'Kong: Skull Island' - Final Trailer Released

Well we are now only a week away from Kong: Skull Island's release date and what better way to celebrate than to release one final trailer! This one definitely shows off some big money shots so people who want to stay spoiler free may want to hold off on watching this trailer. But if you don't care...

Oh man this is gonna be epic! So many cool things! I'm really starting to love the Skullcrawlers.

What did you think of the final trailer?

'Kong: Skull Island' - 4 New TV Spots Introduce Us to a Bunch of New Footage

Yesterday was a literal minefield of Giant monster news! Probably my most anticipated film of the year, 'Kong:Skull Island' got 4 30 second TV spots to really kick the marketing into high gear. These things are filled to the brim with new footage and include some of the good old universe building movies are so fond of these days. That's enough teasing! It's time to take a look and breakdown some of the cooler things seen in the Spots.

I love seeing the softer side of Kong at the beginning of this spot. Most of the footage in this one is repeat footage from the trailers but there are a couple of really cool stand out moments.

There seems to be a giant octopus that is attacking Kong which may be the film calling back to one of the more famous sequences in 'King Kong vs Godzilla' (more on that later).

Also the really beautiful shot of Kong standing in the afternoon sun is back and it is just as amazing as it was before.

The lines of dialogue at the end of this Spot are super interesting since it gives a couple of tiny plot details. It looks like Sam Jackson is out to kill Kong and Tom Hiddleston is out to save him. This could lead to some really awesome human drama in the film itself. It also appears that they try to capture Kong at some point.

Finally, Brie Larson doesn't look too good in this last shot. Maybe Kong saves her from the octopus? Onto to the next one!

Now this one made me freak out at the beginning! We all wondered how open they were going to be about this film being attached to 'Godzilla (2014)' and I think this one shows we are in for some nice treats. 

"The 1954 tests were not tests they were trying to kill something!" Man I hope we get to see the same footage of the bomb going off with Godzilla rising that we saw in 2014! It would be great if John Goodman had that footage and we briefly see Godzilla in 'Kong: Skull Island'. Even just a tiny second of him would get the general audiences riled up!

It really looks like Kong is going to be jumping around a lot when he fights and using the momentum to make his hits even stronger . This will come in hand when he comes up against the King of the Monsters in 2020.

The Skull Crawler have Yoshi tongues!? That's awesome!

And finally it's the big confrontation moment! 2 down 2 to go!

"We came here looking for a dragon." Wait did they come to Skull Island in search of Godzilla?! This line plus the little bit in the other Spot makes it seem like they were actually thinking Godzilla came and hid on Skull Island after the Nuclear tests. There's also an  awesome shot of Kong swinging a tree like a baseball bat and hitting the Skull Crawler in the face. Unfortunately there is not a high resolution enough version to get a good screenshot. Let's move onto the final one!

More of the same really but there are a couple stand out moments.

Looks like Kong is in trouble! He is definitely chained in this picture and the Skull Crawler is taking advantage of his enemies weakness. The humans seem to be firing at the Crawler so at least he seems to have a bit of help.

Well that's all of them! Did you enjoy them? Are you on the hype train along with me? Do you think little hints towards 'Godzilla (2014)' are going to be enough or do they need to show Godzilla in the film in some way?

'Kong: Skull Island' - Trailer #2 Breakdown

So I completely got bogged down with work back when the comic-con trailer for 'Kong: Skull Island' dropped and was unable to get a trailer breakdown out to you folks quickly enough. Luckily I can make up for it by breaking down the latest exciting trailer and giving my predictions about the film. Let's do this guys!

First off we get a good look at the set-up of the film. It seems like they may be borrowing some from the 1976 Kong in that these people seem to be on some sort of survey mission. I do really like the design of the island as it does really evoke a skull without being completely over the top.

So this is the first of many repeat shots from the original trailer but it is a very important one. It looks like they are suggesting that Skull Island is constantly hidden behind a hurricane and the viral marketing via discoverskullisland.com further confirms that idea. I think it's actually a way more interesting idea than the usual "hidden in perpetual fog" since if I were a ship captain I would more likely avoid this giant storm system.

