It's official -- Peter Jackson's next film: King Kong

I had the exact same thought. I assume we're thinking of the same lyrics: "Needless to say/The Beast was stunned/Whip-crack! went his schwumpy tail/And the Beast was done..."

Long live the D.

--Jefferson Morris

No.

SIIPs: Skull Island Indigenous Peoples

Not anything other than what they are.

-mw

Hey, thanks. I tried the 720p on my machine, but it just doesn't have the horsepower.

Nice trailer. The production values look pretty good on the sets. There are some parts that do look a little too CGish, but I'm sure they are still working on things, so I'll wait to see the final product.

Jason

Well, the 720 plays wonderfully on my Dell 24" lcd and looks fabulous (wish I had Billy Crystal here to write that for me). After watching the trailer its for the first time obvious to me that


Warning Spoiler! Click to show

I put that in spoiler tags for the 5-10 people on the planet who haven seen the original and want to either see the original or remake without knowing the the plot points.

BTW, when we see Ann rehearsing her screams for Denham in the teaser, are her hand gestures a tribute to Fay Wray? I'd swear those are the same Fay used for the rehearsal scene in the original.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one who feels this way.


Warning Spoiler! Click to show

BTW - FYI, that's not a T-Rex in the trailer... Kong is fighting a "V-Rex", an evolved and even larger version of the T-Rex.

(The V-Rex is of course an invention of PJ & WETA)

Thanks for the direct links!

Man, I am STOKED for this. This trailer really sold me on the film. Put me in the group who doesn't mind non-photorealistic CGI, especially with stylized/heightened reality stories.

I was also not happy that old tyrannical lizard king was put down by that jumped chameleon with a sail.

When it comes to Kong, though...well, I've always liked the big monkey even more than the real monsters from our distant past. If he puts a T-rex down, that critter was askin' for it.

That'll be a scene that would make me unhappy no matter who lost, because of course I have to root for Kong, but I will be quite ambivalent about it.

Good to know I'm not the only one who thinks TREX deserves a little more respect.

Was does the 'V' in V-Rex stand for?

The latest post-production diary is up on KIKN. In the middle we hear a rather nice few seconds of musical score being mixed in. Could James Newton Howard have gotten something recorded so quickly? Perhaps he had no choice, given the looming release date.

Med-rez: http://img-nex.kongisking.net/kong/m...ksToGo_qt4.mov

Hi-rez: http://img-nex.kongisking.net/kong/m...o_qt6_high.mov

--Jefferson Morris

Thanks for the direct link for the WM9 version of the trailer! I didn't think they would have used the score from Batman Begins in a trailer so quickly!

I knew about PJ working on KK, but didn't pay much attention to it until recently. Now, I'm stoked for another holiday gift from PJ and company! Now bring on those DVDs to tide me over until December!

8^B

Nobody seems to nows for sure on the Kong forums - it apparently started as an internal WETA nickname. (perhaps for eVolved?) I guess we'll find out when the DVD is released...

Veloci-Rexaur!

Just kidding.

And not the first trailer either. "V for Vendetta" as well.

Well, the Batman Begins soundtrack is pretty bland anyway (though still very effective), so I doubt most people noticed it. I certainly didn't.

Note: By bland I mean undistinctive, not mediocre.

white native people who get muddy, or they couldn't get non-white extras in NZ?

or are they just following the 30s production to a tee?

doesn't seem 'realistic'.

Batman temp cues...JNH did compose a few. Didn't notice either time. The score itself I thought was good, just not in the movie itself, not that the movie was bad.

ps. the King Kong score comes out Dec. 6 by JNH from Decca.

For some reason I have Quicktime 7 but the High Definition version of this trailer won't load. Even so this trailer is very impressive. I thought the effects on the first trailer were pretty good but this is absolutly unbelievable. Kong looks perfect. I am still skeptical it can fill out a 3 hour length without slow unnessary scenes. Still I am definutly going to line up to see this.

I find the teaser more effective than the trailer. It does a better job at building anticipation methinks. However the trailer is soooo full of money shots...

I think PJ has done it again, it's getting difficult to imagine how this movie could go wrong!

--
H

If I had a buck for every movie that disappointed after a great trailer, I'd have a few more bucks than I do now. But I'm with you, its hard to imagine how this movie could disappoint. Or maybe I just don't want it to.

Says Peter "THX" from California.

No bias there, I'm sure.

Well, "bias" or not, I think WETA's work on LOTR, while great, was very flat & colorless looking. Bluescreen composites were serviceable at best, some were downright terrible. Digital characters mapped onto minatures often appeared to be "floating" above them. Yet the rabid fans would have you think they make anything by ILM look awful.

