Disney+ is heading into somewhat new territory, as Disney Branded Television is in very early development on a series based on the iconic monster, King Kong, as reported by Deadline.
What’s Happening:
- Under the working title of King Kong, deals have just closed for the project, which comes from James Wan’s Atomic Monster, marking the first live-action series set in the Kong universe.
- Written by Paper Girls creator Stephany Folsom, King Kong is a serialized action/adventure drama that brings the classic monster story into the modern age, with a return to Skull Island and the dawn of a new Kong. The series will explore the mythology of King Kong’s origin story and the supernatural mysteries of his home based on IP from Merian C. Cooper’s original books and the new King Kong novelizations by Joe DeVito.
- Folsom executive produces alongside Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett for Atomic Monster and Dannie Festa and Marc Manus for World Builder Entertainment.
- The Merian C. Cooper Estate had teamed up with artist Joe DeVito to produce new novelizations that are being used as source material for the series, along with the original book IP.
- King Kong, a 90-year-old character with an entangled web of rights, has been the subject of a slew of movies, most recently featured in Legendary/Warner Bros.’ Monsterverse, which only uses the Kong part of the gorilla monster’s moniker for its titles: 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, followed by a Netflix anime series, Skull Island.
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