Really cool shot of the bombs exploding being reflected in this dude's glasses. This movie is extremely well shot and is oozing with personality in every frame. I really dig it. I like the idea that they piss Kong off by dropping these survey bombs. Probably not the best idea guys.

"Is that a monkey?" is probably the funniest line in the whole trailer and is extremely well timed. Not a huge Toby Kebbell fan but no one can deny the greatness of this line of dialogue.

Now it's time for the shot from the EW interview earlier this week. I'm really impressed with how much they were able to sneak the '33 Kong's design in there but there are definitely elements of '76 Kong and maybe even a little Toho Kong in there too. Very impressive design work.

This shot looks almost directly ripped from 'King Kong Lives' which could be a good or bad thing. Needless to say I think that the people in this chopper are the dead soldiers that John Goodman talks about later on in the trailer.when Kong gets mad there are few survivors.

Once again this film impresses with its visuals! I think that this shot directly connects to the Kong on fire shot and is definitely from the climax of the film. It seems like Samuel L. Jackson is the human antagonist and takes the death of his men by Kong very seriously. 

A better look at the outside of the village in which the group of heroes is threatened by the villagers with spears. As far as we can see it seems that these villagers on Skull Island have no giant wall protecting them and they live in harmony with Kong. The yellow design on the ruins is pretty cool and matches the outfits the villagers are wearing. Is it a language or just cool design?

And its time to introduce the most controversial person in this trailer! John C. Reilly is playing what appears to be a WWII fighter pilot that crashed landed on Skull Island and has been living there for quite some time. He may be a little crazy (ala Lawrenc Fishburne's character in Predators) which would explain his humor and general disconnect from all of the other characters we have seen thus far. Most people have been saying this is a huge tone shift but I just think we are seeing a very small piece of this character and he won't be jokes all of the time. 

Very very interesting imagery here! Why just make a mural when we can paint a bunch of different pillars to form Kong's face once we pan around. Not very practical but on the other hand it is very cool.

The hero shot! Judging from the information given in both of the trailers it really seems like the group of people from the ship get split up at some point and with Sam Jackson being the villain I assume most of the military guys get roped onto his side.

The Shadow of the Colossus shot as I have come to call it. I love that wemay see some just day in the life of Kong stuff instead of Kong always being in kill everyone mode. We rarely get to see the monsters just living their day to day lives. You also get a good glimpse of his massive size here. While he still may not be Godzilla size he is definitely on his way there.

Look at those back muscles! I love Peter Jackson's realistic Kong but there is something so right about seeing an upright Kong.

"You don't go into some's house and start dropping bombs unless your picking a fight!"
 This dialogue really establishes that Kong is going to be more of an Anti-hero in this film instead of the out right villain. In the past we have felt bad for Kong but it seems they are really trying to make us root for him.

The lair of the Skull Crawlers seems to be filled with various skeletons and overall just seems like a very bad place. I'm guessing one of the scientifc devices from earlier caused the tunnel to become exposed.

I'm really guessing that these may be Kong's parents that were killed by the Skull Crawlers. Also I think this gives us a good glimpse at how big fully grown Kong will be. These skeletons have got to be close to 250 feet long at least which while not Godzilla's size would be a good size to fight him.

Our first glimpse of the Skull Crawlers is tinged with a strange blue light and the creature itself seems to be glowing. Some sort of crazy ability? A beam weapon like Godzilla's breath?

The Skull Crawlers have a very interesting design that reminds me of Clover and the MUTOs in the way that they move. I do like that they are like serpents with only front legs though.

A more interesting design choice is their eyes being so far back on their head. Also they've got some really gnarly teeth going on there.

We know that this film is not going to follow the traditional Kong story but its nice to see that they are going to make some sort of reference to the Kong being entralled with a girl aspect. I just hope they don't go too far like '76 Kong did.

Here we have this crazy cool giant Ox coming out of the water. I like that we are seeing more of the Ecosystem of the island and how it can maintain such large predators like th Skull Crawlers and Kong.

Definitely from the Climax of the film and is most likely the moment where Sam Jackson realizes that he's fighting on the wrong side. This most likely is his death scene.

If you ever wanted to see Kong really mad all you need to do is set him on fire. Once again I love the imagery on display here.

Ah the iconic chest beating scene. You really get a good look at his brown fur here...which I really like. It furthers him from a normal gorrilla which helps him feel like his own species.

