Warner Bros. and Legendary have unveiled the first official image from the highly anticipated Kong: Skull Island. The film resurrects the King Kong franchise in a new way 11 years after Peter Jackson’s bloated yet heartfelt remake, this time switching the setting to the Vietnam era of the 1970s. Legendary made a bold decision in setting Jordan Vogt-Roberts to direct based on the strength of his Sundance indie Kings of Summer, and he subsequently put together one hell of an ensemble led by Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston.
However, as Vogt-Roberts tells EW, he very consciously wanted to make a different kind of King Kong movie:
“We’re very explicitly not telling the beauty and the beast story. The original is a classic, the ’70s version is great for what it is, and Peter [Jackson]’s version is a great retelling of the 1933 film. The thing that most interested me was, how big do you need to make [Kong], so that when someone lands on this island and doesn’t believe in the idea of myth, the idea of wonder – when we live in a world of social and civil unrest, and everything is crumbling around us, and technology and facts are taking over – how big does this creature need to be, so that when you stand on the ground and you look up at it, the only thing that can go through your mind is: ‘That’s a god.’”
The film is one of Hollywood’s first to shoot in Vietnam since the 70s conflict, and while this new image is just a tease, the locales certainly appear to be stunning. The picture originally was set up at Universal under Legendary’s new deal with that studio, but as Legendary was keen on setting up its Godzilla franchise to build to a Godzilla vs. King Kong movie, it made more sense for Kong: Skull Island to move under the Warner Bros. umbrella, so here we are.
The first footage from Kong will likely be shown at Comic-Con next week, so hopefully we get a debut trailer soon. For now, take a gander at the image via EW below. Kong: Skull Island opens in theaters on March 10, 2017 and also stars Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Tian Jing, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, and Eugene Cordero.
Here’s the official synopsis for Kong: Skull Island:
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ “Kong: Skull Island” reimagines the origin of the mythic Kong in a compelling, original adventure from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. In the film, a diverse team of explorers is brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific—as beautiful as it is treacherous—unaware that they’re crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong.