Kong: Skull Island

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Movie
German title Kong: Skull Island
Original title Kong: Skull Island
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2017
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 14
Rod
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts
script Dan Gilroy ,
Max Borenstein ,
Derek Connolly
production Jon Jashni ,
Alex Garcia ,
Thomas Tull ,
Mary Parent
music Henry Jackman
camera Larry Fong
cut Richard Pearson
occupation
synchronization
chronology

←  Predecessor
Godzilla

Successor  →
Godzilla II: King of the Monsters

Kong: Skull Iceland is a fantasy - adventure film from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts from the year 2017 , which the fictional character of King Kong picks up. It was released on March 9, 2017 in German cinemas and one day later in the US.

action

1944: The Second World War rages in the Pacific. In an aerial battle between the American Hank Marlow and the Japanese Gunpei Ikari, their planes are so badly damaged that they crash. Both pilots land with their parachutes on an island, where there is a hand-to-hand fight. Ikari wins and is about to kill Marlow when a giant monkey shows up and interrupts the fight.

1973: Bill Randa, head of the government organization Monarch , and his team want to search for primeval creatures on the untouched and mysterious island of Skull Island . He procures the necessary funds and hires a military force that is just about to return from the Vietnam War , the tracker and war veteran James Conrad and the war photographer Mason Weaver. Lieutenant Colonel Packard is in command. The group starts with 13 helicopters from a ship to the island, which is constantly storm-tossed. Since communication with the mother ship from the island is not possible, a later meeting with a support team at the northern end of the island is arranged.

After the helicopters have flown through the storm, Monarch drops bombs to investigate the geological structure through seismological analyzes. One of the researchers discovered with set up measuring devices that there is a huge cavity in the earth's crust under the island, in which primeval creatures could have survived. Suddenly the two bomb-throwing helicopters flying ahead are brought to the ground by a huge monkey. Shelling with on-board weapons cannot seriously injure the giant ape, it also brings down all remaining helicopters. The survivors are scattered over a wide area in the jungle. Two groups are formed: Weaver, Conrad, the researchers and one of the soldiers on the one hand, and the other soldiers and Randa a few kilometers away on the other. Under Packard's direction, the latter set out to find the surviving soldier Chapman and the weapons in the transport helicopter to kill the monkey.

The other group, meanwhile, meets natives. Marlow, the pilot from the introduction who crashed on the island in 1944, now lives among them. He tells them about the giant monkey Kong and the giant creatures on the island. The vicious creatures (spontaneously named "skull crawlers") are fought by Kong, who protects the island and is the last of his kind. Should he die, the evil creatures would rule the island. When Weaver tries a little later to help one of the peaceful animals out of a fix, she is watched by Kong, who ultimately helps her and no longer sees her as an enemy.

Since no help can be obtained over the radio, the meeting with the support team is the last chance to escape from the island. With time running out, Marlow offers to help. After their crash on the island in World War II, he and Ikari had built a boat from old airplane parts before Ikari died. The group succeeds in getting the boat ready to drive and they set off north. They meet the remaining soldiers again and follow Packard in search of the weapons, where they are attacked by a skull crawler, who also killed Chapman, and Randa is eaten. The groups separate again. But Conrad does not want to allow Kong to be killed by the soldiers. Kong is surrounded by fire and seriously injured in a lake that has been covered with napalm . Conrad and Weaver prevent explosive charges from detonating on the unconscious giant ape. Packard is crushed by Kong shortly afterwards. The remaining soldiers now join the group. Finally, an even bigger skull crawler appears, knocks Kong out again and chases the group.

The next morning the survivors reach a lake where the "big one" reappears. A soldier sacrifices himself for the group, but fails to kill the monster. With the guns on Marlow's boat, they try to keep the creature at bay until Kong intervenes. Weaver is pushed into the water while standing on a rock. Kong saves her with his giant hand when the lizard attacks from behind. Weaver tries to eat them and devours Kong's fist with Weaver, but with a fatal jerk he rips out the tongue and entrails. Weaver survived the attack. The group takes the boat to the meeting point and reaches it in time when the support team arrives with helicopters. Marlow returns to his wife in the United States 29 years after his crash on the island and sees his son, now an adult, for the first time.

