Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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The Legend of King Kong was a film project by Universal studios back in the 70s. If you're a fan of the King Kong films, you probably know that Paramount Pictures made a King Kong remake in the 70s releasing it in 1976. However about same time, Universal Studios also were attempting to make their own Kong film.
The project was a bit of a legal battle. Paramount offically owned the rights to King Kong, however Universal claimed that the rights to King Kong had reverted back to the estate of Merian Cooper (the director of the original King Kong) and were up for them to acquire.
After this attempt to claim the film rights failed, Universal instead chose to base their Kong film, not directly off the original film, but off the film's novelisation which had fallen into public domain.
The film initally was intended to use stop motion for the creature effects and animator Jim Danforth was attached to the project. But Danforth was later dropped as the studio chose to use use live action suits and puppets instead to save costs.
According to my sources the cast would have included Susan Blakely as Ann Darrows, Nick Nolte as Jack Driscole, and Peter Falk as Carl Denham. Also Joseph Stargent, director Of The Taking of Pelam One Two Three (1974) and Colossus: the Forbin Project, was intended to direct.
Due to copywrite issues, a number of the monsters on skull island would have been changed to different creatures. According to concept art, the pteranodon would be changed to a giant vulture. The brontosaurus would have been a giant amphibian. And there was were suggestions that the giant snake would be changed to a giant millipede.
The tyranosaurus went through a number of changes. First it was swapped out for a prehistoric rhinoceros called an Arsinoitherium. But later it was changed again to a fictional dinosaur called a Triclonius, an animal that would have looked similar to a triceratops.
In concept art, Kong himself resembled a more human-like creature, resembling something closer to a sasquatch or a very hairy neanderthal.
Other creatures proposed for the film included giant scorpions, a giant snake, and more millipedes.
Universal hoped to pressure Paramount into delaying their own Kong remake until they'd produced and released The Legend of King Kong. Unfortunately Paramount instead rushed their remake into production in order to beat Universal, resulting in the release of King Kong (1976). Universal wound up halting production on The Legend of Kong and the project fell into development hell until it was cancelled.
This was an interesting project for me to work on. I'm not that familiar with many 70s films, so I flailed around a bit trying to find appropriate footage for the film, particulary the lead actors. Nick Nolte turned out to be surprisingly easy to get appropriate footage on. And I got useful footage of Peter Falk after a while too. But I bought far too many films trying to find anything useful for Susan Blakely. Films of Blakely I bought either had poor footage quality, were obviously set in urban locations, or the actress turned out to just be in a supporting role and had little screen time.
Eventually I had to just grab whatever I had on Blakely and just hope it worked.
The creatures were much more fun to work with, and I did my best to show a least a few of the proposed Skull Island monsters. I just wish I'd bought a wider variety of dinosaur films- I hate taking too much footage from a few sources.
Anyway I hope you enjoy the first video in this project. See you in April.
The cast:
Nick Nolte.............................Jack Driscole
Susan Blakely........................Ann Darrows
Peter Falk..............................Carl Denham
Music Used:
Ape Soldiers Advance
Underground City
by Leonard Rosenman
from the Beneath the Planet of the Apes OST
Support TheEntity'sLair on Patreon: patreon.com/TheEntitysLair
The Legend of King Kong was a film project by Universal studios back in the 70s. If you're a fan of the King Kong films, you probably know that Paramount Pictures made a King Kong remake in the 70s releasing it in 1976. However about same time, Universal Studios also were attempting to make their own Kong film.
The project was a bit of a legal battle. Paramount offically owned the rights to King Kong, however Universal claimed that the rights to King Kong had reverted back to the estate of Merian Cooper (the director of the original King Kong) and were up for them to acquire.
After this attempt to claim the film rights failed, Universal instead chose to base their Kong film, not directly off the original film, but off the film's novelisation which had fallen into public domain.
The film initally was intended to use stop motion for the creature effects and animator Jim Danforth was attached to the project. But Danforth was later dropped as the studio chose to use use live action suits and puppets instead to save costs.
According to my sources the cast would have included Susan Blakely as Ann Darrows, Nick Nolte as Jack Driscole, and Peter Falk as Carl Denham. Also Joseph Stargent, director Of The Taking of Pelam One Two Three (1974) and Colossus: the Forbin Project, was intended to direct.
Due to copywrite issues, a number of the monsters on skull island would have been changed to different creatures. According to concept art, the pteranodon would be changed to a giant vulture. The brontosaurus would have been a giant amphibian. And there was were suggestions that the giant snake would be changed to a giant millipede.
The tyranosaurus went through a number of changes. First it was swapped out for a prehistoric rhinoceros called an Arsinoitherium. But later it was changed again to a fictional dinosaur called a Triclonius, an animal that would have looked similar to a triceratops.
In concept art, Kong himself resembled a more human-like creature, resembling something closer to a sasquatch or a very hairy neanderthal.
Other creatures proposed for the film included giant scorpions, a giant snake, and more millipedes.
Universal hoped to pressure Paramount into delaying their own Kong remake until they'd produced and released The Legend of King Kong. Unfortunately Paramount instead rushed their remake into production in order to beat Universal, resulting in the release of King Kong (1976). Universal wound up halting production on The Legend of Kong and the project fell into development hell until it was cancelled.
This was an interesting project for me to work on. I'm not that familiar with many 70s films, so I flailed around a bit trying to find appropriate footage for the film, particulary the lead actors. Nick Nolte turned out to be surprisingly easy to get appropriate footage on. And I got useful footage of Peter Falk after a while too. But I bought far too many films trying to find anything useful for Susan Blakely. Films of Blakely I bought either had poor footage quality, were obviously set in urban locations, or the actress turned out to just be in a supporting role and had little screen time.
Eventually I had to just grab whatever I had on Blakely and just hope it worked.
The creatures were much more fun to work with, and I did my best to show a least a few of the proposed Skull Island monsters. I just wish I'd bought a wider variety of dinosaur films- I hate taking too much footage from a few sources.
Anyway I hope you enjoy the first video in this project. See you in April.
The cast:
Nick Nolte.............................Jack Driscole
Susan Blakely........................Ann Darrows
Peter Falk..............................Carl Denham
Music Used:
Ape Soldiers Advance
Underground City
by Leonard Rosenman
from the Beneath the Planet of the Apes OST
