King Kong is an American monster media franchise that consists of thirteen films, as well as television, novels, comic books, video games, attractions, and other merchandise.

The original film King Kong was co-directed by Merian C. Cooper (creator of the character) and Ernest B. Schoedsack and was released on March 2, 1933; it was a box office success, despite opening during the Great Depression.

The franchise has had several hiatuses and revivals, and it has inspired other genre films during intervals, such as Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,[9] Creature from the Black Lagoon,[10] Godzilla,[11] Mothra,[12] and Jurassic Park.

[15] The film's success spawned a sequel nine months later, Son of Kong, as well as what became a multimedia franchise, spanning remakes, reboots, books, videos games, attractions, parodies and references.

[21][22][23] King Kong (1933) is widely regarded by critics and journalists as a masterpiece and a signature facet of American cinema,[24][25][26] and is cited as one of the greatest monster films ever made.

[17] In the early 1960s, O'Brien developed a story outline titled King Kong vs. Frankenstein, supplemented with water-color illustrations and sketches, in the hopes of igniting interest for a potential production in color.

Beck commissioned a heavily localized version with new footage using American actors and replacing Akira Ifukube's score with stock music from Universal Pictures' library.

De Laurentiis countersued for copyright infringement, demanding $90 million in damages and pushed his film into production while also publishing ads that jabbed at Universal (e.g. "There Still is Only One King Kong").

In January 1976, negotiations were made to potentially have both studios co-produce a single film and share profits, but De Laurentiis rejected Universal's proposal of using their script and controlling the merchandise.

Like the Toho films, an ape-suit was used to bring Kong to life, with special make-up effects artist Rick Baker portraying the character.

The production was a rushed venture since the studio set the film's release date for December 1976 and De Laurentiis' persistence to beat Universal.

Despite mixed reviews unfavorably comparing the remake to the original, the film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, shared with Logan's Run.

[43] However, development on a sequel was impaired by the remake's disappointing box office results and legal complications over the ownership of the King Kong character.

[55] Around that time, Jackson was attached to direct live-action film adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but proceeded with King Kong due to producer Harvey Weinstein taking too long to acquire the rights.

An animated musical remake of the 1933 film, it features the voices of Dudley Moore, Jodi Benson, Bill Sage, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Richard Newman.

[56][57][53][65] Universal theatrically released King Kong on December 13, 2005, to generally positive reviews, with the film appearing in several top ten lists for 2005.

[95][72] Around that same time, MarVista Entertainment and IM Global announced their own live-action King Kong project for television; written by Jonathan Penner and Stacy Title, the series is to be based on DeVito's materials, approved by the Cooper estate.

[101][102] The film received generally positive reviews and became a box office and streaming hit during the pandemic; it became the most successful launch item in HBO Max's history until it was overtaken by Mortal Kombat.

The Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine includes a scene of the characters opening a door to reveal King Kong abducting a woman from her bed.

The controversial World War II Dutch resistance fighter Christiaan Lindemans — eventually arrested on suspicion of having betrayed secrets to the Nazis — was nicknamed "King Kong" due to his being exceptionally tall.

In 1992, Nintendo produced an educational game called Mario is Missing that features a treasure hunt level involving King Kong in New York City.

[citation needed] In 2021, Raw Thrills released a cinematic virtual reality motion game called King Kong of Skull Island.

[203] Besides starring in his own games, King Kong was the obvious influence behind other city-destroying gigantic apes, such as George from the Rampage series,[204] Woo from King of the Monsters (who was modeled after the Toho version of the character), and Congar from War of the Monsters, as well as giant apes worshipped as deities, like Chaos and Blizzard from Primal Rage whose beast classification is listed as "Kong" on the toy packaging.

Little if anything of his ever appeared in the final story, but his name was retained for its saleability ... King Kong was Cooper's creation, a fantasy manifestation of his real life adventures.

His actual exploits rival anything Indiana Jones ever did in the movies.This conclusion about Wallace's contribution was verified in the book The Making of King Kong by Orville Goldner and George E. Turner (1975) where Wallace stated in his diary, "Merian Cooper called and we talked over the big animal play we are going to write, or rather I am writing and he is directing", and "An announcement has been made in the local press that I am doing a super horror story with Merian Cooper, but the truth is it is much more his story than mine...I shall get much more credit out of the picture than I deserve if it is a success, but I shall be blamed by the public if it is a failure which seems fair".

[208] Wallace died of pneumonia complicated by diabetes on February 10, 1932, and Cooper later had James Creelman and finally Ruth Rose finish the screenplay.

This novelization was called The Dino De Laurentiis Production of King Kong and was simply the 1976 Lorenzo Semple Jr. script published in book form.

Weta Workshop released a collection of concept art from the film entitled The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island that was published by Pocket Books.

Starting in 1996, artist/writer Joe DeVito began working with the Merian C. Cooper estate to write and/or illustrate various books based on the King Kong character.

Some additional elements and characters tie into Kong: King of Skull Island, enabling the two separate books to form a continuous storyline.