King Kong 75th Anniversary Celebration

King Kong in 1976 had producer Dino De Laurentiis who created a new version of the giant gorilla that featured make-up artist Rick Baker in a suit.

By: Bill Waters
Apr 5, 2008, 12:20 AM EDT

King Kong turns 75 and three television networks are hosting an event. TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) are teaming up to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Hollywood's tallest, darkest leading man: KING KONG. The celebration will begin Monday, April 7, at 8 PM (ET), when TCM presents the original 1933 classic, which stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot.

Then on Friday, April 11, at 8 PM (ET/PT), TNT and TBS will simulcast director Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning 2005 remake, starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody.

TNT and TBS to Simulcast Network Television Premiere of Peter Jackson's Blockbuster Remake, Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody.

TCM to Present Classic 1939 Original, Starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot.

"KING KONG is an excellent example of how having a portfolio of networks like ours provides outstanding programming opportunities," said Ken Schwab, senior vice president of programming for TBS and TNT.

Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM, added, "Through our celebration of KING KONG's 75th anniversary, we will be able to bring the past and present together in a way no other company can do."

In addition to the April 11 simulcast of Jackson's acclaimed blockbuster, TNT will present encores of the film Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13, at 8 PM (ET/PT). TCM will follow its April 7 outstanding presentation of the original 1933 version of KING KONG with four other movie classics celebrating their 75th anniversary: Dinner at Eight at 10 PM, Little Women at midnight, 42nd Street at 2 AM and Queen Christina at 3:45 AM

Kong, who is struck by Ann's beauty, takes her back to his lair, fighting off numerous prehistoric beasts who would like to make a meal of her. Denham and his crew, meanwhile, set out to get her back alive and capture Kong to eventually take him back to New York. Once in the Big Apple, Kong breaks free, finds Ann and climbs to the top of the Empire State Building, where he faces the bullets of fighter planes buzzing overhead. Bleeding and alone in a world he doesn't understand, Kong looks to Ann for comfort.

King Kongbegan as the brainchild of director Merian C. Cooper, who came up with the optimistic idea while he was shooting wild-animal footage for the movie The Four Feathers. His original plan for King Kong was to use a real gorilla made larger through trick photography.

RKO released KING KONG in New York in 1933. At the time, it was the only film that had ever played by Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy simultaneously. Audiences and critics were amazed, and King Kong went on to make more than $1.7 million at the height of the Depression, single-handedly saving RKO from bankruptcy.

King Kong in 1976 had producer Dino De Laurentiis who created a new version of the giant ape that featured make-up artist Rick Baker in a gorilla suit, along with a few sequences with a massively expensive mechanical Kong made by Carlo Rambaldi. The film was dismissed by critics, but managed to become a blockbuster and earn an Oscar for its visual effects.

Nearly three decades later, filmmaker Peter Jackson decided to try for his own remake. He was determined to do everything right that De Laurentiis had done so very wrong. Jackson's film was released in 2005 to enormous critical praise and blockbuster crowds.

Like the 1933 original, Jackson's film took special effects to a new level, using computer animation and performance elements by Andy Serkis ( Gollum in The Lord of the Rings) to make Kong to be astonishingly realistic. The results were three Oscars (Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing) and a domestic gross of more than $200 million.