Is that Kumongra?! Nah, but it is a cool giant spider that we saw in the first trailer as well.

Nice to see John C. Reily is going to kick ass as well. It is interesting that the heroes have seemingly met back up with the military guys here. Maybe once the Skull Crawlers attack shit just hits the fan and causes everyone to work together? I also wonder if John C. Reily's character was the one we saw fighting a guy on the top of th mountain in the first trailer. Maybe it'll be a flashback showing when he crash landed on the island.

When did I put in 'Platoon'?!

I'm guessing this is some sort of Queen/Alpha Skull Crawler that will be Kong's final enemy in the film. It's interesting because all of the ones seen in the Skeleton graveyard seem to be pretty small. I think this may be the same one that was stalking towards Sam Jackson earlier. Also I am loving the skull look of their heads.

A really good look a Kong's scale in comparison to the humans.

We also get a glimpse at this crazy bug thing that seems to use a log as a hiding place. Very cool and is really adding to the ecosystem of Skull Island. I think it is very likly that they will rename the island Monster Island by the end of 'Kong vs Godzilla' which would be a pretty cool reference to the Toho films.

Well that guy is dead! The Skull Crawlers definitely have a unique way of moving around and it will be interesting to see Kong fight these slithering beasties.

Chest beat number two and this time it's to the drumbeat of the song. I love it when trailers do that!

Slightly new logo design with elements taken from the villager's ruins.

And finally one las shot of the Skull Crawler charging toward the screen after a horribly edited piece of dialogue from John C. Reily. Really can see the skull on the outside of their faces from the front.

Did you enjoy the trailer? What do you think of the Skull Crawlers? Did the tone of the new trailer scare you away from the final film?

'Kong: Skull Island' - New York Comic Con Poster Reveals Mysterious Messages

New York Comic Con is in full swing this weekend and while we may have gotten a 'Power Rangers' trailer, most of the giant monster world has been relatively silent. Until some people at the convention ended up receiving a mysterious poster tube with the Monarch logo on the side from some Warner Bros. employees. Monarch is of course the Government group that tracks down Megafauna like Godzilla or Kong that were introduced in 'Godzilla (2014)'. Inside of the white poster tube is a 'Kong: Skull Island' poster that seems to be a very basic teaser image showing the island from above with a little bit of writing from Monarch down near the bottom. Upon further investiagtion however of the poster conatins some awesome teasers for the shared universe with Godzilla.

Here is another look:

The images are of course taken by cell phone by friends of Scified.com and while not the greatest quality they show a really interesting image that I would love to plaster up on my wall. At the the bottom left there is a small little bit of text saying the following:

His mouth is fire; his roar the floodwater; his breath is death.
Enlil made him guardian of the Cedar Forest,
To frighten off the mortal who would venture there
BUT WHO WOULD VENTURE THERE?

Obviously this is kind of a refernce to both Kong and Godzilla at the same time and the mythological entity Enlil is part of Summerian mythology. Now this little piece of text as well as the huge connection to 'Godzilla (2014)' through the use of Monarch would be interesting on their own but upon further investigation of the poster (using a blacklight) more text was revealed.

Hypervore is definitely an interesting terminology to be using but I assume this is talking about some other creature since Kong is referred to by a different name on another part of the poster. The Boneyard is most likely the area in the first trailer where a lot of the action beats seem to be taking place.

As you can see it looks like Kong is going to labeled the Apex Primate by Monarch. This is cool since Godzilla is labeled the Alpha Predator (Apex Primate vs Alpha Predator is a cool marketing phrase). Also the biggest other reveal here comes in the form of a very specific phrase used: Adolescent Superspecies.  This phrase basically reveals how Kong will stand up to Godzilla once we get to the Godzilla vs Kong film as it suggests that Kong (or one of the Kongs if you believe there are 2 in this film) is not fully grown. This has been a big discussion amongst fans since Kong is supposed to be topping out at a height of 100 feet when Godzillais standing around 350 feet tall and people were wondering how they were going to have Kong fight the much larger creature. Obviously now it seems that will grow between 1973 and 2020 and get closer to Godzilla's height.

