Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (in theaters March 29 – get your tickets here!) is just the latest chapter in the stories of two Titans. If you saw Godzilla vs. Kong then you know that this isn’t the first time they’ve shared a screen – but did you know that their very first tussle was a good 50 years before the birth of Universal’s MonsterVerse? Don’t worry, we’ll catch you up.
We’ve previously published a guide to every official Godzilla movie in release order, so it’s only fair to give Kong the same treatment. Here is your guide to the King of the Beasts’ official history on the big screen. Buckle up – it’s a wild journey!
1. King Kong (1933)
The location shoot that started it all! A movie crew ventures to the isolated Skull Island to investigate rumors of a rumored beast. That beast turns out to be Kong, a gigantic ape who takes a shine to the film’s leading lady Ann (Fay Wray). When Kong abducts Ann, the crew braves a gauntlet of dinosaurs to rescue her, capture Kong and head back to New York City. When he’s introduced to the media, Kong (“The Eighth Wonder of the World!”) snatches Ann and whisks her to the Empire State Building, giving us that iconic shot of Kong clutching Ann with one hand and swatting down planes with the other before falling to his death.
The film was a smash at the box office and has received acclaim among critics and audiences alike, thanks to its groundbreaking special effects and surprisingly tender story. Among the many film folks inspired to try their hand at monster movies was one Tomoyuki Tanaka, who cited King Kong as a major influence on his development of Godzilla.
2. Son of Kong (1933)
A successful movie calls for a sequel. Accordingly, Son of Kong roared onto America’s movie screens just nine months after the original King Kong. The sequel finds the director from the first movie back on Skull Island, where he and his party encounter a smaller (but still gigantic) version of Kong. The adventurers bond with the ape they call “Little Kong,” who protects them from the island’s giant beasts. Ultimately, Little Kong sacrifices himself to save his new human friends.
3. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
The Kong-Godzilla rivalry has taken center stage over the past few years, but their clashes go clear back to 1962. King Kong vs. Godzilla kicks off when Godzilla is inadvertently freed from an iceberg. At the same time, Kong breaks free from the rafts that pharmaceutical executives are using to transport him for a publicity stunt. When the two converge on Tokyo, it’s a crossover battle for the ages. The military encourages their fight in hopes that the two behemoths will destroy each other instead of Tokyo. After an epic battle on Mount Fuji, Kong is still standing, but Godzilla is nowhere to be seen. Could this be the end of the King of the Monsters?
Kong’s long-awaited return to the big screen was directed by Toho’s Ishiro Honda, who also directed the first two Godzilla movies.
4. King Kong Escapes (1967)
Toho’s Ishiro Hoda is back to answer the question: What’s bigger, stronger and easier to control than the original King Kong? That would be Mechani-Kong, created by an evil mad scientist to mine the North Pole for the radioactive Element X. When the radiation proves to be too much for even a mecha, the scientist sets off to capture the real Kong, who’s is busy fighting dinosaurs and falling in love with a human woman on Mondo Island. It all leads to an epic battle between Kong and Mechani-Kong.
Kong’s fourth movie appearance is a high-adrenaline kaiju ride for fans of both Japanese and American monster movies.
5. King Kong (1976)
The 1976 King Kong draws directly from the 1933 original. An oil company expedition, joined by a stowaway paleontologist, arrives on an isolated island ultimately results the giant Kong becoming enchanted by an actress they rescued along the way. Kong is brought to New York City by an unscrupulous executive. As in the original movie, during his big introduction, Kong is distracted by camera flashes. Fearing for her safety, he takes her to the highest point around: The towers of the World Trade Center. The cast features Jeff Bridges as the paleontologist Prescott, and Jessica Lange makes her film debut as the object of Kong’s affections.
This version of King Kong includes the monster spectacle of the original movie, while focusing in on how woman and ape come to care for each other – making Kong’s apparent death at the end of the movie all the more poignant.
6. King Kong Lives (1986)
Ten years after his apparent death in New York, we learn that Kong survived his fall and is being held in a coma at a research facility. The surgeon in charge of his care determines that he needs a blood transfusion in order to survive life-saving surgery. Fortunately, she finds someone who’s able to track down another member of Kong’s species, a female who is quickly dubbed “Lady Kong”. The transfusion is successful, but Kong and Lady Kong escape. Kong doesn’t survive the chase by a military unit, but he lives long enough to see Lady Kong give birth to their baby.
7. The Mighty Kong (1998)
The Mighty Kong re-interprets the original story as an animated musical, with a voice cast led by Jodi Benson and Dudley Moore.
8. Kong: King of Atlantis (2005)
In this animated movie, spun off from Kong: The Animated Series, Kong is lured back to reclaim the throne of Atlantis by a ruler who turns out to have ulterior motives. Kong is caught between the sinister, mind-controlling Queen Reptillia and the will of the people. Can he break the evil queen's hold?
9. King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson’s remake of the original film takes a fond look back at the story while bringing modern sensibilities to the retelling. There’s real emotional depth here, especially in the relationship between Kong and Ann, played here by Naomi Watts. The visual effects are top-notch, representing a leap forward in much the same way that the 1933 original did.
10. Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006)
Another animated movie from the world of Kong: The Animated Series. This time, Kong and several fellow island-dwellers are abducted on behalf of a sinister adventurer for his new zoo in New York. Predictably, this doesn’t go well for New York. It’s up to Kong and young human Jason (with whom he’s biologically and mentally linked – long story) to save the animals and get them back to their island home.
11. Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Kong officially joins the revived Universal MonsterVerse, and Kong: Skull Island lays out what he’s bringing to the Godzilla-Kong party. It’s the early 1970s, and an expedition largely comprised of scientists and military personnel arrive on Skull Island to search for rumored giant creatures, as well as to test out a seismologist’s Hollow Earth theory. They quickly encounter Kong and scatter. One group, comprised of military personnel, works to kill Kong. The other group meets the indigenous Iwi. As we learn through a pilot stranded on the island decades ago, Kong protects the island’s inhabitants from subterranean predators called Skullcrawlers. And if Kong dies, the predators come to the surface and take over.
The military group’s attempts to capture Kong ultimately lead to Kong facing off with a giant Skullcrawler. In a post-credit scene, we learn that Kong isn’t the only kaiju-type monster who's called the island home. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got ourselves a franchise!
12. Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
Following the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla vs. Kong pits the two legendary monsters against each other in a clash of colossal proportions. Godzilla is on a rampage, and the people working to subdue him quickly realizes that this will entail venturing into the Hollow Earth with Kong – where we learn that the struggle between Kong’s and Godzilla’s ancestors has been raging for generations. Godzilla vs. Kong explores the rich mythos of Skull Island and Hollow Earth, and provides insights into the origins of both Kong and Godzilla’s species. The fights between Godzilla and Kong are downright awe-inspiring, but the action rachets up a notch when the Titans learn they have a common enemy bearing down on them: Mechagodzilla.
13. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Kong's story continues to unfold with the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Here's what the highly-anticipated next chapter in the MonsterVerse has in store:
"The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever."
Count us in!
