Kong ; Skull Island

[CityRaptor]

I notice that there is no mention of Toho's Kong, which is 45 m in V.S. Godzilla and 20 m in King Kong Escapes. ( They are probably not the same individual, unless Kong shrunk between movies. )

[Silvanusaurus]

I wish film-makers would stop thinking that making everything progressively bigger and more overblown automatically makes it more impressive and 'awesome', that's the real myth. Ridiculously massive, weightless CGI cartoon sequences don't inspire wonder, they just alienate. The reason King Kong is a potentially powerful story is because of the human/ape parallel, how are the human characters going to have any kind of emotional relationship with Kong if they can't even see his face unless they're in a helicopter? 

[stargatedalek]

To be honest I was never really able to get behind the emotional connections to Kong. Perhaps it's just my aversion to apes in general but I tend to get an uncanny valley feeling whenever I see apes try to emote (in movies or otherwise). Ironic since I adore parrots so dearly.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I wish film-makers would stop thinking that making everything progressively bigger and more overblown automatically makes it more impressive and 'awesome', that's the real myth. Ridiculously massive, weightless CGI cartoon sequences don't inspire wonder, they just alienate. The reason King Kong is a potentially powerful story is because of the human/ape parallel, how are the human characters going to have any kind of emotional relationship with Kong if they can't even see his face unless they're in a helicopter?

Hear, hear! Plus, it's unsustainable. Eventually, future reboots will have King Kong/Godzilla bumping his head on the moon if studios keep thinking that these monsters are only impressive if we make them bigger than the last time around...

[Gwangi]

Looking at production photos Kong does not appear any larger than he was in the 2005 film. We're living in a monster movie renaissance, I'm not about to complain about it.

EDIT: Also, the 2014 Godzilla is not substantially larger than a couple other versions that existed prior. If this chart is accurate that is.

[CityRaptor]

Well, it is actually 108 m rather than 105, but yes, that is not much difference when he is 100 m to begin with. Shin adds another 10 m. Highest is Hanna-Barbera, being officially 122 m high.
Longest is Heisei due to his long tail.
Heaviest is Legendary.

[Silvanusaurus]

I don't have a problem with Godzilla's size, because his ridiculously titanic proportions are just part of his character, and I found that the presentation of him in the 2014 film worked effectively because of the grounded cinematography and attention to atmosphere that was employed. But if everything gets pushed to the same scale, or greater (I'm not refering to monster movies specifically), and if it's done in a way that is unbound by the limitless (and thus unimaginative) possibilities of weightless, overblown CGI, then these things end up having no impact, and are just turgidly boring, at least from my perspective. Of just the past few weeks alone, this has been a problem with films like Ghostbusters and most egregiously in the Independence Day sequel, where even with the most extremely stretched vestiges of logic, the scale of the threat is such that it would destroy the planet by it's very presence. Alternatively, I loved Pacific Rim, which was extremely ridiculous, but I found it got away with it because of the exaggeration of it's stylized visuals and cartoon story-telling, which played on my childhood fondness for such cartoons and cheesy kaiju-combat movies (which is exactly what Guillermo Del Toro intended).

Ultimately however, this film won't succeed or fail based on the size of Kong, but on the story-telling and presentation surrounding him, so I'm not going to dismiss it off-hand, I just haven't got much hope, and having not witnessed any kind of widespread renaissance myself, have no reason to.

[stargatedalek]

Honestly Kong was (for me) ridiculously overpowered in the 2005 version, no way a giant ape barely as large as one of them can kill three generic Tyrannosaurs like that. I think if anything making Kong bigger will make his antics, while not his existence itself, feel more realistic.

[Jose S.M.]

Honestly Kong was (for me) ridiculously overpowered in the 2005 version, no way a giant ape barely as large as one of them can kill three generic Tyrannosaurs like that. I think if anything making Kong bigger will make his antics, while not his existence itself, feel more realistic.

I agree that fight was ridiculously unrealistic and didn't got me thrilled until it was just the last Rex alone. The problem is if  the dinosaurs are going to get bigger too

[SpartanSquat]

@Cityraptor: Well the longest could be Shin Gojira, that tail is too long! They confirmed HB godzilla height?
@stargatedalek: Well if the V-rex won Kong, it could be named V-rex, this always will happend in movies. I have to say that fight fascitante me when I was 14, when I saw it in cinemas. Remember this is a movie not real life, in real life no animal in a small island would kill another animal even when they hunted another one, I said for the young v-rex that hunted a foetodon and then chase Naomi Watts.
@Joe289: Of course dinosaurs and the fauna of Skull Island will be bigger. Months ago in Hawaii filming set, there was a skull of a ceratopsian similar to a triceratops and its much bigger than the real one. They are from the same universe of Godzilla. Even I can see Rodan making a cameo in the movie, he fits very well. A giant mesozoic creature that avoid extinction events, this reminds me to Godzilla. Well we have to wait this saturday to see the comic con trailer.

[dragon53]

New trailer released.

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAoElzzrRZc

[Derek.McManus]

Interesting trailer...no missing the 'triceratops' skull this time! I'm looking forward to seeing this movie but admittedly I am a King Kong fan and this could be an interesting take on the concept, I'm seeing little hints of the previous incarnations. Thanks for the link Dragon53!

[Takama]

Wow, this could be interesting, or completely boring.  Kong better not be the ONLY animal in the entire film. I want some Dinosaurs Damn it.

[CarnegieCollector]

I hope gorosaurus makes a surprise appearance. It seems as if Kumanga, the giant spider, is in this movie.

[Derek.McManus]

Well it's traditional in these movies to show how powerful Kong is by having him vanquish another monster or two!

[SpartanSquat]

Probably we wont see Gorosaurus. Legendary only owns 5 Toho Monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah and an unknow monster. Probably this will be Anguirus, he is very popular in America. I think we have high chances to see Rodan or even Anguirus, both fits very well in Skull Island fauna. Probably we are going to see super sized dinosaurs like a ceratopsian, if we guide by the triceratops like skull that the gunner was using.

[suspsy]

I reserve judgment.

[Postosuchus84]

Supposedly from what I heard from a friend that was at ComicCon and paid attention to the panel/trailers/press stuff is there are no living dinosaurs in this? I don't know and they didn't see too sure themselves. I really don't have much interest or personal investment in Kong myself. I figured I would share though.

[alexeratops]

I am really hoping that they do a lead-in to Godzilla 2 in this movie, probably through Rodan or Mothra. I don't have too much of an opinion otherwise.

[Gwangi]

Supposedly from what I heard from a friend that was at ComicCon and paid attention to the panel/trailers/press stuff is there are no living dinosaurs in this? I don't know and they didn't see too sure themselves. I really don't have much interest or personal investment in Kong myself. I figured I would share though.

As a fan of monster movies I would still go see it but I really hope they don't leave out the dinosaurs. They're as much a part of Skull Island as Kong himself.