports of his exploits in the Italian city. He's been lucky enough to get a few words with Elijah Wood, and while he was there to promote Everything Is Illuminated, managed to get his take on the snippet of King Kong that the actor was lucky enough to have been shown recently. [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

anonymous writes: Guests from Weta Digital, Weta Workshop and Big Primate Pictures will be attending Auckland's Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo in October to participate in a behind the scenes panel on King Kong. The hour-long discussion will take place on the main stage from 12:00-1:00pm Sunday, October 23rd. [More] [pulpexpo.com]

Joe DeVito writes: Here is a look at the actual cover for 'Merian C. Cooper's KING KONG', due out very soon. The cover posted on Amazon and other places is a mock up using an early color sketch. Since it has been taking a while to swap the images out, I thought it would be interesting to send a picture of the entire proof sheet in. [More] [Pre-Order 'Merian C. Cooper's King Kong' on Amazon.com today!]

James writes: I thought you might be interested in posting this ad for the upcoming TV broadcast of the restored, original "King Kong" on TCM, in November. The ad ran in Vanity Fair magazine. -- Sort of surprising to see them openly referring to Kong as a "giant horny gorilla." [More]

From IGN: Richard Taylor has been working with Peter Jackson since the beginning. From Meet the Feebles to Braindead, Heavenly Creatures and Frighteners, the two formed a successful working relationship that would carry them through a success beyond their wildest imagination. Some were shocked when Peter Jackson was announced as director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Three films, an Oscar, and some two billion plus worldwide gross, it all looks like the perfect choice. The success of the Rings trilogy also put Richard Taylor's WETA effects house on the map. As the group continues to work on Jackson's efforts, including the upcoming King Kong, Taylor and Co. have also been able to branch out to other projects, including another series based on classic works of literature, the Chronicles of Narnia. The first film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe releases on December 9th. WETA has been hard at work on the project for years now and the results coming together are looking quite impressive. [More]

Ravyneyez writes: I just started watching the Toy Story 10th Anniversary DVD that we got for the kids and guess who pops in! PJ! He makes a special appearance in "The Legacy" section of the DVD talking about the movie. It was a nice little bonus to an already fun filled classic! I think I'll watch the bonus disc to see if he shows up there too! [Buy 'Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition)' at Amazon.com today!]

Kelly from the NZ Post writes: The new King Kong movie directed by Peter Jackson is due for release this coming December. To celebrate this event, New Zealand Post is bringing out an exciting range of King Kong collectable memorabilia that will take you on the set with Peter Jackson and the cast of King Kong. These will include a range of stamp and coin products, similar to those produced to celebrate the release of each of the movies in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as attached. More examples of collectable products can be found here.

Wellington can again go ape over movie stars on a red carpet when Peter Jackson's $200 million King Kong has its New Zealand premiere in the capital on December 14. United International Pictures, the film's New Zealand distributor, has confirmed Wellington will hold the premiere hours before King Kong is released around the world. Spokesman Jonathan Park said other details about the premiere, including where it would be held and guests, would be announced in coming weeks. Wellington City Council spokeswoman Trina Saffioti said the council knew about the premiere date and was working with the distributor "on a premiere event" for the city. [More]

The recent publication of 'Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper' by Mark Cotta Vaz represents a long-overdue look at the amazing life of a man who, if he had died before ever having stepped foot in Hollywood, would still be considered a legitimate legend. If you haven't yet purchased a copy, do so immediately... [Read Full Story]

jpark 08 sends this in: (via Speilbergfilms.com): Universal Studios Home Entertainment will be re-releasing all three "Jurassic Park" films in a new "Adventure Pack" to tie-in with the studio's theatrical release of "King Kong" this Christmas. All three "Jurassic Park" films will be presented in a new package (a digipack with a slipcover), but at this date it appears as if nothing new has been added to the bonus features. Besides including all of the previously released bonus features from the individual discs of the films, the set will only include the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks on the first two Spielberg-directed films. "Jurassic Park III," however, will include both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 tracks. So what's in it for fans that have already purchased the titles? Not much, honestly. But if you have yet to pick up the trilogy, you'll be able to pick all three discs up in the single set for a very reasonable $26.98 or less, plus you'll get a free movie theater ticket to see Universal's "King Kong" this December. There's no Spielberg connection since "Kong's" a Pete Jackson film, but dinosaur fans will certainly want to see their extinct heroes fighting an over-sized ape. The "Jurassic Park Adventure Pack" will be available this November 29."