Disney Preparing Its Own Take On King Kong
Disney unexpectedly announced this week they are developing a live-action TV show about King Kong for the Disney+ streaming service. The series will reportedly explore the origins of Kong (why is he so big anyway?) and be produced by James Wan’s production company. Stephany Folsom (Paper Girls) will be head writer.
But wait a minute….isn’t Kong currently being used by Warner Bros for a series of big monster movies? How can Disney produce something with Kong in it at the same time? Is Kong public domain, or what? The answer is yes….and no.
Comicbook.com looked into it and found a tangled mess. The character of King Kong was created by Merian C. Cooper, who published a novelization of the basic story prior to the release of the RKO movie in 1933. As part of a deal that became difficult to prove, RKO would get the rights to the movie while Cooper would retain the rights to the Kong IP. It was eventually ruled MANY years later (after Cooper’s death) that this deal was valid, but that the book and its ideas had fallen into public domain. It’s this public domain status that allowed Nintendo to block a 1983 lawsuit from Universal over the claim that they owned KK. The Donkey Kong character was clearly different from any movie they’d ever made and the word “Kong” was free for anyone.
Even still, most projects that have based their King Kong on the PD version have cleared permission with the Cooper estate, including what Disney is doing. Based on the information available, it doesn’t seem like this is necessary, but there might be a few more legal snarls we don’t know about.
At this point, multiple movie studios have produced their own takes on King Kong and 100% own the content of those films, whether that’s Universal in 2005, WB more recently or Disney in the near future. Paramount also owns a Kong film, the 1976 remake, due to the rights eventually passing to them. Basically, if Kong isn’t public domain, he might as well be. The 1933 film will itself become copyright-free in 2029, but little will change about the current situation.
Riot
August 24, 2022 @ 2:39 pm
So King Kong and Kong are two different characters, Kong is copyrighted while King Kong has questionable status. Disney is willing to take this risk because they have billions.
LukeismyMan
August 24, 2022 @ 3:22 pm
I looooove King Kong, and I really hope this turns out well.
However, the fact that it was produced by Disney Plus makes me extremely skeptical.
Even though I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe content on Disney Plus, they kept trying to make the shows disagreeable.
Arrowneck
August 24, 2022 @ 3:25 pm
Right Wing Youtubers are going to make violent reactions again and accuse the show of being woke like they always do. Especially if there is a lead female character.
fcbetting
August 28, 2022 @ 7:33 am
If producers will keep main things from story, main charcter should be female since she can calm Kong. Or they will change it into man like they will change James Bond into female?
Mamako
August 24, 2022 @ 3:29 pm
Because there are allegedly numerous projects in development yet they are all over the place, I believe the Monsterverse brand suffers as a result.
Furthermore, there were reports that Netflix was creating an animated series about Skull Island with ties to the Monsterverse.
Whale Mutant Kun
August 24, 2022 @ 3:32 pm
Atomic Monster Studios, run by James Wan, is where the show is being created.
James Wan collaborates with WB rather frequently, but his company frequently works on TV projects with a variety of companies. Questionable Loyalties eh?
lizaberowxn
August 29, 2022 @ 4:25 am
I hope that his won’t impact the Monsterverse. Disney is becoming a monopoly monster and they want to harm WB while it is struggling because of the discovery merger.
spokhaki
September 4, 2022 @ 2:02 pm
Skull Island will not be the source of material for this project because Warner owns the rights to that setting. I believe that they based this on the one in which he fell in love with a woman and scaled a tower. Due to the fact that Warner Brothers owns it, Disney is unable to make a film based on Skull Island. Although King Kong and Skull Island are part of the public domain, Warner Bros. Pictures produced the film.