Posted on 10/26/2005 9:24:47 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 26 - In hiring Peter Jackson, the Oscar-winning director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, to remake the monster classic "King Kong," Universal Pictures took a daring leap, paying him $20 million to direct, produce and be the co-writer of the film.
With seven weeks to go before the movie's release, the risks are becoming clearer. After seeing a version of the film in late September at Mr. Jackson's studio in New Zealand, Universal executives agreed to release "King Kong" at a length of three hours.
The film is substantially longer than Universal had anticipated and presents dual obstacles: the extra length has helped increase the budget by a third, to $207 million, while requiring the studio, owned by General Electric, to reach for the kind of long-term audience interest that made hits out of three-hour movies like "Titanic" and the films in Mr. Jackson's "Rings" trilogy.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And they dare to preach anything.
I have NO intention of ever seeing this movie, in any format.
Take THAT Hollywierdos!
I've always liked Naomi Watts so I will wish this movie well.
Sheesh. How many times are they going to remake that monkey-fest?
If Peter Jackson is as faithful to the original book (yes, it was a book before it was a movie) as he was to Tolkien, it will make back the cost and a tidy profit.
The studio is taking a gamble by paying him up front. If the movie bombs, he takes his 20 mil and walks away. But if it's a mega-hit, they don't have to pay him residuals.
Investment
Adored his Ring. Spent most of the last weekend watching the extended version of all three with the fam.
Have never been that excited by any of the versions of KK that I've seen. Just don't understand the fuss or why PJ was so anxious to make this one. I can think of a LOT of movies I'd rather see him make.
I guess Kong goes back to the Empire State Building? Hollywood's best buddies blew up Kong's last climb target...
most likely he has points as well...few in hollywood are stupid enough to leave them on the table (like brando did for superman).
How many college scholarships for impoverished inner city school kids would $207 million buy?
Neither Hollywood -- or anyone else -- spends that kind of money without expecting to see a hefty return on investment. KK is the perfect "vehicle" for a global market.
The remake can only impress us with its digital ingenuity (which includes even the look and time period of the original), but these days, digital technology can pretty much recreate anything, so it's hard to be impressed with special effects we now pretty much take for granted. I'd rather Jackson had done something original with the budget and the technology.
PJ has wanted to do King Kong since before he did LOTR, so this has been on his plate for a long time.
How many remakes do they expect to do?
Oh, they are making Invasion of the Body Snatchers for the THIRD time.
It was a book before it was a movie, but the book was an adaptation of the movie's script.
My main concern is the length. Three hours seems a tad long for such a thin story. I don't like Jack Black either, but I suppose I can overlook it.
Geesh, I wish him luck -- but I have no plans on seeing any movies in theaters anymore. With the DVD release cycles I can happily wait the 8-9 months this thing will take to get into my DVD rental queue. And then if it's really good I will purchase it.
I am not spending $9 a ticket to see it in theater. If my wife and I go out to see it it would cost as much as the DVD! If we had two kids who wanted to see it (we have a 11 month old and one on the way) it would cost us about $30! Then add popcorn, drinks, etc.. and you are on the way to $45. No wonder movies don't make $$$ anymore (besides their craptacular content).
I hope it rocks!
It's time we levy a 'windfall profits" tax on the obscene profits of Big Entertainment. The way they keep raising ticket prices, with the peak of the moviegoing season coming on- families are going to suffer. We use half the money to pay for hurricane relief, and the other half to make movie tickets more affordable for working families.
(Hey, if it's good for the oil industry. . .)
SOMEONE ELSE should pay for all of that! (As in, taxpayers.)
This is a monkey movie we are talking about... there's nothing wrong with investing in complete stupidity, right?
Its like in the original movie as its set in the 1920's/30's. At least its not your typical hollyweird movie where they bash america for 2 hours.
Peter Jackson's next project is he's acting as executive producer for the Halo movie. Based off the Xbox video game.
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