"Kong" isn't much different. In the NY shots he looks great, but he doesn't look like he belongs there, as in a poorly composited way (not as a metaphor).

Yet I can't help thinking the Academy will NOT give ILM it's due for either "SW: Episode III" or "War of the Worlds". Compare 1999's "The Matrix" with "Episode I". Regardless how you feel about the respective films' content, which movie's visual effects have held up better over the past 6 years? I can tell you this: it is not that year's Oscar winner's.

Or perhaps some PC has snuck in. "Savages" with ethnic actors doesn't fly well in this day and age. No big deal. The whole island's life is an enigma anyway.

As for the V-Rex, it's specifically not a T-Rex.

"The fiercest creature of Skull Island, the V-Rex is the only dinosaur brave enough to challenge the mighty Kong. An awesome predator stalking the tangled jungle in search of a meal, V-Rexes are the terrifying descendants of tyrannosaurs that roamed the earth many millions of years ago. On Skull Island, these beasts have evolved to new levels of terror."

Neither is the Venatosaurus a garden variety Velociraptor, as a WETA rep pointed out to me recently.

PC? I think it's VERY un-PC not to use native actors. I'm an islander, ok.

Perhaps the V-Rex is a hybrid breed of Velociraptor and T-Rex?

Also, isn't it kind of difficult these days to determine which FX house puts out better CGI than another, when they both can employ many of the same people over the course of various projects?

I mean, there are hundreds of CGI artists working on big films like Kong and Episode III, but they are not full time employees of either WETA or ILM.. Just freelance guys and gals who go where the next big job is.

Nah. More like a Tyrannasaurus after 65 million more years of evolution. Besides, a Raptor and a T-Rex? That's like a housecat and a lion mating!



Still, major FX houses have full time staff that determine the technique and overall look of a show. The freelancers usually just help in generating elements and renders, modelmakers, things of that nature.

WETA & ILM are working together on "Narnia".
ILM is has also brought on board to finish a show another company has started, it can be a touchy issue. Mainly because they can do a great job, on budget, with a tight schedule. Some recent examples:

"Titanic" - Digital Domain
"Contact" - Sony Imageworks
"Harry Potter & Sorcerer's Stone" - Sony Imageworks
"Day After Tomorrow" - Digital Domain
"Sky Captain" (various)

Maybe the Raptor was a cradle.. err, Nest robber, and knocked up a few T-Rex younglings? :b

OK. The Matrix still has effects that better serve the story, broke new ground, and shaped how effects are done today. EI's still look more polished. But aren't nearly as "special" as The Matrix. Voters got it right in 1999. I can still watch the Matrix and it's creative effects. I watch EI and think how far CG work has come in 6 years, evidenced by AOTC and ROTS.

On to 2002, when WETA and ILM had their first go-around. Regarding rabid fans: the VES had annual awards for 2002. EII one one award (best matte painting).

TTT won:
Best Visual Effects in an Effects Driven Movie
Best Characters Animation in a Live Action Movie
Best Special Effects
Best Models & Miniatures
Best Visual Effects Photography
Bests Effects Art Direction
Best Compositing.

They were voted on by the effects professionals themselves. Meaning the technical experts voted TTT 7 technical awards (I didn't include best performance in a VFX movie).

As for Titanic, ILM did FOUR composite shots (among the SEVENTEEN companies that worked on Titanic). ILM did some very hard composites of multiple shots for effect...something Cameron said that besides DD, only ILM could do them. But it's not at all like they completed Digital Domain work, or handled work that DD couldn't. Digital Domain did the falling Balrog in TTT. This happens all the time. ILM did NOT do the "spiders" in Minority Report (among the best effects in that film). Work sharing is nothing new. ILM has helped...and been helped. Why I prefer the LOTR films is they have depth of field. The PT has some great shots, but looks 2D much of the time.

As a note, I love ILM. Always have. Keep in mind they last won an Oscar in 1994. They are still cutting edge...but they are no longer alone.

KONG looks great. Some of the dinosaur effects aren't as polished, but KONG himself looks unbelievable. We'll see how the films look. I don't care if ROTS wins the effects award. But I'm not ready to hand it to them (or WotW) until I've seen Narnia, KONG, and Potter.

But KONG looks great,
Chuck

The QuickTime HD versions of the trailer are in the wrong aspect ratio:

- The dimensions of the 720p version should be 1280 x 568

- The dimensions of the 1080p version should be 1920 x 852

Trailers aren't shown very often in the aspect ratio the movie is eventually going to be seen in. Films in 2.35:1 will be shown in 1.85:1 for the trailer, etc.