The Kong Movies That Never Were...

[mattman]

Here are two.

The Jim Danforth-Steve Barakett KING KONG. Here, Jim told to Barakett that his a big fan of the original. After searching down the rights, they decided make a film adaptation of the novelization by Delos W. Lovelace. Due to the lack of money for the rights, it never got made.

Universal attempted to remake the classic. This one based on the novelization of the film. It is called THE LEGEND OF KING KONG. This version was more faithful to the original 1933, in terms of story-telling and special effects. The music in the film is basically Max Steiner's score. Susan Blanklee was said to Ann Darrow, Peter Faulk was Carl Denham and for Jack Dricoll, it was either Robert Redford or Nick Notle. Bob Burns was said to play the role of the title ape. Jim Danforth was said to provide the stop-motion animation for the Skull Island dinosaurs.

Unfortunately, due to legal despute, there were changes to the film.
*Denham was a greedy villain.
*The Venture was called The Panama Queen.
*The Stegosaurus was replaced by an Arsinotherium.
*The Bronotsaurus was replaced by a Parasaurolophus.
*The spiders in the pit were replaced by scorpions.
*The Tyranosaurus Rex was replaced by a Triceratops.
*The Elasmosaurus was replaced by a Giant Spider-like Centipede .
*The Elevated Train attack was replaced by a fight with a 1930's steam-shovel (a la DINOSAURUS).
*Denham gets killed by having Kong fall on him when he falls off the Empire State Building.
*Kong gets tied up in a raft made by the gate he destroyed in order to get to New York (a la KING KONG VS GODZILLA).

Sadly, the film never got made. Thanks to Dino Delaurentiis remake, there was a fight over the right on the original. Dino won the fight and in June 1976, the gate for Universal's version was destroyed. All is left is a script written by Bo Goldman, concept art of the film's monsters by Jim Danforth, a storyboard of the movie, an article from the magazine MOVIE PEOPLE and test footage of Bob Burns in the monkey suit.

Now I don't know who made or designed the suit. I heard in one source that it was Rick Baker, but other sources said that Chris Mueller (MONSTER ON CAMPUS) or Jack Kevan (Disney's 20'000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA) designed it. If so, where did those other source came from apart from a thread on stopmotionanimation.com.

Now around the time there was Universal's remake vs. Paramount's remake in the 70's, Roger Corman attempted to remake it. But it did not get made.

Dino Dellaurentiis announced that there were going to be two sequels to his remake: THE BIONIC KONG (an attempt to cash in the bionic craze such as THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN) and KING KONG IN AFRICA. Both never got made (thank God) but the story line two this film where Kong gets resurrected Frankenstein-style and ends up working for evil villains. Also in the script it says that Kong would eat up Dwan.
Some of the basis to this film ended up in 1986's KING KONG LIVES.

Dino was also toying around with SON OF KONG. After the remake he wouldn't want to touch it. After KING KONG LIVES, he decided to touch the idea, but he can't because the movie flopped, big time! Well this Dino's remake gives out the right example of the right project in the wrong hands.

Another remake of the original KK was in the 50's (circa 1952). There was said to be a Cinerama remake of the original called THE EIGHTH WONDER, but it never got made.

Scroll forward to the 1970's. Around the time of QUEEN KONG, Mario Bava wanted to make his own King Kong-type project called BABY KONG. The script, the poster and the storyboards were made. The special effects was ready. The film was said to be shot in Ponza. Bava's monster movie came to a screeching halt when Dino's remake came out.

Fast forward to the mid-1990's. Before Peter Jackson's remake, John Landis said he was going to remake the classic, but all was left was it's announcement.

[Darth Reaper]

Going back to the KING KONG VS. FRANKENSTEIN idea, that actually gives me an idea for what I think at least would be an interesting way to ressurect Kong. Say that after the events of Kong's movie (I'd be choosing from either the original or the 2005 version myself), a decendant of Victor Frankenstein (let's call him Vincent for the sake of simplicity) gets his hands on Kong's body. He wants to see if he can use his ancestor's methode of reanimation to ressurect the great ape.