In the upper right hand corner there appears to be hidden behind yet another Monarch logo. It is kingd of hard to see on first glance but if you look hard enough you can definitely see a spine and some ribs. Someone at Toho Kingdom sharpened up the image.

Yeah that's definitely a snake of some kind.

Towards the center of the poster there appears to be some sort of giant Mosasaur skull. I wonder, do these two giant skeletons reveal that Kong will be fighting other Megafauna? Maybe we can get some cool references to other Toho monsters in this film to flesh out the Legendary universe. A man can dream!

The last little bit of information is justsome textfrom what appears to be an "official" Monarch document talking about the search for Kong.

Well what do you all think of this cool little ARG that Legendary/Warner Bros. set up? Did this help build up more hype for the film?

'Kong: Skull Island' Trailer - Find Out How Kong Became a King

The day has finally arrived! During the Hall H Comic-Con panel, Legendary pictures showed off a gorgeous trailer for the new film 'Kong: Skull Island!' Check it out! (I promise you won't be disappointed)

Man there is so much to talk about! Kong is huge! We get a glimpse of some sort of spider creature!

Keep an eye out for a trailer breakdown super soon!

'Kong: Skull Island' - First Poster Revealed At Comi-con

Legendary and Warner Bros. Hall H Comic-con panel for everyone's favorite 100 ft tall Gorilla isn't until tomorrow but we have already gotten a pretty sweet teaser poster from the huge event. Posted on their official Facebook page, it gives a good first glimpse of the titular ape and reminds me of a certain other giant monster film's marketing. Check it out!

This poster is super cool and I'm really digging the whole green flare imagery in this Teaser poster. It brings back great memories of the original teaser poster for 'Godzilla (2014)' and is a good way to subtly link the two films via marketing.

As for the glimpse of Kong himself it is a little too hidden within the fog to get too many details but it definitely has some facial structure similarities to Peter Jackson's 'King Kong' design. None the less, Kong looks super awesome hidden in the mist and he's super huge!

Keep an eye on the site tomorrow as we will be keeping you all up to date as the panel is going on tomorrow afternoon.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 2

Continuing from where I left off in part one, I had just finished talking about the dull/lame island that acted as the setting in the 1976 'King Kong.' Now, it's time to move on to brighter shores. In part two, I'm going to break down the glorious Peter Jackson created island from 2005, and give some brief speculation on what we might see in the new film: 'Kong: Skull Island.' The Peter Jackson Skull Island is actually the reason for breaking this article into two parts, since there was a lot of thought put into it's design and ecosystem.

2005 - SKULL ISLAND

Say what you will about the actual 2005 'King Kong' film, but no one can deny the beauty and mystery that hides in every frame of this island. Peter Jackson and crew did an astounding job creating a literal lost world, one that had remained relatively untouched by human hands for sixty-five million years (minus the villagers, but I'll get to them in a second). This island is unlike any jungle seen in the real world, and it definitely brought back that sense of 'going into the unknown' that the 76' Kong was sorely lacking. The beautiful-but-hellish island is slowly slipping back into the sea (a plot point Jackson borrowed from 'Son of Kong') and is an extremely harsh environment for everyone and everything attempting to live on it. The island is still located somewhere off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia just like in the original 1933 film.

The creatures of the island aren't just dinosaurs that stuck around after the mass extinction, but actually feel like completely different animals from what they were before. These dinosaurs have been continuously evolving for millions of years, and have changed distinctly in order to live in Skull Islands' harsh environment. The Tyrannosaurs are now a new creature called Vastatosaurus Rex that have wider feet to climb rocky terrain and are covered from head to tail in hard scales to protect them from all of the other alpha predators on the island (the third finger is still there as a reference to the original Kong). The raptors have evolved to be thin and tall. They can now hunt down some of the larger prey on the island like Brontosaurus, and compete with much bulkier predators. Instead of trying to be completely accurate to science, Jackson decided to create an island that had changed with the times.

This time around dinosaurs aren't the only fauna that our adventurers had to overcome in order to save Ann, as the film is bursting with an ecosystem of diverse animals. We have giant leeches, humongous insects of all sorts, large hairless bats, and huge man eating eels that live in the swamp (the eel scene was cut from the theatrical release).

These other animals really flesh out the fact that this island is a massive threat to any and all fleshy little humans that dare come near it. And the humans that live here are just as harsh and cruel as the island on which they reside.

