King Kong Is Getting A Live-Action TV Show
Sure, Godzilla might call himself the king of the monsters, but we all know Kong is currently the king of pop culture.
The big monkey has been crushing it at the box office, with Kong: Skull Island grossing over $500 million, and now it looks like the oversized ape is headed to television. According to Deadline, MarVista Entertainment and IM Global Television are joining together to give the eighth wonder of the world his own live-action TV show.
Titled King Kong Skull Island, the film will focus on a "female-led, multi-cultural ensemble" that somehow ends up on the primate's home turf, an island full of "wonders and horrors." Despite the title, there's no connection between the new series and the Warner Bros. movie. Instead, the show will draw inspiration from the original 1933 film and DeVito ArtWorks' King Kong of Skull Island novel. So far, we like what we're hearing. A diverse cast facing off against giant monsters? Yeah, we'll definitely give that a watch.
However, there is one little catch. As it turns out, the series is being written by Jonathan Penner and Stacy Title, the husband-and-wife duo who gave us The Bye Bye Man. While that film was a success at the box office, earning around $24 million against a budget of $7.4 million, the film was torn to shreds by critics. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a lousy 23 percent rating based on 62 reviews. Having said that, Penner and Title were also responsible for 1993's Down on the Waterfront, a short film that was nominated for an Oscar. So fingers crossed the storytellers will bring their A-game and give Kong the kind of show the big guy deserves.
And while we're waiting to see what horrors await in King Kong Skull Island, be sure to check out some of the scariest new monsters of 2017.