Recreating the Eighth Wonder: The Making of 'King Kong'

King Kong is a 2005 epic monster film directed, co-written, and produced by Peter Jackson. It is the ninth entry in the King Kong franchise and the second remake of the 1933 film of the same title, the first being the 1976 remake. The film stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell, and Andy Serkis as the motion-capture performer of Kong. Set in 1933, it follows the story of an ambitious and unscrupulous filmmaker who tricks his cast and hired ship crew into travelling to mysterious Skull Island. There they encounter various prehistoric creatures and a legendary giant gorilla known as Kong, whom they capture and take to New York City to exhibit. Development began in early 1995, when Universal Pictures approached Jackson to direct the remake of the original 1933 film. The project stalled in early 1997, as several ape and giant monster-related films were under production at the time and Jackson planned to direct The Lord of the Rings film series instead. As the first two films in the Rings trilogy became commercially successful, Universal went back to Jackson in early 2003, expressing interest in restarting development on the project, to which Jackson eventually agreed. Filming for King Kong took place in New Zealand from September 2004 to March 2005. It was the most expensive film ever produced at the time of its release, as its budget climbed from an initial $150 million to a then record-breaking $207 million. King Kong premiered at New York City on 5 December 2005, and was theatrically released in New Zealand on December 13 and in the United States on 14 December. The film received critical acclaim, and eventually appeared in several top ten lists for 2005; it was praised for the special effects, performances, sense of spectacle and comparison to the 1933 original, though some criticisms were raised over its 3-hour runtime. It was a commercial success, grossing over $557 million, and became the fourth-highest-grossing film in Universal Pictures history at that time and the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2005. It also generated $100 million in DVD sales upon its home video release in March 2006. It won three Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. A tie-in video game was released alongside the film, which also became a commercial and critical success.