King Kong is one of the icons of American cinema. First appeared in movie Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack from 1933. He was a 12- to 15-meter-tall prehistoric ape that an American film crew finds on Skull Island, somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The giant falls in love with actress Ann Darrow. Captured by filmmakers, he is taken to New York. He escapes with a kidnapped actress and climbs to the very top of the Empire State Building, from which he falls, attacked by biplane planes. One of the characters comments that this time “beauty killed the beast.”
The originator of the monster was Cooper, who as a child read the memoirs of the traveler Paul Du Chaillu. He particularly remembered the description of a huge gorilla who was supposed to be the “King of the African Forests”. Du Chaillu described him as “half-man, half-beast”. As an adult, Cooper got involved with the RKO studio and decided to bring the story about a huge gorilla to the big screen. He came up with the finale at the very beginning of work. Although King Kong died during the last minutes of the show, this was only the beginning of his film career.
Godzilla debuted in 1954 in the film Ishirō Honda. The film was about a prehistoric lizard that, awakened from its underwater sleep due to hydrogen bomb tests, attacks Tokyo. The production was extremely popular with the audience, and researchers interpreted it as a depiction of the Japanese nuclear trauma. A sequel to the film was created in 1955. “Godzilla” came to the United States in 1956. For the needs of local audiences, new scenes with American actors were added, and the film was subtitled “King of the Monsters”.
Both monsters met in 1962 in the Japanese film “King Kong vs. Godzilla”. The fight ended in a draw. However, the producers could talk about a huge success. The film turned out to be the second most popular premiere in the history of Japanese cinema. The Toho studio decided that after a seven-year break it was necessary to return to Godzilla, and the monsters permanently appeared on the big screen. Of course, the film also came to the United States. Again, the plot was changed for an American audience.
Godzilla regularly faced new monsters, sometimes as a defender of humanity, sometimes as a threat to it. King Kong returned to screens less frequently. Your remake the first film was made in 2005 by Peter Jackson. The Americans also wanted to create their own version of the lizard. In 1998 it was released in cinemas “Godzilla” Roland Emmerich, which was destroyed by reviewers. Interestingly, critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel appeared in the film, portrayed as the incompetent mayor of New York and his obnoxious secretary. Siskel thought the whole thing was an unfunny joke. In turn, Ebert ironized that since they already appeared in the film, why didn't the monster eat them?
Cinema fans had to wait a long time for the reunion of both giants. In 2014, Legendary Pictures began developing the MonsterVerse – a cinematic universe of monsters. She started the series “Godzilla” Gareth Edwards. In 2017 it was released “Konga: Skull Island” Jordan Vogt-Roberts. The two monsters met in the fourth film of the series titled “Godzilla vs. Kong” directed by Adam Wingard. In the finale, the titular giants joined forces against Mechagodzilla. In the latest video, “New Empire”Kong and Godzilla will work together from the beginning against new threats.