LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Memo to movie-industry trackers and simian fanatics: Mark Dec. 14 on your calendars. That's the day "King Kong" comes to the big screen for a third time. Peter Jackson, Oscar-winning director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is bringing this installment to theaters, with Naomi Watts starring as the gorilla's love interest, a role played in previous editions by Fay Wray and Jessica Lange. Made for an estimated $207 million by Universal Pictures, "Kong" is not only 308 times the cost of the $670,000 original made in 1933 and nine times that of the 1976 version, but also its budget sets a new record for a movie. It's also the 800-pound gorilla that could make or break the holiday movie season. Universal is owned by General Electric. [More]