KING KONG
King Kong is an iconic cinematic and pop-culture franchise centered on a colossal, prehistoric ape hailing from Skull Island. Conceived by filmmaker Merian C. Cooper and debuting in 1933, the franchise spans over nine decades, encompassing feature films, animated and live-action television series, video games, comic books, novelizations, and stage productions.
Cronologia
Panoramica
Created by Merian C. Cooper and debuting with RKO Pictures in 1933, King Kong stands as one of cinema's oldest and most influential monster franchises.
The IP centers around a giant ape discovered on the mysterious Skull Island who is captured and brought into human civilization, leading to tragic conflict.
Over its nine-decade legacy, the franchise has expanded into 13 released feature films (with a 14th entry, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, scheduled for 2027), multiple animated and live-action television series (such as The King Kong Show, Kong: The Animated Series, Skull Island, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), numerous video games, comic book series published by Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, novelizations, and a major Broadway stage production featuring a 20-foot animatronic puppet.
Origini
The franchise originated when filmmaker Merian C. Cooper conceived the character and licensed his idea to RKO Radio Pictures.
Cooper desired a single-syllable title with a hard 'K' sound and chose "Kong." The prefix "King" was added after RKO executives rejected "Kong" alone, fearing it sounded too Chinese and too similar to Cooper and Schoedsack's 1927 film Chang.
Titles like "The Eighth Wonder" and "The Beast" were also considered during development. Directed by Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the original 1933 film revolutionized cinematic visual effects through Willis O’Brien’s stop-motion animation. Following its massive box office success, RKO rushed out a sequel, Son of Kong, just nine months later.
Personaggi
I PEZZI DI KING KONG
Collezionismo
Collectibles for the King Kong franchise span several eras of cinematic history and print media releases. Print collectibles have accompanied the franchise since its 1933 inception, ranging from original film novelizations (such as Delos W.
Lovelace's 1933 book and Christopher Golden's 2005 adaptation) to comic book series released by Charlton, Marvel, Innovation, Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW, and DC Comics. Beyond publications, media items, suits from historical film exhibitions (such as Toho's 1967 suit exhibited under the name "King Gorilla"), and tie-in merchandise surrounding Legendary's Monsterverse films and comic releases like Skull Island: The Birth of Kong remain significant pieces of interest for monster genre historians and collectors.
Film
La filmografia completa del franchise in ordine cronologico di uscita.
Serie TV
Le serie televisive e produzioni streaming animate e live-action.
