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Ten Facts About Facts About King Kong Vs GodZilla That Will Make You Think Twice.

1. ORIGINALLY, KING KONG WAS SUPPOSED TO DO BATTLE WITH A FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER.

Released by RKO in 1933, the first King Kong movie used stop-motion effects provided by the great Willis O’Brien. After some other projects fell through, O’Brien wrote a treatment for a new sequel he called King Kong vs. Frankenstein (alternate title: King Kong vs. the Ginko). In O’Brien’s original story, the great ape fights a monster who had been stitched together from various animal parts by a member of the Frankenstein family. Producer John Beck agreed to see if anyone was interested in buying the script. Ultimately, he sold it to Japan’s Toho Studios—without telling O’Brien. Toho decided to replace the Franken-beast with their own original character: Godzilla.

2. KING KONG VS. GODZILLA WAS THE FIRST MOVIE TO DEPICT EITHER KING KONG OR GODZILLA IN COLOR.

Kong has been climbing skyscrapers and wooing blondes ever since the Great Depression, which gives him seniority over Godzilla, whose debut film didn’t come out until 1954. That Toho classic and its first sequel, Godzilla Raids Again (1955), were both shot in black and white. So was the original King Kong and its famously rushed RKO follow-up, Son of Kong (1933). Fans finally got to see both giants in glorious color when King Kong vs. Godzilla arrived in theaters.

3. DIRECTOR ISHIRÔ HONDA SATIRIZED THE TV INDUSTRY IN KING KONG VS. GODZILLA.

Ishirô Honda, the visionary director behind Godzilla (1954), Rodan (1956), and Mothra (1961), used King Kong vs. Godzilla to comment on popular culture. The plot gets going when the head of a Japanese pharmaceutical company decides that kidnapping Kong would be a great way to boost ratings for the TV show he sponsors. What could possibly go wrong? "People were making a big deal out of ratings," Honda said. "But my own view of TV shows was that they did not take the viewer seriously, that they took the audience for granted ... so I decided to show that through my movie."