In a post-credit scene , Conrad and Weaver are arrested and interrogated by Monarch and the survivors of the Skull Island Expedition, Brooks and Lin. Conrad and Weaver are informed that Kong is not the only monster that exists in the world. The archive footage shown to them includes cave paintings depicting the monsters Godzilla , Rodan , Mothra, and King Ghidorah . As the screen fades, Godzilla's roar can be heard.

production

Rod

Jordan Vogt-Roberts directed the film, the script for the film was written by Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly . Kong: Skull Island is not a direct prequel to Peter Jackson's King Kong , but rather a prequel and sequel to the myth about the giant ape as a whole. Vogt-Roberts was inspired by the films of Hayao Miyazaki , who became famous as a director of Japanese cartoons, especially Princess Mononoke , according to his own statements for Kong: Skull Island . According to Vogt-Roberts, these had a strong influence on the design and behavior of the monsters in Kong: Skull Island . The director said, “If Kong is the god of the island, we wanted to portray the other creatures as gods of their own domain. Miyazaki's work, especially Princess Mononoke, was a great reference in the way of creating the creatures with their own mind. [...] It was important to design the creatures so that they feel realistic, as if they could really exist in this ecosystem. "

Cast and dubbing

Brie Larson plays Weaver in the film, Tom Hiddleston plays Captain James Conrad and Samuel L. Jackson plays Lieutenant Colonel Packard. Toby Kebbell plays Major Chapman and Tian Jing plays San. John Goodman played Bill Randa, Jason Mitchell played Glenn Mill, Corey Hawkins played Houston Brooks, and Terry Notary played Kong.

The German dubbing was done by the dubbing company FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron in Berlin / Munich based on a book and directed by Jan Odle .

role actor Voice actor
Capt. James Conrad Tom Hiddleston Peter Lontzek
Mason Weaver Brie Larson Laura Maire
According to Col. Preston Packard Samuel L. Jackson Engelbert von Nordhausen
Bill Randa John Goodman Kaspar Eichel
Hank Marlow John C. Reilly Detlef Bierstedt
Capt. Earl Cole Shea Whigham Alexander Brem
Houston Brooks Corey Hawkins Nils Dienemann
San Tian Jing Marcia from Rebay
Major Chapman Toby Kebbell Jakob Riedl
Victor Nieves John Ortiz Philipp Moog
Glenn Mills Jason Mitchell Tobias Kern
Slivko Thomas Mann Maximilian Belle
Senator Willis Richard Jenkins Andreas Borcherding

Filming and special effects

Filming began on October 19, 2015 and was completed on March 18, 2016. Parts of the film were shot in the Tràng An , Vân Long , Tam Cốc in the Ninh Bình Province , in Halong Bay in the Quảng Ninh Province and in the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in the Quảng Bình Province in Vietnam . Further recordings were made in the Chinatown of Honolulu , on the Kualoa Ranch on the east coast of Hawaii , which served as a set for a bone cemetery on Skull Island, and on the island of Oahu , which also belongs to Hawaii , where the film was shot in the Waikane Valley . In addition, recordings were made on the Australian Gold Coast , where filming started in mid-January 2016.

The entrance to one of the many caves in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park

The Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park and the area around the city of Phong Nha, which was largely cordoned off for the duration of the filming, have a lot in common with the fictional Skull Island and are due to the complex geographic structure of different types of rocks such as sandstone , Quartz, schism and silicic acid-limestone, as a huge geological museum that shows the history of geological evolution over the past 400 million years since the Paleozoic , but also explains changes in topography and geomorphology. A special feature of the oldest karst region in Asia , which shows numerous and remarkable geomorphological properties as a result of tectonic processes, is also the underground system of rivers and around 300 caves that have developed in the limestone of the mountains. According to the British Cave Association (BCRA), the grotto system is home to the longest underground river system on earth. In addition, various mammal species that are unique in the world have been found in the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, which is located around 450 kilometers southeast of Hanoi, 45 kilometers northwest of Dong Hoi and 300 kilometers northwest of Da Nang. In the region, which is difficult to access, there are animals and plants that cannot be found anywhere else, including 150 types of amphibians and reptiles that have so far been detected there and 112 species of mammals living there, including at least nine species of monkey such as macaques , langurs and gibbons . New animal species such as the giant muntjac were regularly discovered in the national park . In addition, the national park with more than 1320 described plant species is considered a floristic center of high biological diversity. The national park, which forms the centerpiece of the last closed forest area in Central Vietnam, was therefore included in the list of World Natural Heritage Sites in Vietnam by UNESCO in 2003.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts , who was appointed Vietnam's Tourism Ambassador prior to the premiere of his film, said at the award ceremony in Hanoi: “I want to help convince the rest of the world that Vietnam is one of the most special, The most beautiful, most wonderful places on this planet. ”The production costs of the film, which were largely incurred by the shooting in Vietnam, amounted to around 190 million US dollars . Ninh Bình Province waived the film crew's fees for using the land. In return, the film sets were left behind, some of which will be preserved and will be used as a sight for tourists from April 15, 2017.

Several companies were commissioned for the numerous and elaborate special effects, including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in the lead . One of the old masters of animation technology, John Dykstra , worked as a visual effects supervisor for the film. He had already worked with ILM on the first Star Wars film in 1977 and created groundbreaking special effects for the time.

Film music

The score was composed by Henry Jackman . James Southall describes it as being a little inspired by the setting in the 1970s. The recurring signature song of the title monster Kong , which reminds Southall of a film score by Bernard Herrmann , fulfills its purpose, and there are some moments of real quality in it. All in all, the film music is a bit too buzzing and, despite a promising beginning, unfortunately does not show any increase in the course of the film. Two exceptions for Southall are the piece The Island , which sounds like real film music, but only lasts about a minute, and also the piece Gray Fox . In the piece Ambushed , which expresses powerful action and in this respect is the best of the film music and next to The Battle of Skull Island the second big action highlight, the orchestra proves that it has rehearsed a lot and the thematic material was well understood . The drum sounds in Man vs Beast are also a nice touch, according to the music critic. The main disappointment for Southall is that, viewed as a whole, it could be music by any composer for any film.

Music critic Aaron Cooper says it seems strange to see a King Kong movie that uses classic rock songs, but if an army of soldiers mess with the 60-meter-tall gorilla and destroy helicopters in the process, it fits of Black Sabbath coming song Paranoid perfect for this scene.

The Kong: Skull Island Original Motion Picture Soundtrack includes 24 tracks and has a running time: 56:42 min. In addition, a number of other songs are played in the film that are not included on the soundtrack, such as Paranoid by Black Sabbath and We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn , which can be heard at the end of the film. The soundtrack for the film was released on March 3, 2017. The track The Island was released in advance.

Marketing and Publishing

In July 2016, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and some of the actors presented the story of the film as part of a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con International . A first trailer for the film was presented there on July 23, 2016. This shows, among other things, a crashing helicopter and Samuel L. Jackson in the role of Lieutenant Colonel Packard, who forces John Goodman in the role of Bill Randa at gunpoint to tell him everything he knows. Randa explains to him that monsters really exist and that ancient species ruled the earth long before humans, as he tried for many years to prove. Finally, for a few seconds, a giant monkey can be seen rising.

In October 2016, a map of Skull Island was published online, which is integrated into a surveillance satellite simulation. On this you can read notes from Monarch, which, among other things, indicate an underwater dinosaur. In February 2017, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. released three more film clips for Kong: Skull Island , each of which is less than a minute long. On the occasion of the film's theatrical release, Google Maps had recorded the fictional Skull Island in its map display.

The film celebrated its world premiere in London on February 28, 2017 in the presence of director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and actors Tom Hiddleston , Brie Larson , Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly . The film opened in German cinemas on March 9, 2017 and was released in US cinemas one day later.

