Toho Kingdom

Posted: **Sat Aug 17, 2019 7:58 am**

Living Corpse wrote:I'm really curious about the unmade Kong in Space film, do we have more details on what that film was gonna be about, like was Kong gonna wear space suit on the Moon defending a colony from aliens or be on an alien planet with breathable air, or is Kong going into outer space really all we know/as far as the concept ever went?

There's actually a big chapter about it in the Kong Unmade book I was reading!

It was a series of proposals that went back and forth. If I recall, the idea was actually more like "the son of Jack Driscoll and Ann Darrow teams up with the daughter of Carl Denham, Carl's daughter being our protagonist, to go to space" and in space they find a planet that's basically "space Skull Island" with an alien Kong on it. Cooper was fond of the idea because it would allow for them to have Kong and a new adventure without ruining the ending of the original movie, but a lot of the back and forth was that he thought Ann's son should be the protagonist instead of Carl's daughter (because "adventuring is a MAN'S job!" basically) while the guy he was working with the idea on insisted on having Carl's daughter as the heroine. (This being the late 1960s.)

When I get home, I'll break the book back out and see if I can get some more details, the premise sounded really neat.

Posted: **Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:00 am**

Wow...this is the 60's alright! The plot shows :lol:

Posted: **Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:28 am**

I always thought the Japanese poster for the King Kong was pretty cool.

Posted: **Tue Aug 20, 2019 7:04 am**

Living Corpse wrote:I'm really curious about the unmade Kong in Space film, do we have more details on what that film was gonna be about, like was Kong gonna wear space suit on the Moon defending a colony from aliens or be on an alien planet with breathable air, or is Kong going into outer space really all we know/as far as the concept ever went?

Okay! I finally have the time to write something up on this! xD

So, first off, it was never going to be a movie. "Space Kong" was a plan for a COMIC BOOK.

In the wake of the initial round of lawsuits between Cooper and RKO following KKvG, Cooper was left with only his rights to the original 1932 novel (which, at this time, it was not yet discovered had fallen into the public domain) so he started looking to get a comic book made. In 1966, Gold Key Comics approached Cooper about doing an adaptation of the novel and then a sequel series. Cooper had always been opposed to doing sequels and had rejected previous offers in the past, but was willing to work with Gold Key on the idea. Gold Key first suggested a series that would start with Jack and Ann's son, Carl's daughter, and Carl himself (made younger after another adventure led to him finding the Fountain of Youth) returning to Skull Island to find a new Kong. Cooper didn't like this idea (or the idea that Carl's daughter was the main hero).

Cooper's suggestion instead was to change the setting to space, where they'd find a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs and a "reincarnated duplicate" of Kong. There was a bit of discussion back and forth going over the Fountain of Youth (renamed the "River of Youth") idea, the idea of travelling to a prehistoric planet or asteroid, and nailing down the characters (the disagreement over Cooper wanting Ann's son to be the main hero and Gold Key wanting Carl's daughter to be the main hero went on for the whole time this was discussed). LeMay's book publishes the letters that go back and forth, which I won't retype (they're fairly long). Cooper did sound like he hoped the comic book could lead to a TV Movie being produced based on the idea.

What ended up killing the whole thing was RKO stepping in to claim Cooper had to share profits from any comic book, which led to a whole other legal dispute that led to any follow-up to the Gold Key adaptation (which was made and published) to be abandoned.

Posted: **Tue Aug 20, 2019 7:25 am**

Pkmatrix wrote:
Living Corpse wrote:I'm really curious about the unmade Kong in Space film, do we have more details on what that film was gonna be about, like was Kong gonna wear space suit on the Moon defending a colony from aliens or be on an alien planet with breathable air, or is Kong going into outer space really all we know/as far as the concept ever went?

Okay! I finally have the time to write something up on this! xD

So, first off, it was never going to be a movie. "Space Kong" was a plan for a COMIC BOOK.

In the wake of the initial round of lawsuits between Cooper and RKO following KKvG, Cooper was left with only his rights to the original 1932 novel (which, at this time, it was not yet discovered had fallen into the public domain) so he started looking to get a comic book made. In 1966, Gold Key Comics approached Cooper about doing an adaptation of the novel and then a sequel series. Cooper had always been opposed to doing sequels and had rejected previous offers in the past, but was willing to work with Gold Key on the idea. Gold Key first suggested a series that would start with Jack and Ann's son, Carl's daughter, and Carl himself (made younger after another adventure led to him finding the Fountain of Youth) returning to Skull Island to find a new Kong. Cooper didn't like this idea (or the idea that Carl's daughter was the main hero).

Cooper's suggestion instead was to change the setting to space, where they'd find a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs and a "reincarnated duplicate" of Kong. There was a bit of discussion back and forth going over the Fountain of Youth (renamed the "River of Youth") idea, the idea of travelling to a prehistoric planet or asteroid, and nailing down the characters (the disagreement over Cooper wanting Ann's son to be the main hero and Gold Key wanting Carl's daughter to be the main hero went on for the whole time this was discussed). LeMay's book publishes the letters that go back and forth, which I won't retype (they're fairly long). Cooper did sound like he hoped the comic book could lead to a TV Movie being produced based on the idea.

What ended up killing the whole thing was RKO stepping in to claim Cooper had to share profits from any comic book, which led to a whole other legal dispute that led to any follow-up to the Gold Key adaptation (which was made and published) to be abandoned.

Posted: **Sat Aug 24, 2019 8:00 am**

Same fan on youtube did this animation of the original King Kong. Looks pretty awesome. If I didn't know any better, I swear it was actual footage from the film! 8-)

Posted: **Sun Sep 01, 2019 8:50 am**

Shhh! The Octopus wrote:
I always thought the Japanese poster for the King Kong was pretty cool.

Japanese posters make ANYTHING look 10x better than it is.

Posted: **Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:03 pm**

Mr. Yellow wrote:Japanese posters make ANYTHING look 10x better than it is.

For real. Just look at the one for King Kong Lives!
Resized Image

Posted: **Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:17 pm**

Komenja wrote:
Mr. Yellow wrote:Japanese posters make ANYTHING look 10x better than it is.

For real. Just look at the one for King Kong Lives!

Heck I think K:SI Japanese poster by artist Kaida Yuji is better than any of the western posters.

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2019 7:47 am**

^ That one is totally rad, but I think in K:SI's case I like the American poster more. Kong silhouetted against the sun and towering over mountains in the distance looks really striking and cool.

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:01 am**

It literally looks like the Godzilla Final Wars poster, not impressed.

I agree, the silhouette poster is the best.

Posted: **Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:11 am**

An alternate Japanese poster for King Kong Lives.

Japanese poster for the 1976 remake.

And I thought I throw in these two.

Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.

And 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Toho Kingdom

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