King Kong Extended Edition: Nov. 14th (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Chong]

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[Grant H]

That doesn't say it's the extended version, does it?

I hadn't been following this movie. I'm surprised the extended edition isn't out yet.

 

[Richard Splinte]

It's out in region4, my copy shipped last week, with a little luck I'll have it this weekend or the beginning of next week.

 

[Kenneth English]

I wasn't a big fan of Jackson's LOTR trilogy (mostly because elves and dragons and hairy guys with swords bore the living crap out of me) but I really liked King Kong. I bought the 2-Disc edition and the Production Diaries and my only concern is that the extras on this extended cut aren't reruns of what I've already seen. Otherwise, I'll definitely be getting it!

 

[Matthew Clayton]

The only thing that would tempt me into buying this was if the extended edition of the movie had an isolated 5.1 music track of James Newton Howard's score (which basically floated the overall quality of the film itself), or better yet, included that online featurette about Howard Shore's score for King Kong (which everyone knows was rejected and JNH had to write a new score in 5 weeks). Otherwise, I'm sticking to my single-disc theatrical edition -- which is plenty enough for me.

And I'm pretty sure you HD-DVD enthusiasts won't be happy, but the theatrical edition of King Kong has been announced for release on November 14th (and no, the EE won't get a simultaneous HD-DVD release either).

 

[Mathew B]

Yes, the "Missing Production Diary" is on the set, apparently.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Universal doesn't send us screeners until right before or AFTER street, so I don't expect my copy for another week at least...

 

[Ethan Riley]

Guys; I'm having trouble following this thread. Is the EE coming out on Nov. 14th in Region 1? Or are you all talking about another region? Reason is, I can't find this on amazon.com dvdplanet or anywhere else that I usually look. Does anyone have any links?

 

[Christian Preischl]

Yes, this is the R1 release we're talking about. I just searched the DVD section of amazon.com for "King Kong" and it was the first hit.

 

[Henry Gale]

Thanks Christian, I love "Pre-order with 1-Click"!

 

[Vincent_P]

*DELETE*

 

[Richard Splinte]

received the region4 EE today, just had a quick glance at the extra's and they look absolutely fabulous. Compare them with the extra's on the LOTR EE 4 discs editions. The (post) production diaries were great on the previous releases but the main problem of those because it was released before the premiere of the movie it did contain a very meagre portion about the development of the story lines. Here you get the full story, with PJ guiding you (like with the LOTR EE extra's) through the different processes. You get a very detailed look of the 1996 script and pre-production development and how it's compared to the 2003 version.

It's great again to see how PJ is going through great lenghts about how the production of the movie. Maybe some people see him as a money-grubbing special effects freak but in every PJ dvd (LOTR EE, The Frighteners 4 disc special edition) you see the love for movie-making.

great stuff, recommended! And that was only the first part of the third disc.

 

[TheBat]

here is a review for the region 2 edition of the EE!

Jacob
http://dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63224

 

[Mark Oates]

I didn't think the original version of Kong'05 was too long, and I don't think the EE compounds it. There are just two added sequences in the first half of the movie (up to the bit where the Venturer crew set out to rescue Ann). One is the Stegasaurus scene. The bulk of the added scenes are in the second half.

Most of the deleted/extended scenes could not be included in the extended cut because they change or balls up the continuity.

The extras on the three discs are worth the price of admission - the three hour behind the scenes doco on disc 3, the "missing production diary" semi-easter egg (monitor addiction), seventeen minutes of bloopers and general weirdness and "the present", a 9 1/2 minute short in the style of Bad Taste shot by Jack Black and Andy Serkis for PJ's birthday.

I had a ball reviewing the set - even though I had a quarter of the time Dave Foster had and a rabid PR bod breathing down my neck.

I'll very likely buy my own copy (I have to return the check discs in case I'm a wicked pirate about to have my way with them), and for an impecunious DVD reviewer, that's saying something.

My review is http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/review...=5497&User=627

 

[Jonathon M]

yeah, it's a shame that they titled the monitor addiction easter egg as "the missing production diary", which i would assume is the "13 Weeks to Go" about the scoring of the film... before the composer was booted. i'd rather rewatch that than watch an 8 minute gag.

as far as the r4 goes, i'm looking forward to going through the doco, but i can't do that until i exchange my copy at the store - disc 3 was loose and is scratched. :frowning:

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For fans of the film, I thought I'd mention: apparently Bryan Singer flew from Australia where he was shooting Superman Returns to give the exhausted Peter Jackson a hand on-set with King Kong. I don't know if there's any mention of that in the King Kong features, but there was a SR production diary dedicated to it which was pretty entertaining. You can find it online for free on the official SR site, and I know at one point it was on iTunes for free as well.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Mark,

I share your sentiments. The backlash against this film still puzzles me. Yes, it was long, but it wasn't just a remake of the original. It was a re-imagining of the story as an epic tragedy, and I felt it supported its length. I was never bored for a moment, and the last 30 minutes left me an emotional wreck.

Chuck Mayer described the film best: a "big wet sloppy kiss" of a movie. PJ just couldn't quite contain his enthusiasm for this project, seeing in it the opportunity to sum up everything he loves about movies on the most lavish of scales. At worst he can be accused of loving the big ape "not wisely but too well," to quote the Bard.

I can't wait for next Tuesday, although I know I'm condemning myself to a double-dip in high-definition.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Dave H]

So, the video is slightly better on the EE compared to the original because of the increase bit rate from using two discs? I'd buy this EE for this reason alone.

 

[Dave H]

Please delete.

 

[BradWOO]

Josh,

I purchased the King Kong production diaries before the film was released and I recall that one of them involved Singer giving PJ a break from filming.

Brad