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Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:02 pm**

From DavisDVD:

Universal Studios will release Peter Jackson's King Kong on March 28th. The 800-lb gorilla will be released in both a single-disc and a double-disc special edition. No details have been released yet other than retail prices of $29.98 and $31.98, respectively.

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:02 pm**

PLEASE issue a 90-minute version!

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:55 pm**

Barmy wrote:PLEASE issue a 90-minute version!

heh! Take a cue from Malick perhaps? Actually release a shorter version? Alas, I think we will probably be presented with an EVEN longer version of Kong on DVD.

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:13 pm**

Jackson is incapable of making a film within reasonable guidelines. I'm sure his version with select deleted material will run 4.5 hours. Didn't he claim that was his cut, and that all this was done from a 90-page script?

Who the hell works like that?

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:24 pm**

Well, it's not too hard to create your own 90-minute version. I can't imagine anyone sitting through the pre-Skull part a second time. After that just fast forward whenever anyone is talking.

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:57 pm**

Or when a dinosaur is chasing.

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:02 pm**

...or ice skating.

-BJ

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:12 pm**

...or when giant penises are ingesting Gollum

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:13 pm**

I just hope someday Peter Jackson goes back to messing about with his mates and buckets of red food dye again.

Posted: **Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:40 pm**

Narshty wrote:I just hope someday Peter Jackson goes back to messing about with his mates and buckets of red food dye again.

I actually liked King Kong but I couldn't agree more. I'd be more pumped about something like that than another big epic effects extravaganza.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:11 pm**

Final Specs according to DavisDVD:

We've obtained what are for now final specs for Universal's release of King Kong due on March 28th. A single-disc edition will arrive with a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Extras will include "The Volkswagen Toureg & King Kong" and "Wish You Were Here" features. Retail is $29.98.

The double-disc special edition will also include the following exclusive bonus materials: Introduction by Peter Jackson, Post-Production Diaries 55-90 (nearly three hours of never-before-seen featurettes), "Kong's New York, 1933" (1930s New York comes alive in this fascinating piece that explores vaudeville, the skyscraper boom, the construction of the Empire State Building and more), "Skull Island: A Natural History" (travel with Peter Jackson and his crew and uncover the fascinating facts about the island's mysterious origins, reclusive inhabitants and jawdropping creatures). Retail is $30.98. Also be aware that an extended cut of the film is evidently in the works for release later in the year.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:38 pm**

Also be aware that an extended cut of the film is evidently in the works for release later in the year.

Exteneded Cut? There's more to the movie? More Jamie Bell?

And I guess that's where the commentary is going...

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:41 pm**

Zumpano wrote:Exteneded Cut? There's more to the movie? More Jamie Bell?

Shit. And there I was hoping for a within-the-bounds-of-human-endurance cut.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:43 pm**

Well, perhaps in the extended cut we'll find out what happened to the islanders. They were there one minute, made their offering to KK, then where did they go?

And maybe we'll be shown how they got KK onto the ship - especially considering that so many of the crew were killed, they must have been short-handed. Or how they got him from the New York dock to the inside of a Broadway theatre. Or...

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:48 pm**

Maybe the extended cut will be shorter in the way that "less is more"...

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:52 pm**

I heard that in the extended version Saruman helps them get KK on the ship.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:02 pm**

nyasa wrote:And maybe we'll be shown how they got KK onto the ship - especially considering that so many of the crew were killed, they must have been short-handed. Or how they got him from the New York dock to the inside of a Broadway theatre. Or...

... Or maybe they'll be chased by something cool and scary!

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:08 pm**

Barmy wrote:Well, it's not too hard to create your own 90-minute version. I can't imagine anyone sitting through the pre-Skull part a second time. After that just fast forward whenever anyone is talking.

Your view is the polar opposite of mine.

The pre-Skull part is my favorite hour of film Peter Jackson ever filmed, and all the character beats after that were also great, but the action setpieces were for the most part atrocious, especially that corny dinosaur stampede, which has some of the worst cgi I`ve ever seen, and that boring fight with the dinosaurs (until the final mano-a-mano faceoff, that is).

That said, I`d like to see the etended cut, because I imagine it would flesh out the characters, which which PJ all but completely dropped after the get to Skull island.