To accompany the film, Titan Books published an adaptation of the novel written by Tim Lebbon entitled Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization in March 2017 .

reception

Age rating

In Germany the film is FSK 12 . The statement of reasons for the release states: “The film contains a large number of tension and action scenes. Sometimes people are killed by the giant animals (e.g. giant spiders and giant lizards) and there are always scary moments. However, violence is not played out excessively. "

Reviews

The Rotten Tomatoes review collection lists over 200 reviews, 77 percent of which are positive, and summarizes: "Kong: Skull Island is an intoxicating feast for the eyes, offers solid acting and a fast-paced plot, with which the film deserves a place in the history of this film monster , but without ever being up to the original. "

Variety's Owen Gleiberman says the surprise isn't just that the film is ten times better than Jurassic World , it's an exciting and elegantly crafted prehistoric creature spectacle.

In his review, Peter Zander from the Berliner Morgenpost asks himself what motivated stars like Tom Hiddleston , Brie Larson and John Goodman to take part in the film, since they do not have anything more than frightening or running away and the monkey has the only show value which is even better computer animated than the Kong in Peter Jackson .

Gross profit

After its release, the film reached number 1 in the respective cinema charts in many countries, including Germany, China, the USA and France. On its opening weekend, the film had 294,380 visitors in Germany and a total of 877,721 visitors so far, making it 24th among the most successful films of the year. The worldwide revenue of the film from screenings so far amounts to around 567 million US dollars, making it the 12th most successful film of 2017 and the world's most successful King Kong film adaptation ever. In China, the film had the tenth best start of all time with 14,251,062 admissions and grossed 168.2 million US dollars there so far. With around 24 million visitors after two weeks, Kong: Skull Island became the most successful film of the year in China.

Awards

On December 4, 2017, it was announced that the film was in the shortlist of 20 films, from which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will determine the nominations for the 2018 Academy Awards in the Best Visual Effects category . On December 18, 2017, it was announced that the film was on the shortlist with 10 films in this category. On the same day, the Academy announced that Henry Jackman's work was on a shortlist from which nominations in the Best Film Music category would come. The following list contains a selection of the most famous award ceremonies.

Annie Award 2018

  • Nomination in the Character Animation in a Live Action Production category

Academy Awards 2018

Teen Choice Awards 2017

  • Nomination in the Choice Sci-Fi Movie category
  • Nomination in the category Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actor ( Tom Hiddleston )
  • Nomination in the category Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actress ( Brie Larson )

VES Awards 2018

  • Nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photo-Realistic Feature Film
  • Nomination for Outstanding Animated Characters in a Photorealistic Feature Film (Kong)
  • Nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects to Support a Photo-Realistic Feature Film
  • Nomination in the category Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

continuation

Thomas Tull already put Godzilla in the San Diego Comic-Con International in front

