Movies
‘King Kong’ Story Begins on Skull Island
While everyone complains over and over about remakes of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween and countless others, nobody seems to mind that classic Universal Monsters and other iconic characters have been on the big screen more times than I can count on 60 hands. One of the most legendary is King Kong, who will once again return to theaters in the prequel Kong: King of Skull Island, a book that came out around the same time as Peter jackson’s mega-budget remake. Read on for the skinny.
Spirit Pictures is looking to breathe new life into King Kong and a project initially developed by effects legend Ray Harryhausen, reports Variety.
Producers at the shingle have picked up the rights to the book “Kong: King of Skull Island,” a prequel to the well-known tale of the big ape.
Penned by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland, book focuses on the backstory of Skull Island and how the giant gorilla became king there. It introduces other giant gorillas and dinosaurs only hinted at in the previous films.
The book was published at the same time Peter Jackson was producing his remake of “King Kong.”
Rights to make the movie were brokered with the Merian C. Cooper family, who own the Kong property. Cooper co-directed the original “Kong,” released in 1933.
“We’re very concerned with honoring Merian C. Cooper’s legacy in Hollywood. We want to make sure that whatever we deliver will honor his memory,” said Spirit’s Steve Iles, who worked on videogames for the “Star Wars” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises through his Pocket Studios game company.
The plan is to produce the film using motion-capture technology such as Robert Zemeckis used to make “The Polar Express,” “Beowulf” and the upcoming “A Christmas Carol.” Spirit’s own facility would produce the CG work.
Spirit also is developing “War Eagles,” a project Cooper and Harryhausen had developed together and were nearly set to produce before the outbreak of WWII. The period actioner is set in 1939 and revolves around an ace fighter-pilot who tests a new jet and winds up crash-landing in the arctic, where he encounters a lost civilization that’s been thriving there for centuries.
“It’s one of those films that a certain level of the industry is aware of,” said Arnold Kunert, producer on both “Kong” and “Eagles.” “It’s a combination of all the things that have worked in adventure films for the last 70 or 80 years.”
Andy Briggs is working on the scripts for both films, with Spirit also developing offshoots like graphic novels, videogames and toys.
Iles and Kunert will produce both pics through Spirit, which is still seeking production partners on the projects.
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With the recent solar eclipse renewing public interest in the astrological event, Bloody Birthday is ripe for rediscovery. Three children born during an eclipse – Curtis Taylor (Billy Jayne, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose), Debbie Brody (Elizabeth Hoy), and Steven Seton (Andrew Freeman) – begin committing murders on their 10th birthday. Brother and sister duo Joyce (Lori Lethin, Return to Horror High) and Timmy Russell (K.C. Martel, The Amityville Horror) are the only ones privy to their heinous acts.
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Director Antonio Margheriti (Yor: The Hunter from the Future, Cannibal Apocalypse) and writer Tito Carpi (Tentacles, Last Cannibal World) take far too long to get to the alien, but once it shows up, it’s non-stop excitement. The creature is largely represented by a Gigeresque pincer claw that reaches into the frame, giving the picture a ’50s creature feature charm, but nothing can prepare you for its full reveal in the finale.
Set against the backdrop of displaced Syrian and Palestinian refugees, What Is Buried Must Remain is a timely found footage hybrid from Lebanon. It centers on a trio of young filmmakers as they make a documentary in a decrepit mansion alleged to be haunted on the outskirts of a refugee camp. Inside, they find the spirits of those who died there, both benevolent and malicious.
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To try to make sense of the plot would be futile, but in a nutshell, a young girl named Candy (Randi Allen, in her only acting role) becomes possessed by the vengeful, foul-mouthed spirit of her aunt, destroying the lives of anyone who crosses her path. What ensues is a madcap mélange of possession, telekinesis, teleportation, animal attacks, abandoned plot points, and unhinged filmmaking that must be seen to be believed.
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