Kong most definitely remains king, first with Kong: Skull Island having pulled in a global gross of over half a billion dollars, and now with word coming out that the big ape is getting his own television series.
King Kong Skull Island is the show coming from IM Global Television and MarVista Entertainment. As such, it will be the first live-action TV version of Kong following the animated series The King Kong Show (1966), Kong: The Animated Series (2000) and Kong: King Of The Apes (2016).
The show is to be written by The Bye Bye Man's Jonathan Penner and Stacy Title, and is reportedly going to be based on a combination of Merian C. Cooper's King Kong and Skull Island from DeVito Artworks. Notes Deadline, this version will be a "serialised, contemporary continuation of the classic with a female-led, multi-cultural ensemble that delves fully into the wonders and horrors of Skull Island and its origins."
Mark Stern, formerly of Syfy and now CEO of IM Global Television, comments, “There’s clearly a deep and abiding interest in this timeless story. We love Stacy and Jonathan’s approach to this adaptation and look forward to partnering with MarVista as we bring this gripping tale of survival and adventure to life for a new generation of Kong fans.”
Adds, Fernando Szew, CEO of MarVista: "Jonathan and Stacy have taken a world that has enraptured audiences in all its many forms over the years and given it a contempoary, female-focused spin."
The Kong character is expected to return to the big screen in 2020's Godzilla Vs Kong. In the past (despite the Japanese film from the 1960s), Kong has always appeared much smaller than Godzilla. However, in Kong: Skull Island it was established that he was 103 feet tall and still growing. Considering that film was set in the 1970s, by the time he takes on Big G he should be a huge ape.