The natives are brutal and scary humans that make the other two film's villagers look like friendly next-door neighbors. The first thing they do is literally stab the audio guy through the chest and then attempt to crush Carl Denham's skull. These people are barley surviving on a tiny little strip of the island, and have seemingly cut into the rocks to create little dwellings. You really get the feeling that these people are not the rulers of this island, instead they feel like they are part of the unique food chain and are nowhere near the top.

I would highly suggest people check out the book The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island if you are interested in the thought processes that went into imagining the island of Kong 2005. It reads like someone studying the animals on the island, as well as how the inhabitants of the island have survived.

2017 - VIETNAMESE SKULL ISLAND

So, we really don't have much information on this Island as of yet, (considering we have yet to receive an actual trailer) but I have some ideas based on the behind the scenes footage and the leaked set photos. Obviously, this island looks very Pacific-Asian. The mountains and the foliage look like documentary footage I could recall from that region. It is interesting that they are going the realistic jungle route with the film, but it makes sense that this Skull Island would have to share the tone of the Legendary Godzillaverse.

I think that we will be getting monsters instead of dinosaurs/giant animals in this film. Now that we know Kong will be at least 100 feet tall, I really doubt that the film will just use generic or evolved dinosaurs as the side antagonists to go along with Kong. Again, since this film is part of the Legendary Godzillaverse, it would be great if they could bring some lesser known Toho monsters into the movie, and have Skull Island essentially be Monster Island from Toho's Godzilla series.

From what we have seen of the village it looks like they are going to be Asian-inspired as well, which fits the time period and setting of the film. Using the Vietnam War as a back drop will really help this film get a style for the island that we have never seen before. I would like to see these villagers still be cruel and unfriendly, but with the more realistic setting (especially with the Vietnam war raging in the background of the film) I think it should be a little toned down though from what we saw in Peter Jackson's Kong.

I'm sure that I will probably do an additional article once we get more footage of this new movie, but for now there really isn't enough information about the film. Keep a look out for our continued coverage of this upcoming film and I hope you've enjoyed our little retrospective of the mysterious island Kong calls home.

'Kong: Skull Island' Director Reveals King Kong's New Size

Warner Bros. showed up big for this year's CineEurope convention in Barcelona. On the first day alone, they revealed a megaton of news for their future film franchises, including everything from Harry Potter to the DC superhero line-up. That said, the big news for us was director Jordan Vogt-Roberts talking about King Kong's height in an extended preview for the upcoming 'Kong: Skull Island.'

He's quoted as saying, "This is going to be the biggest Kong there's ever been. Not 10 foot or 30 foot, but a 100-foot ape."

There was also some new footage shown in the preview, but no one has yet to detail what that included. Either way, the director confirming Kong's size (even if we've assumed this for awhile) is a huge reveal for the reboot. This solves the problem of the new Kong being able to stand toe to toe with Legendary's Godzilla, even if he's still going to be quite a bit shorter.

The news also brings up a slew of new questions in regards to the new Skull Island film. Why would Kong even care about humans when he's that big? How will the protagonists hope to fight off the giant ape, or even escape him in the dense jungle? What will Kong fight in the film that equals that kind of power?

I can't wait for the answers to these questions and more. In the meantime, we'll just wait patiently for the first trailer.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 1

We are on the cusp of a brand new iteration of King Kong ('Kong: Skull Island') - and that of course means a brand new look for the mythical island which he comes from as well. From what we have been shown thus far, the new Skull Island looks to be something completely different from what we have ever seen before. The islands of the films are almost characters of their own and are extremely crucial to the lore of Kong universe.  I just recently watched the 1976 'King Kong' in preparation for the next episode of our podcast, and I thought it might be fun to breakdown the differences between the three islands we have already seen and speculate about the little we have glimpsed of the new Skull Island. Keep in mind, this is not really a conversation about the creature Kong specifically - but more about the world he inhabits (including his competition in the food chain).

