 | |
| Author | Wētā Workshop [lower-alpha 1] |
|---|---|
| Country | New Zealand |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Speculative evolution |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 14-165-0519-9 |
The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island is a 2005 art book released as a tie-in to the film King Kong (2005). The book is written in the form of a field guide and natural history of the version of Skull Island and its creatures as presented in the film.
The World of Kong features a fictional natural history of the island of Skull Island, upon which much of the film King Kong (2005) takes place. The narrative in the book's introductory chapter presents the book as the result of Project Legacy, a series of seven zoological expeditions led by Carl Denham (played by Jack Black in the film) to the island between 1935 (two years after the film takes place) and 1948, when the island sank into the sea due to volcanic and geological activity. [lower-alpha 2]
The book features extensive artwork and descriptions of the different animals catalogued during these expeditions, descendants of various prehistoric animals that at different times in the past migrated to the island. The version of Skull Island presented in The World of Kong is the richest version of the island in terms of the sheer number of animals, featuring animals that correspond to creatures in the original film and also introducing many new ones. [2]
The original King Kong (1933) features a set of surviving Mesozoic animals inhabiting the island of Skull Island. During the production of its remake King Kong (2005), the production team decided that the animals presented in the new film were to be descendants of Mesozoic animals who had evolved in the intervening millions of years, rather than evolutionary stagnant survivors. [3] The design team at Wētā Workshop, responsible for the animal designs to be featured in the film, were inspired by the speculative evolution works of Dougal Dixon, especially his book The New Dinosaurs (1988), which speculated on what forms non-avian dinosaurs might have evolved into if they had not gone extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. [4] [5]
The designers at first pushed for colorful and feathery dinosaurs to reflect a more modern scientific understanding of dinosaurs but this idea was shot down by director Peter Jackson, who wished to keep the dinosaurs more dull and plain to keep them stylistically similar to those that appeared in the 1933 film. [3] The Wētā designers created several hundred drawings and sculptures of creatures and a large number of designs never made it into the final film. [6] Often aesthetics were favored over absolute realism; [3] the design chosen for the Vastatosaurus rex (descendants of Tyrannosaurus rex ) was for instance the design that looked the most monstrous and terrifying, rather than the one that looked the most like a real dinosaur. Early on in the process, there was also talk of having many of the dinosaurs be more upright, an outdated idea in-line with their appearance in the original film, but this idea was eventually scrapped. Creature designs were however also envisioned so that they would be biologically plausible. For instance, some design ideas for the Terapusmordax (a giant bat-like creature) depicted it as flying using back legs that had developed into wings, a design scrapped because it was deemed too unlikely. [6]
The World of Kong, supervised by Peter Jackson, was one of several tie-in products released to accompany the film. [7] It was published just before the film's premiere. [8] The book served to highlight some of the vast amount of creature artwork created by Wētā Workshop for the film, much of which depicted creatures that had not made their way into King Kong. [7] [9] The choice was also made to write the book in the style of an in-universe field guide and natural history. [1] [9] According to Wētā designer Daniel Falconer, the team often envisions deep "fictional lore" surrounding their projects and designs but The World of Kong was one of the rare cases in which they were able to present that lore, which otherwise rarely "makes it out", in an entire book. [1]
Willis Harold O'Brien, known as Obie O'Brien, was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," and is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Wētā FX, formerly known as Weta Digital, is a New Zealand-based digital visual effects company based in Miramar, Wellington. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. The company went on to produce some of the highest-grossing films ever made, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Considered one of the most influential film companies of the 21st century, Wētā FX has won several Academy Awards and BAFTAs. The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects, which was historically featured in the company logo.
Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop company based in Miramar, Wellington, in New Zealand, that produces effects for television and film. The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects.
King Kong is a 2005 epic adventure monster film co-written, produced, and directed by Peter Jackson. It is the eighth entry in the King Kong franchise and the second remake of the 1933 film of the same title, following the 1976 film. The film stars Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrien Brody. Set in 1933, it follows the story of an ambitious filmmaker who coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island. There they encounter prehistoric creatures and a legendary giant gorilla known as Kong, whom they capture and take to New York City.
Sir Richard Leslie Taylor is the founder, creative director and head of New Zealand film prop and special effects company Wētā Workshop.
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelization of the 1933 film King Kong from RKO Pictures, with the film premiering a little over two months later.
Carl Denham is a fictional character in the films King Kong and The Son of Kong, as well as in the 2005 remake of King Kong, and a 2004 illustrated novel titled Kong: King of Skull Island. The role was played by Robert Armstrong in the 1933 films and by Jack Black in the 2005 remake. In The Mighty Kong, he was voiced by Dudley Moore. Denham's function in the story is to initiate the action by bringing the characters to Skull Island, where they encounter the giant beast Kong. Denham then brings Kong to New York City to put him on display as entertainment, but he escapes and rampages through the city. The less faithful 1976 remake has an analogue character named Fred Wilson, portrayed by Charles Grodin.
