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Doug Wallen

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Purchased a copy from BB, the nostalgia factor and all. While not high art (whatever that is?) , I still enjoyed it. Glad I could get a copy. Seems gone at Walmart and Amazon.
 

Bryan Tuck

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Reviews were actually pretty good when it was released. Here’s a screenshot from the King Kong book The History Of A Movie Icon

In Ray Morton's commentary track, he suggests a couple of reasons why the movie gained a less-than-stellar reputation, despite the decent reviews and pretty good box office.

For a whole year De Laurentiis had been boasting that the film would make $200 million, and it made less than half of that worldwide (still not bad for the time). Also, unlike many other popular movies of the 70s, it never got a theatrical re-release, didn't come out on video until well into the 80s, and only aired on TV two or three times in the intervening years. So it sort of came and went, and left the public's consciousness for a while.

I also think Star Wars probably had something to do with it. When that came out, it pretty quickly made all the other big effects films of the era look dated.
 

B-ROLL

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In Ray Morton's commentary track, he suggests a couple of reasons why the movie gained a less-than-stellar reputation, despite the decent reviews and pretty good box office.

For a whole year De Laurentiis had been boasting that the film would make $200 million, and it made less than half of that worldwide (still not bad for the time). Also, unlike many other popular movies of the 70s, it never got a theatrical re-release, didn't come out on video until well into the 80s, and only aired on TV two or three times in the intervening years. So it sort of came and went, and left the public's consciousness for a while.

I also think Star Wars probably had something to do with it. When that came out, it pretty quickly made all the other big effects films of the era look dated.
Another reason was that scuttlebutt indicated Mr. De had purchased the rights and the negative to the OG Kong and was planning on preventing it's been screened officially in perpetuity.
 

Colin Jacobson

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In Ray Morton's commentary track, he suggests a couple of reasons why the movie gained a less-than-stellar reputation, despite the decent reviews and pretty good box office.

For a whole year De Laurentiis had been boasting that the film would make $200 million, and it made less than half of that worldwide (still not bad for the time). Also, unlike many other popular movies of the 70s, it never got a theatrical re-release, didn't come out on video until well into the 80s, and only aired on TV two or three times in the intervening years. So it sort of came and went, and left the public's consciousness for a while.

I also think Star Wars probably had something to do with it. When that came out, it pretty quickly made all the other big effects films of the era look dated.

Those observations make sense to me. The hype for "KK76" was off the charts and the movie simply didn't come close to living up to it.

As I may've mentioned in an earlier post, I was all-in on "KK76" back then when I was 9 - had a Kong lunchbox, Kong notebooks, whole thing.

Thanks to instructions from "Dynamite Magazine", I dressed as the Empire State Building for Halloween 1976 - with a stuffed ape on top - and won my school's costume competition. (I would've needed to pair with a friend to be the WTC! :D)

All that, and I honestly have no memory of whether or not I actually liked the actual movie.

So for me in 1976, "KK76" was more of a phenomenon of the hype and the excitement than enjoyment of the movie itself.
 

roxy1927

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I could have see it in the Pavilion theater in Leicester Square. I was outside sightseeing and went into the boxoffice lobby and talked to an usher but decided I didn't want to go into a movie theater while in London. Idiotic decision.
 

Nelson Au

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I just did some checking for fun. If the dates are right, the new Godzilla vs Kong blu ray is slated for June 15th 2021. I didn’t see that in the theater. And there appears to be a upcoming 4K blu ray of the 2005 Peter Jackson version. Might be necessary to collect those, I already have the 1933 version of the original King Kong blu ray. And I have the Skull Island disc too. While that was a pretty good film, seems odd that it reboots the series.

At any rate, could make for a fun marathon of Kong titles.
 

Tino

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Speaking of the commentary by Ray Morton, it’s terrific and very informative. About 3/4 of the way thru it. Next up will be Rick Bakers commentary.
 

Nelson Au

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Kind of like Alien vs Predator? I haven’t seen the AvP series. But I have seen the Alien and The first two Predators.
 

jayembee

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Kind of like Alien vs Predator? I haven’t seen the AvP series. But I have seen the Alien and The first two Predators.

Not really. Technically, all of the Alien and Predator and Alien/Predator films are part of the same universe, even though there are inconsistencies.

It's more like the Hammer versions of Dracula and Frankenstein vs. the Universal versions of Dracula and Frankenstein.

Or like Greystoke or Disney's animated Tarzan or the recent Legend of Tarzan vs the classic Johnny Weismuller films.

Or the two Zorro films with Antonio Banderas vs the two with Douglas Fairbanks.
 

Tino

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jayembee

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I think the first AvP is pretty good. Don’t bother with AvP-Requiem. IMHO.
But Requiem has Reiko Aylesworth! I agree that the first AvP is "pretty good". AvP:R is more in the "Well, it's not really that bad...but Lord it isn't good" territory (which to bring this back around to the topic, is kind of how I feel about the 1976 King Kong).
 

Johnny Angell

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But Requiem has Reiko Aylesworth! I agree that the first AvP is "pretty good". AvP:R is more in the "Well, it's not really that bad...but Lord it isn't good" territory (which to bring this back around to the topic, is kind of how I feel about the 1976 King Kong).
Reiko who?
 

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