It's been eleven years since Peter Jackson's King Kong, and in Hollywood years that's far too long for us to go without a reboot. Next out of the gate is Kong: Skull Island, that plans to kickstart a brand new franchise centring on the chest-beating simian. Initially it was set to be a prequel to the 1933 original but those plans were scuppered in favor of something different.
While we're still relatively in the dark about its plot, former cast member JK Simmons let slip that certain scenes were set in the 1970s - which would definitely be considered 'different' in Kong lore. If that's still the case, it's unconfirmed but according to Tom Hiddleston, who's playing an unknown lead role, that's just the tip of the iceberg. “I don’t want to spoil too much," he tells EW, "But it’s a whole new reconception of the mythology. It essentially follows a group of disparate travelers and explorers and soldiers who travel to an undiscovered island in the South Pacific "
Okay, so far, so same...
"And it’s set in a time period where you could conceive that there are still undiscovered places on the Earth. What they find on the island is surprising, and then every character has a very different response to it. It’s going to be spectacular and epic, but also the human drama is kind of interesting as well.”
Alright, now it sounds as if there's no chance this is set in the 1970s. It's still encouraging to hear that it's going to be "spectacular" and "epic" because who would want a Kong movie that's a quiet character drama?
Well, one thing's for sure: Legendary Pictures plans to sync this new King Kong franchise with its other monster franchise Godzilla in the near future. That 2014 reboot was set in the present day so it's anybody's guess how this pair will meet. Might there be time travel involved? No, no, they wouldn't do that. Would they?
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, and starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Toby Kebbell, Tom Wilkinson, John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly, Kong: Skull Island opens in the UK and US on March 10, 2017.
Images: Universal