The Son of Kong is a 1933 American Pre-Code adventure monster film produced by RKO Pictures. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack and featuring special effects by Willis O'Brien and Buzz Gibson, the film stars Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack and Frank Reicher. The film is the sequel to King Kong, being released just nine months after and is the second entry of the King Kong franchise.
Skull Island is the name most often used to describe a fictional island that first appeared in the 1933 film King Kong and later appearing in its sequels, the three remakes, and any other King Kong-based media. It is the home of the eponymous King Kong and several other species of creatures, mostly prehistoric and in some cases species that should have been extinct long before the rise of mammalian creatures, along with a primitive society of humans.
The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution is a 1988 speculative evolution book written by Scottish geologist and palaeontologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by several illustrators including Amanda Barlow, Peter Barrett, John Butler, Jeane Colville, Anthony Duke, Andy Farmer, Lee Gibbons, Steve Holden, Philip Hood, Martin Knowelden, Sean Milne, Denys Ovenden and Joyce Tuhill. The book also features a foreword by Desmond Morris. The New Dinosaurs explores a hypothetical alternate Earth, complete with animals and ecosystems, where the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event never occurred, leaving non-avian dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals an additional 65 million years to evolve and adapt over the course of the Cenozoic to the present day.
Benjamin (Ben) Charles Wootten is a graphic artist and designer based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Tyrannosaurus rex is unique among dinosaurs in its place in modern culture; paleontologist Robert Bakker has called it "the most popular dinosaur among people of all ages, all cultures, and all nationalities". Paleontologists Mark Norell and Lowell Dingus have likewise called it "the most famous dinosaur of all times." Paleoartist Gregory S. Paul has called it "the theropod. [...] This is the public's favorite dinosaur [...] Even the formations it is found in have fantastic names like Hell Creek and Lance." Other paleontologists agree with that and note that whenever a museum erects a new skeleton or bring in an animatronic model, visitor numbers go up. "Jurassic Park and King Kong would not have been the same without it." In the public mind, T. rex sets the standard of what a dinosaur should be. Science writer Riley Black similarly states, "In all of prehistory, there is no animal that commands our attention quite like Tyrannosaurus rex, the tyrant lizard king. Since the time this dinosaur was officially named in 1905, the enormous carnivore has stood as the ultimate dinosaur."
Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable types among cultural depictions of dinosaurs. It has been depicted on film, in cartoons, comics, as children's toys, as sculpture, and even was declared the state dinosaur of Colorado in 1982. Stegosaurus is a subject for inclusion in dinosaur toy and scale model lines, such as the Carnegie Collection.
Daniel Falconer is a creature, costume, armour, weapon and prop designer for films and known best for his work with Weta on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also authored numerous books for Weta, including The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island and The Hobbit: Chronicles book series, showcasing the illustrative work of the entire design department at Weta Workshop and associated Wellington film community companies.
The production of The Lord of the Rings film series under Peter Jackson's direction was an enormous challenge, starting in 1997 and ending in 2004. Many earlier attempts had failed; most that had reached the screen were animations, and many filmmakers and producers had considered how to achieve the task and then set it aside. The film series as realized consists of three epic fantasy adventure films based on J. R. R. Tolkien's eponymous novel. They were produced by New Line Cinema, assisted by WingNut Films; the cinema versions appeared between 2001 and 2003, and the extended edition for home video in 2004. Development began in August 1997. The three films were shot simultaneously, entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand, from October 1999 until December 2000, with pick-up shots from 2001 to 2003.
Warren Mahy is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games and other fantasy works.
Greg Broadmore is a New Zealand concept designer, artist, writer and sculptor based in Wellington. He is the creator of Dr Grordbort's, and has worked as a designer, artist and writer at The Lord of the Rings film franchise director Peter Jackson's award-winning special effects and prop company, Weta Workshop since 2002. He was the lead concept designer on District 9 and a concept designer and sculptor on King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Adventures of Tintin. Broadmore was also one of the illustrators and concept writers for Weta Workshop's first publication, The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island.
Speculative evolution is a subgenre of science fiction and an artistic movement focused on hypothetical scenarios in the evolution of life, and a significant form of fictional biology. It is also known as speculative biology and it is referred to as speculative zoology in regards to hypothetical animals. Works incorporating speculative evolution may have entirely conceptual species that evolve on a planet other than Earth, or they may be an alternate history focused on an alternate evolution of terrestrial life. Speculative evolution is often considered hard science fiction because of its strong connection to and basis in science, particularly biology.
Benjamin Joseph Hawker is a New Zealand film director and special effects artist.
King Kong is an American monster media franchise that consists of thirteen films, as well as television, novels, comic books, video games, attractions, and other merchandise. The franchise is centered on King Kong, a giant ape living on a primordial island inhabited by prehistoric creatures. The original film King Kong was co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack and was released on March 2, 1933; it was a box office success, despite opening during the Great Depression. The film's stop motion effects by Willis H. O'Brien revolutionized special effects, leaving a lasting impact on the film industry worldwide.