This
week at Flashbak, I recall an event 40 years in the past…the hype surrounding
the remake of King Kong.
Here’s
a snippet and the url: (http://flashbak.com/still-one-remembering-king-kong-hype-1976-59752/
)
“Lest
anyone think that movie hype is a creation of the 21st century and
modern Hollywood studios, today I wish to call your attention to the incredible
age and specifics of King Kong Mania: the marketing and promotion surrounding
the mid-1970s Dino De Laurentiis remake of the 1933 giant ape movie.
The
year was 1976 -- exactly forty years ago -- and America was celebrating its
bicentennial. Jaws (1975) was a huge
blockbuster, and Star Wars was still a year off.
And
then came Kong. The new movie had a distinctive tag-line too. “There is still only one King Kong,” it
insisted.
The
movie starred a very young Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, and Charles Grodin, and
the screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. updated for the disco decade the classic
movie’s story-line. Now, Kong was
discovered by an oil expedition, not a movie crew. That discovery occurred not during the Great
Depression, but in the age of the Energy Crisis, and Kong battled helicopters
instead of biplanes. He also selected as
his last-stand the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building.
King
Kong’s arrival in movie theaters was only a piece of the overall marketing
strategy. Time Magazine, in October of 1976, featured a cover story to the
film, which promised “Here Comes King Kong,” and then the merchandise began to
hit toy stores.
Ideal
licensed and released a King Kong board game, while Burger Chef released, in
time for the movie’s premiere, a selection of drinking glasses.
Meanwhile,
King Kong plush toys, lunch boxes, trading cards, and GAF Viewmaster discs also
hit the market. Mego -- a truly great toy company of the decade -- even
produced some toys that today are ultra-rare, if not impossible to find.
King
Kong Mania got so big actually, that the newest Toho Godzilla movie, Godzilla
vs. Megalon got a rip-off poster showcasing Godzilla (the real king of
monsters…) and his kaiju nemesis perched atop the Twin Towers.
In
the movie, Godzilla never got near the United States….”
Continue
reading at
Flashbak.
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