December 14th, 2005 is going to mark the return of one of the biggest iconic figures in American movie history. Of course I'm talking about the King himself, Kong, the eighth wonder of the world!

I am nowhere near old enough to have seen the original film(1933) when it first hit theaters(I seriously doubt that any of us have attained that age yet), but having seen the film as a child on the ABC network in the late 80's - early 90's, you cant help but be overwhelmed by the feeling of mystery and intrigue surrounding the story of two islands, a 25 foot tall simian, and a beautiful, yet well vocally endowed, woman. From the scenes when filmmaker Carl Denham(played with a certain bravado by Robert Armstrong) first introduces his plan to bring a young girl to his latest expedition to make his newest film, to the final moments when Kong becomes a ton and a half(roughly 3,000 pounds) roadblock in front of the Empire State Building. This film became a hollywood legend and its cast had their names forever linked to Kong.

Its now 2005 and we stand on the eve of the first remake of the legendary tale of King Kong, this time brought to us through the legendary vision and epic scope of director Peter Jackson. Now, there are some of you out there who might be quick to point out the fact that, in 1976, Dino De Laurentiis directed a film called King Kong starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange(in her first starring role coincidentally) which was a box office disaster. The only thing that that film had in common with the 1933 original was the existence of a large ape with a crush on a attractive blonde woman. Kong got the girl, but this time he climbed the World Trade Center and got shot off and killed by Huey Gunships. Everything else about the old film had been glossed over and forgotten and King Kong was hollywood-ed, if you will.

This time around we are taken back to 1933 New York city and, judging from the screenshots, Peter Jackson will be sending us on a journey for the imagination. Jack Black has taken over the role of Carl Denham made infamous by Robert Armstrong almost 75 years ago. Naomi Watts has been chosen to scream her lungs out as she attempts to play the main squeeze of the giant ape, Ann Darrow, in a role made famous by Fay Wray, a role that she was typecast to her entire career(she did blame the ape for the ruination of her career, only to forgive it shortly before her death last year) She even met with Naomi and passed the torch in a way that indicates that this movie will be a tribute to the original film and its' legendary cast and crew.