King Kong was a planned remake written and to have being directed by Peter Jackson who directed the 2005 film. It was planned for release in 1998, but was cancelled.
Plot Synopsis[]
The draft opens during World War One, where Jack Driscoll is playing Baseball with his war buddy: Matt while in their Biplanes. However, a swarm of Biplanes interrupt the game and are both shot down and crash somewhere around Germany. While on land, Matt is killed by German Soldiers and Jack later mourns him.
17 years later in 1933, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Jack now owns a logging camp. Meanwhile, some distance, an archaeology site, under the supervision of Lord Darrow and his beautiful daughter, Ann is underway.
Differences from the 2005 film[]
- Jack Driscoll was a teenage fighter pilot in World War 1. Also instead of being a playwright, he also owned a logging company in Sumatra.
- Ann Darrow was the daughter of the famed British archaeologist Lord Darrow who had found evidence of both Kong and Skull Island. However the Sumatran military who have destroyed the archaeology site, the stress of the loss of his work caused him to have a fatal heart attack.
- Carl Denham would have become the films main human antagonist, he also would have later being killed by Kong during his escape from Broadway.
- Herb would have perished at the swamp. What happened was that a Axolotl like swamp monster would have devoured Denham's camera and whilst trying to retrieve it from the Axolotl, was devoured by the creature.
- The films cast would have included:
- George Clooney as Jack Driscoll.
- Kate Winslet as Ann Darrow.
- Robert de Niro as Carl Denham.
- Ian McKellen as Lord Darrow.
- Sylvester McCoy as Herb.
- The script also had several new characters whom included:
- Peek - A cowardly Venture crew member who reluctantly accompanied Jack whilst rescuing Ann. He was later devoured by an Elasmosaurus after abandoning Jack to a group of Bat creatures.
- Kurt - A heroic Venture crew member who sacrificed himself to a pack of Carnotaurus.
- Matt - Jack's friend who was killed during World War 1.
- Lord Darrow - Anne's Father who is a fame Archaeologist and later dies of a heart attack when the Sumatran Military tired to cover up the discovery of Kong.
Creatures[]
- King Kong
- Allosaurus
- Ankylosaurus
- Axolotl Monsters
- Bat Creatures
- Brontosaurus
- Carnotaurus
- Cavern-Dwelling Centipedes
- Cavern-Dwelling Crabs
- Cavern-Dwelling Mantises
- Cavern-Dwelling Spiders
- Elasmosaurus
- Giant Sumatran Crocodile
- Giant Door Spider
- Lambeosaurus
- Triceratops
- Tyrannosaurus rex
- Utahraptor
Cancellation[]
Unfortunately in January 1997, the year that King Kong was due to begin filming Peter Jackson received a devastating phone call from Universal to learn that King Kong had being cancelled. The reason for the cancellation was due to both TriStar's remake of Godzilla and Disney's remake of Mighty Joe Young being released in 1998, the same year that King Kong was planned to be released in.
Jackson, Fran and Weta Workshop were deeply devastated by the news, according to Richard Taylor "There were tears and sadness. We felt that we had finally got our chance to prove ourselves and do an international picture of great esteem, and to have lost it was desperate for us at the time." Jackson was the most heartbroken by the cancellation of King Kong and even said "It was probably the most disastrous thing in my life."
Fortunately, Jackson got over his sadness by directing his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. Afterwards directing the trilogy, he was approached by Universal who offered him the chance to direct it again. Jackson, although still cautious from the cancellation of the 1996 version, jumped at the chance. The finished King Kong was finally released on December 5th, 2005. But the Creatures were changed in the 2005 version.
Gallery[]
