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2 days ago · Find out how the 10 King Kong movies stack up against each other, from the classic 1933 original to the upcoming 2024 sequel. See the critics' ratings, summaries, and trailers for each film in the franchise.
Apr 2, 2024 · Check out all the King Kong movies, ranked from worst to best, including Godzilla x Kong: New Empire.
- Richard Newby
- 10 'King Kong Lives'
- 9 'The Son of Kong'
- 8 'King Kong'
- 7 'King Kong Escapes'
- 6 'King Kong vs. Godzilla'
- 5 'Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire'
- 4 'Godzilla vs. Kong'
- 3 'Kong: Skull Island'
- 2 'King Kong'
- 1 'King Kong'
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Director: John Guillermin
1976's King Kong had a sequel of sorts 10 years later, with King Kong Lives, a somewhat lazy film that marks a series low point for the iconic movie monster. After a dramatic death at the end of the 1976 movie (spoilers, but the various versions of Kong do tend to die), King Kong Livesreveals that King Kong... well, lived, and has actually been in a coma for approximately 10 years. Another giant ape - a female - is used as a source of blood transfusion for Kong, but the two ultimately wake up...
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
The Son of Kong is just novel - and bizarre - enough to keep it from being considered the worst of the King Kongmovies. Remarkably, it was filmed and released the same year the original movie came out, and serves as a direct sequel, with its plot seeing Carl Denham (from the first movie) returning once more to the island where he discovered Kong, and finding - as the title suggests - Kong's son. In the pantheon of bad sequels, it can't quite be considered one of the very worst. Some of the ch...
Director: John Guillermin
Speaking of movies that lack originality: 1976'sKing Kong. This was essentially a remake of the original, which had come out 43 years earlier and so, for decades, had been well-regarded as a monster movie classic. The film itself even inspired knock-offs around the same time, with those movies centering around other similar giant apes. The characters and plot beats are all familiar, though the special effects and the setting have been updated, given it takes place in the 1970s, and now featur...
Director: Ishirō Honda
King Kong Escapes probably isn't for everyone, and it's possible to argue that it representsKing Kong at its strangest. It served as a sequel of sorts to the first movie where Godzilla and King Kong squared off (more on that one later), and was directed by Japanese filmmaker Ishirō Honda, who directed numerous Godzilla movies (including the 1954 original), and also directed the first movie where Japan's most famous giant monster squared off with the U.S.'s most famed giant monster. It's a mov...
Director: Ishirō Honda
King Kong vs. Godzillawas the third movie to feature King Kong, and also the third movie to feature Godzilla, fittingly enough. It was probably a fairly big deal back in 1962, but now feels like an even more significant match-up, given the two monsters have only become more legendary in the decades since the first time they went head-to-head. Whether judged as a King Kong movie or a Godzilla movie, one thing's certain: this movie gets pretty wild and often very silly. Getting the two monsters...
Director: Adam Wingard
Compared to King Kong, Godzilla has had a busier 21st century so far, appearing in more MonsterVerse movies than Kong and various other movies made both before and after 2014's Godzilla not related to the MonsterVerse. The pair came together in 2021, and were reunited - in effect - in 2024 for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. They're not exactly best friends here (that would be very charming if they were), but they do set aside any old differences and team up in this film against a more serio...
Director: Adam Wingard
After King Kong vs. Godzilla, fans had to wait nearly 60 years to see them fight again, with the sad reality being that many people who would've seen the 1962 version in cinemas wouldn't have been alive to see the rematch. It's a shame for them, because while Godzilla vs. Kong is flawed, it does improve upon the first showdown between the titular monsters and certainly looks more spectacular, popping more visually. Set in an alternate version of the 2020s, Godzilla vs. Kong doesn't mess aroun...
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
While it suffers from some of the same problems as Godzilla vs. Kong, Kong: Skull Island ultimately has the edge over that 2021 movie when judged as a King Kong film. The reason for this is pretty simple: Kong doesn't have to share the spotlight here with Godzilla, and the movie isn't shy about giving viewers tons of Kong-centric action, making it a particularly easy film in the long-running King Kong series to rewatchand continually revisit. It has an interesting early 1970s setting, and mor...
Director: Peter Jackson
After revolutionizing the fantasy genre by directing the epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson set his sights on beefing up the original King Kong. The 2005 version is a mammoth film, and given the 1933 film is about 100 minutes long, and Jackson's version runs over three hours, it comes close to doubling the original's runtime. As such, it's fair to call it the most epic film of all those in the King Kongseries so far, and it's a larger-than-life approach that mostly works. It ca...
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
You can't beat the original King Kong. The special effects aren't technically the best, and some may well be put off by things typically found in older movies, like black-and-white visuals and a 4:3 aspect ratio. But it's worth giving this film a chance regardless of one's own genre preferences, because King Kongholds up better than most. It's mind-blowing what the filmmakers were able to accomplish here, in 1933, and watching the film makes it easy to understand why the title character's now...
A comprehensive review of all 10 live-action theatrical releases featuring the giant ape, from the 1933 original to the 2024 sequel. Find out which King Kong movies are the best and worst, and why, with ratings, summaries, and cast information.
- Jeremy Urquhart
Apr 10, 2021 · King Kong has been one of the most iconic characters in cinema for nearly 100 years, and here are his film appearances ranked from worst to best.
Jun 29, 2024 · Over nearly 100 years, King Kong has been entertaining and terrorizing moviegoers across many films, and while all of them have building-smashing action, they're not all created equal. Help rank every King Kong movie to find which will climb to the top.
Oct 6, 2021 · A comprehensive list of all the feature-length films starring the iconic giant ape, from the original 1933 classic to the latest remake. Find out which movies made the cut and which ones fell flat, according to Slashfilm's criteria.
Sep 10, 2023 · Paramount Pictures. 1976’s King Kong is a big-budget remake of the 1933 original, starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange. It proved highly successful upon its initial release, raking in over...
