King Kong Will Be Even Bigger In Kong: Skull Island

Before there was 1933's King Kong there was Kong: Skull Island. At least, that's according to the presumed plot of Skull Island, the upcoming prequel to the original starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, and John C. Reilly. Or maybe that's not the plot at all: there's another rumored plot that has the film set in a much more recent era, with Vietnam vets exploring the titular island. Maybe it's both? No one really knows. But as we get closer to Skull Island's scheduled release date of March 10, 2017, various tidbits will leak out and clear things up—like this one, from director Jordon Vogt-Roberts.

Previewing the film at CineEurope (via the Hollywood Reporter), Vogt-Roberts stopped short of revealing any plot details, but he did make it clear that he's out to offer the most spectacular version of Kong yet. "This is going to be the biggest Kong there's ever been," he told attendees. "Not a 10-foot or 30-foot, but a 100-foot ape."

In comparison, the Kong in the 1933 stop-motion classic was 40 to 50 feet tall, generally skewing on the higher end of the scale. In 1986's King Kong Lives, he'd grown to around 60 feet. Peter Jackson's Kong depicted the beast at a scant 25 feet tall. So Skull Island's 100-foot Kong is going to be the franchise's largest, most physically imposing, and decidedly more kaiju-inspiring Kong yet, measuring in at twice the size of the original. But that doesn't even come close to Kong's size in 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla, where Kong was a towering 148 ft tall—and given that they're set to do battle again after the upcoming Godzilla sequel advances the franchise, it would seem that Kong's growth spurt might have been inspired by another lizard fight.