Thomas Tull , CEO of Legendary Pictures until the beginning of 2017 and one of the producers of both this film and the 2014 adaptation of Godzilla , announced in September 2015 when details of Kong: Skull Island were announced that he was planning to kill the monsters later in a King Kong vs Godzilla movie. The release of Godzilla vs. Kong is scheduled for 2020. Both in this film, Skull Island , and in the 2014 Godzilla film, the organization "Monarch" appears with the same logo. The post-credit scene refers to the Godzilla film Godzilla II: King of the Monsters , which was released in theaters in Germany on May 30, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Kong: Skull Island  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Kong: Skull Island . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 166260 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Age rating for Kong: Skull Island . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b Björn Becher: Monstrous Plan: That should connect 'Godzilla' and 'Kong: Skull Island' In: filmstarts.de, September 17, 2015.
  4. ↑ Florian Rinke: Princess Mononoke served as inspiration for Kong: Skull Island In: robots-and-dragons.de, February 6, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Kong: Skull Island In: synchronkartei.de. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  6. ↑ Thứ hai: Những địa danh Ninh Bình xuất hiện trong phim Kong: Skull Island In: vnexpress.net, February 29, 2016.
  7. ↑ Christoph Petersen: FILMSTARTS on the set of ... 'Kong: Skull Island' In: filmstarts.de, February 1, 2017.
  8. ↑ Kong: Skull Island 'Movie Highlights Vietnam In: vietnam.com. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  9. ↑ a b Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park In: whc.unesco.org, Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  10. ↑ Phong Nha Ke Bang and Kong skull island 2017 In: huracars.com, March 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ a b Vietnams Vermintes Paradies In: geo.de, Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  12. ↑ 'Kong' director Jordan Vogt-Roberts loves Vietnam In: Focus Online, March 15, 2017.
  13. ↑ Hy Quan Quach: Kong: Skull Island - New synopsis points to epic battle In: gamona.de, February 12, 2017.
  14. ↑ Vietnam releases 'King Kong' scenery for tourists ( memento from April 17, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: Lausitzer Rundschau, April 11, 2017.
  15. ↑ Who Is John Dykstra? ( Memento from March 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ Henry Jackman to Score 'Kong: Skull Island' In: filmmusicreporter.com, September 19, 2016.
  17. ↑ James Southall: Kong: Skull Island In: movie-wave.net, March 9, 2017.
  18. ↑ Aaron Cooper: Kong: Skull Island: The Comfort of Music Used in Vietnam War Films In: beardedgentlemenmusic.com, March 16, 2017.
  19. ↑ Kong: Skull Island - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack In: filmstarts.de. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  20. ↑ Soundtrack: Kong: Skull Island In: musikradar.de, March 16, 2017.
  21. ↑ WaterTower Music to Release Soundtrack to 'Kong: Skull Island' 3/3 In: broadwayworld.com, February 27, 2017.
  22. ↑ Sam Thielman: Deadpan John Goodman is king of Kong: Skull Island Comic-Con panel In: The Guardian, July 23, 2016.
  23. ↑ Maren Koetsier: 'Kong: Skull Island': Gigantic Giant Monkey in the German trailer for the action adventure In: filmstarts.de, July 28, 2016.
  24. ↑ Monarch. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  25. ↑ Vera Tidona: Kong: Skull Island - Map of the island reveals another monster? In: gamestar.de, October 13, 2016.
  26. ↑ Florian Rinke: Kong: Skull Island - new excerpts show blood, bones and helicopters In: robots-and-dragons.de, February 20, 2017.
  27. ↑ Markus Trutt: 'Kong: Skull Island': The island of the giant ape can now be found on Google Maps In: filmstarts.de, March 3, 2017.
  28. ↑ Kate Thomas: Brie Larson puts on a busty display in a cream tiered gown with a plunging neckline as she cosies up to co-star Tom Hiddleston at the Kong: Skull Island premiere in London In: dailymail.co.uk, February 28 2017.
  29. ↑ Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization In: titanbooks.com. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  30. ^ Reasons for approval for Kong: Skull Island In: Voluntary Self-Control of the Film Industry. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  31. ↑ Kong: Skull Island In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  32. ↑ Owen Gleiberman: Film Review: 'Kong: Skull Island' In: Variety, March 2, 2017.
  33. ↑ Peter Zander: Torn from the wild monkey: 'Kong: Skull Island' In: Berliner Morgenpost, March 9, 2017.
  34. ↑ Top 100 Germany 2017 In: insidekino.com. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  35. ↑ Kong: Skull Island In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  36. ↑ 2017 Worldwide Grosses In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  37. ↑ King Kong In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
  38. ↑ News In: insidekino.com. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  39. ↑ Kong: Skull Island. China Weekend Box Office In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  40. ↑ Ralf Augsburg: Kinocharts international: King Kong hits the drum in China ( Memento from July 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: spielfilm.de, April 6, 2017.
  41. ↑ 20 Contenders Advance In VFX Oscar Race In: oscars.org, December 4, 2017.
  42. ↑ Kate Erbland: Oscars 2018: Academy Shortlist Names Contenders for Visual Effects, Including 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' and 'Dunkirk' In: indiewire.com, December 18, 2017.
  43. ↑ Zack Sharf: Oscars 2018: Best Original Score Shortlist Includes 'The Shape of Water', 'All the Money in the World' and More In: indiewire.com, December 18, 2017.
  44. ↑ Terry Flores: 'Coco' Tops 2018 Annie Awards Nominations With 13 In: Variety, December 4, 2017.
  45. ↑ Andrew Auger: Teen Choice 2017 Award Nominees Include A Few Duds In: screenrant.com, June 19, 2017.
  46. ↑ Erik Pedersen: VES Awards Nominations: 'Blade Runner 2049' & Latest 'Apes' Lead Film; 'Thrones' Rules All With 11 Noms In: deadline.com, January 16, 2018.