THE LOST KONG MOVIE
THE LEGEND OF KING KONG (1976)
History
In 1975, Dino De Laurentiis and
Paramount Pictures signed a deal with
RKO Pictures to produce a remake of the
original 1933 King Kong with a tentative release date of
1976. When
Universal Pictures learned about this, they claimed that they had a previous oral agreement with RKO to produce their own remake, which RKO denied. Universal proceeded to sue both Paramount and RKO for the rights to
King Kong, while at the same time beginning production on their own
King Kong remake. Universal hoped that by producing their
Kong film quickly, it would pressure Paramount and De Laurentiis to give up production on their film. Universal announced the start of filming for
The Legend of King Kong for January 5, 1976, with a targeted release date of that fall.
Universal hired Academy Award-winning screenwriter Bo Goldman to write the screenplay for the film, and hired the relatively unknown but acclaimed Joseph Sargent to direct. Special effects artist Jim Danforth offered to produce the effects for the film using stop-motion animation like in the original film, but Universal worried that it would be far too expensive and planned to have Kong be portrayed by a man in a suit, like he was in
King Kong vs. Godzilla and
King Kong Escapes. They also intended to very closely follow the 1933 film, using the same characters, creatures, and general plot of the original film, even keeping it set in 1933.
Eventually, a federal judge ruled that Paramount did in fact have the rights to produce a remake of
King Kong, and that RKO had exclusive rights to the 1933 film. However, the judge also ruled that the character rights to Kong belonged to the estate of Merian C. Cooper, and they were subsequently transferred to his son Richard, who then sold them to Universal. Universal abandoned its plans for
The Legend of King Kong, and Paramount went ahead and produced
King Kong. After Paramount and De Laurentiis' rights to King Kong expired, Universal revived the project and prepared to release a new remake in the late 1990's, though the releases and subsequent poor receptions of
Mighty Joe Young and
GODZILLA in
1998 convinced them to postpone the project. Universal hired acclaimed director Peter Jackson to produce the film in the early 2000's using the
Legend script. Jackson discarded and rewrote the script, then directed
King Kong in
2005.
Trivia
- Universal hoped their quick production of The Legend of King Kong would make De Laurentiis hesitant to film King Kong, but it instead convinced him to complete casting and begin filming for the film months earlier. Stuntman Rick Baker, who designed and portrayed Kong in Paramount's film, later said he regretted not having enough time to design the King Kong suit due to the accelerated production on the film.
In 1976, there were actually two rival King Kong remakes being developed. Due to the thorny rights situation surrounding King Kong and King Kong, both Universal Studios and producer Dino De Laurentiis found themselves working on Kong projects. The Universal version was to be a 1930s period film titled The Legend of King Kong, directed by Joseph Sargent from a screenplay by Bo Goldman, starring Peter Falk as Carl Denham. De Laurentiis was working on a modern update, written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
When word got out that Universal was pushing forward to get their film into production and released first, De Laurentiis doubled down himself, starting production with the goal of having the film out by December of 1976. He’d effectively called Universal’s bluff (they cancelled their project and wouldn’t finally exercise their remake rights until 2005).
The Universal remake that competed with Paramount for a remake in the 1970s, lets check out what went into the cancelled production of The Legend Of King Kong.