1933 - THE ISLAND WITH SKULL MOUNTAIN

Contrary to most people's beliefs, Skull Island was not named directly in the original film. The only reference to the island being skull related comes from the distinctive skull shaped mountain that occupies the center of the island. This is, of course, a place of prehistoric creatures that somehow survived their mass extinctions and live behind a massive wall that sections off a small piece of the island where the group of shipwrecked humans/natives are surviving. The island is said to be located off of the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia and has a very mythological feel to the design. It does not seem like a place that could have formed naturally, and that really adds to the creepiness factor once the rescue for Ann Darrow begins.

As I mentioned above, all of the fauna on the island is from a time long past. The crew of the USS Venture runs into your normal assortment of dinosaurs while on the island, and this being 1933, the dinosaurs all represent that time period's paleontological theories in beautiful stop motion. The Tyrannosaurus that Kong fights still has the third finger on his hands, and of course, is in the upright pose that all dinosaurs were thought to be in at the time.

There are some strange scientific inaccuracies (even for the time period) with the Brontosaurus that chases after the crew in the swamp. It seems that this normally docile plant eater has suddenly gotten a taste for human flesh, and would like nothing more than to chomp down on our hapless adventurers. For the most part though, all of the other creatures seem to be ripped straight out of the film 'The Lost World,' and provide worthy antagonists for the majority of the film.

The islanders are basically your generic pacific tribespeople seen in many films around this time - with painted faces and feathers stuck in the hair of the chief to boot. Just like in the other films, they seem to worship Kong and are the builders of the giant wall. Most of them are actually killed during Kong's final rampage on the island, and for the most part, they are actually kind of harmless. Sure they still kidnap Ann Darrow, but I get more of a scared feeling from these islanders. People just trying to survive who truly believe that Kong is their Protector/God.

1976 - BEACH/ISLAND OF THE SKULL

So here is a bit of a spoiler for the next podcast everyone... I hate this Skull Island. The location is the most generic island I have ever seen. In fact, I could not even find a picture from the film to use, but instead got a picture of the beach in Hawaii where they filmed the landing scene. You want the best description of this place? Hawaii with only a few residents and a single giant ape. Well, I guess there is one other creature on the island...

Yes, your eyes don't deceive you if you think that is a random giant snake. The only other living creature we see on this stupid island is a giant boa constrictor that shows up at the very end of the "adventure." As far as we can tell, this isn't an island where all of the creatures are huge or anything rational like that, just a giant ape and snake living in whatever the opposite of harmony is.

The villagers are kind of just there for the plot progression in the 76' film. In fact, I really don't perceive the fear aspect that we get from the original. Sure, they built a wall to keep out Kong, but it seems like they actually have a huge section of the island that they have carved out for themselves. Also, with the lack of crazy creatures on the other side of the wall, I feel like they have no need to worship Kong and sacrifice people to him for protection. To get my full thoughts on the film check out our next episode of the podcast that should drop sometime next week.

PART 2 - COMING SOON

In my next article, I'll talk in length about Peter Jackson's depiction of the famous island, and speculate on what the new film might be going for. Let me know which island is your favorite rendition, and what you hope they might do in the reboot.

Is The Old "Kongfrontation" Animatronic Being Used For The New "Skull Island: Reign Of Kong" Ride?

Universal Studios has released a new video hosted by Universal Creative's Mike West focusing on the titular ride's main attraction: King Kong. According to the video and various sources, "Skull Island: Reign of Kong" will take riders through the jungles of the fantastical location in a revolutionary trackless vehicle. Using a mixture of 3D CGI on massive screens and live action animatronics, Skull Island will come alive in a similar fashion to the other park's latest attractions, concluding with an up close encounter with a three story high King Kong. Check out the video below and see a teaser image released by Universal of the King himself.

Many fans are already chiming in about the fact that this reveal of Kong shows more than just impressive technology. It appears that while this version of the "Eighth Wonder of the World" does not immediately resemble Peter Jackson's 2005 design, besides a basic color palette and similar scars, it looks more like the 76' Kong featured in the classic Universal Studios ride "Kongfrontation." This has lead many to believe that at least the robotics and skeleton of the iconic creature have been preserved and possibly improved upon for this new iteration.

Personally, as someone who has previously spoken about how influential the old ride was to my love of giant monsters, this, more than anything else, has made the upcoming attraction a must visit for me. Just to say hello to the big guy again.

While no official date has been confirmed, the ride is preparing for technical rehearsals to begin soon and should open sometime during the summer.