I feel that if Peter Jackson makes one more big budget extravaganza, a great talent will be lost forever. So, I second your sentiment, Narshty.

Posted: **Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:25 pm**

Extended Cut specs have been announced:

Universal has announced a deluxe extended edition of the Peter Jackson directed King Kong which stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. The three-disc package will be available to own from the 14th November this year, and should set you back around $34.98. A limited edition giftset, complete with a beautifully crafted King Kong figurine will also be available from the 14th. This should retail at around $79.98.

King Kong Extended Edition: Disc One

2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Track
Commentary with Director Peter Jackson & Producer Phillipa Boyens Part 1
Sixteen Deleted Scenes (Totalling around 40 Minutes)
English SDH, Spanish, French Subtitles

King Kong Extended Edition: Disc Two

Commentary with Director Peter Jackson & Producer Phillipa Boyens Part 2
The Eighth Blunder of the World Featurette
The Present Featurette
A Night in Vaudeville Featurette
King Kong Homage
Weta Collectables
Selection of Trailers

King Kong Extended Edition: Disc Three

The King Kong Archives
Introduction by director Peter Jackson
The Origins of King Kong Documentary
Pre-Production Part 1: The Return of Kong
Pre-Production Part 2: Countdown to Filming
The Venture Journey Featurette
Return to Skull Island Featurette
New York, New Zealand Featurette
Bringing Kong to Life Part 1: Design and Research
Bringing Kong to Life Part 2: Performance and Animation
The 1996 King Kong Video Gallery
The Venture Video Gallery
Skull Island Video Gallery
New York Video Gallery
Kong Video Gallery
Arrival at Skull Island Pre-Viz Animatic
Bronto Stampede Pre-Viz Animatic
T-Rex Fight Pre-Viz Animatic
Kong's Capture Pre-Viz Animatic
Empire State Building Battle Pre-Viz Animatic
Ann Disarms Kong Motion-Capture/Animation Comparison
Kong's Capture Motion-Capture/Animation Comparison
Kong in New York Motion-Capture/Animation Comparison
DVD Credits and 1996 and 2005 Scripts (DVD-ROM)

Posted: **Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:04 pm**

The fact the film is now longer I can just about stomach. The fact there are still 40 minutes of additional scenes is beyond a joke.

EDIT: From this article:

Also included are more than an hour of deleted scenes that can be viewed as part of the film using a branching feature.

FFS!!

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:31 am**

Hmmm... I've now been reading reports that this isn't simply slotting in new footage, but a top to bottom re-edit that both removes and adds footage throughout. If - and only if - this pans out, I might be tempted to rent it or watch a mate's copy.

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:23 pm**

I saw this recently.. never got to see it inna theatres. Having not read most of the critical mass of opinion on this thing, did the cornball relationship between the black dude 1st Mate and the poignant little white once-upon-a-time-stowaway come in for any deserved laughter?

I forget the names, but--

"Mr. Phipps Sir, my emotional and material superior who I look up to erasing 1920's color boundaries for modern audiences, may I come along to handle a gun be a man on a par with you men?"

"No Billy, it's too dangerous.. you're still too moist there in the crack.."

"O come on sir-- how else am I going to be Your Style Of Great?"

"No Billy, this is no place for marinated chicken like you.. hardness threatens to ensue.."

"Now wait a minnit sir-- you taught me all bout women and their soft special parts and how my interlocking meat izza real innaresting thing.."

Boy runs out way ahead of group.

Elder, black half of this touching relationship--

"No Billy-- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" runs after him and slips and falls and dies, but not before having his spirit pass metaphorically into the boy.

Too corny.

I also though the final scene on the Emp St Bldg was kind of anticlimactic, lacking the carefully cultivated fight rhythm & therefore emotional tempo/pathos of Kongs death resident in the original.

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:21 pm**

HerrSchreck wrote:I also though the final scene on the Emp St Bldg was kind of anticlimactic, lacking the carefully cultivated fight rhythm & therefore emotional tempo/pathos of Kongs death resident in the original.

Was there any tempo at all in the Jackson version? I sure couldn't detect any!

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:34 pm**

It was rather like someone shouting in your face for 2Â½ hours, who then stops and expects you to weep with compassion.

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2006 7:56 pm**

Narshty wrote:It was rather like someone shouting in your face for 2Â½ hours.

you've just summarised modern pop culture.

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