When you reboot a long-running, well-loved franchise, you want to make a statement. How can you convince fans to let go of what they hold dear and accept your new direction?
Well, Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts had a very literal way of saying that his giant ape movie was going to be bigger than any in the franchise before it...
Speaking to Empire, Vogt-Roberts discussed the original opening that he pitched to the studio.
"So it's World War II. A full squad comes to this beach. They're killing each other – and then suddenly, this giant monkey (that looks a lot like the monkey from the last King Kong movie) comes out of the jungle.
"And they just kill it. It's dead. And you're sitting there going, 'Wait, did they just kill King Kong? Did they kill the hero of this film?'
"And then you'd hear a roar and see a much bigger creature – the real King Kong.
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"That was the crazy version of me wanting to send a message that this isn't like other King Kong movies that you've seen."
Sounds like a pretty ballsy and exciting opening sequence, right? So what happened to that idea?
"The studio said: 'No. You're crazy. You can't do that'," said Vogt-Roberts.
We spoke to Jordan Vogt-Roberts ourselves, and he told us that the movie nearly had a very different ending as well.
If you're on the fence about seeing Kong: Skull Island, you can check out our review right here.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