But, Vincent Frankenstein is not the same kind of man that his ancestor was. Victor Fankenstein was many things, and he made many terrible mistakes, but at least he saw the error of his ways and came to regret his choices (even if this came too late). Vincent is a true mad scientist. For him the quest for knowledge is all that matters, and he'll go to any lengths to get that knowledge. He cares nothing for laws, morality, or the consequences of his actions. All that matters to him is whatever discoveries he can make. He's a briliant man who has no conscience, with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and know moral compass to hold back his ambitions.

Vincent has discovered his ancestor's method of reanimation and is now obsessed with exploring its potential and perfecting the process. He seeks to succeed where Victor failed and truly gain mastery over life and death.

This leads to Vincent's interest in Kong. He wants to see if he can reanimate a creature as great and powerful as Skull island's king. My idea is that this would allow one to not only bring back Kong but to make him more powerful too, without changing him too much. The reanimation process isn't an exact science yet. Vincent doesn't always know what's going to happen when he uses it. Not only does he succeed in bringing Kong back, but he makes him similar in nature to Victor's original creature, maybe even better since it requires more energy to resurrect him than it did to create the first creature. Kong's wounds could heal, returning him to a pristine physical condition. He also developes the ability to regenerate. Whenever he's injured he heals rapidly, making him almost impossible to stop. And, he could even feed on energy, absorbing it and using it to increase his power.

I'm also thinking about an interesting way for Vincent to create the Ginko. I'm thinking that he could take blood and maybe even tissue samples from various animals, mixes them together in a vial, and exposes them to the reanimation process. The various types of cells begin to fuse together, creating hybrid cells. Then, they begin to multiply. In time, a new kind of creature developes.

I'm thinking about using an idea that Clint once told me was in the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN film, that Victor had discovered a form of energy that was beyond the known spectrum, and that this is what he uses to create his monster. This is also what Vincent uses in his experiments. I think this frees me up to allow more incredible things to happen.

What do you guys think of this idea? Is it any good?

[Darth Reaper]

No responses to my ideas guys? I'm hurt. Zigra, Morgoth, I'm looking at you guys, and I'm using my puppy dog eyes.

[Super Angillas]

Well it's not like this is the Kaiju creation thead. Still I like it. It really has the ring of a good bad sci fi monster film. Crazy and over the top, but done right it'd be the perfect thing to sit down and watch. Oh and of course we need a screaming blonde. Maybe Vincient's fiancee?

[Darth Reaper]

Glad you like the idea Super Angillas, but I'm a little bit hurt that you think it would only make for a good bad movie. I'd try to make it the best that it can be, not just settle for B-movie status.

And, you're probably right, I should start a thread for this discussion in the Kaiju creation area or something. So, keep an eye out for it.

[Super Angillas]

I think I need to clairfy what I consider a good bad movie. A good bad movie is one that at first glance has what seems like a rediculous concept, and should just be goofy. It's not based on great literiature like Lord Of The Rings. It doesn't star great famous actors. But it's so enjoyable that you can't help but have fun watching it. The perfect example of this would be the first Star Wars. Look at the way films were done when it came out, and how poorly done you would expect a sci fi fantasy like that to play out, and then look at how well it did turn out.

[Darth Reaper]

Well okay then.

[Mysterious Pants]

I suppose this doesn't technically count, but does anyone recall the April Fool's joke during the production of the 2005 Kong film which amounted to "leaked" information about Peter Jackson claiming that he was also planning to remake Son of Kong? The supposed story involved Denham returning to Skull Island and teaming up with Kong Jr. to battle Nazi scientists who were genetically mutating the resident dinosaurs into war weapons.

It may have been a prank, but a part of me kinda wishes that it wasn't...

[Morgoth]

I don't know if such a wild idea could ever get the green light as a movie, but maybe as a comic book or graphic novel. Then again, if these Alien vs Predator movies keep doing good business, maybe King Kong vs Frankenstein isn't so far in left field.

[TMac]

I think it would of been a great idea to include King Kong vs. Frankenstein as a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World. Like somehow, after Frankenstein and the dead Baragon are both swallowed by the underground cave-in at the end of the film, Frankenstein survives and ends up on the island of Kong. Then Kong, fighting over his territory, attacks Frankenstein. Frankenstein, being aggressive, fights back, and the battle begins.