King Kong vs Godzilla

Mr. Taco, the head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, wants to increase his drug ratings. When the doctor talks about the giant monster that he discovered on the small Island of Pharaoh, Taco believes that it would be a brilliant idea "... with a blow" to use the monster to advertise his company. Taco immediately sends two men, Sakurai and Kinsaburo, to find and return the monster from Pharaoh. Meanwhile, the American submarine Seahawk is caught in an iceberg. But this is the same iceberg in which Godzilla was buried seven years earlier. As the American rescue helicopter whirls in front of the iceberg, Godzilla gets out to the nearby Japanese Arctic station. The press says that no one can stop Godzilla and it only infuriates Taco. Meanwhile, on the island of Pharaoh, a giant octopus attacks the village. King Kong arrives and deals with the animal. Celebrating the victory, Kong drinks red berry juice and falls asleep. Sakurai and Kinsaburo place Kong in a large raft and begin to transport it back to Japan. Taco is furious because the press is now talking about Kong, not Godzilla. In a room with Taco, one of the employees asks who is stronger - King Kong or Godzilla. Another employee replies, “Stupid, there won’t be one!” Taco goes back to his room and exclaims, “I will carry out this idea!”

Mr. Taco arrives on the ship transporting Kong, but the monster wakes up and breaks free. Kong meets Godzilla in the valley. Tacos, Sakurai and Kinsaburo are watching the fight. Kong throws large stones at Godzilla, but Godzilla hits him with an atomic beam, so King Kong retreats. The military is constantly trying to stop both Kong and Godzilla, but all their attempts are in vain. They install electrical wires under a voltage of one million volts (300 thousand volts were used in the first film, but were unable to stop the monster). Electricity is too much for Godzilla, but it only makes King Kong stronger. Kong attacks Tokyo and destroys a train. The military explodes capsules full of berry juice from the Pharaoh's Island and "turn off" King Kong. Taco approved the plan because he "... didn’t want something bad to happen to Kong." Then they decide to transport the balloons to Kong to Godzilla, in the hope that they will fight and kill each other.

The next morning, Kong is brought to Godzilla and they again start to fight, Godzilla almost kills Kong, but at the last moment lightning strikes the dying Kong and it comes to life again. Two monsters in the fight slide into the Pacific Ocean. After an underwater battle, only King Kong emerges from the water and begins to slowly sail home to Skull Island. In the final credits, the viewer hears the roar of Godzilla, thereby hinting that Godzilla still survived. (In the American version, instead of the roar of Godzilla, the roar of Kong sounds.)

In 1960, Willis O'Brien proposed making the movie King Kong vs. Frankenstein, where Kong would fight against the giant version of Frankenstein's monster in San Francisco . Having received approval from the creator of King Kong, Merian K. Cooper, O'Brien took the project to RKO and renamed King Kong against Dzhinko, then it was assumed that Universal had rights in the name of Frankenstein. (In fact, they had rights only to the appearance of the monster). O'Brien was introduced to producer John Beck, who promised the studio that he would make this film. The name was changed to King Kong vs. Prometheus, returning the name to the original Frankenstein novel ( Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus ). The cost of frame-by-frame animation threatened the film not to fit into the budget. After altering the script, the Japanese studio Toho became interested in him. Toho waited a long time for a chance to make a movie about King Kong and decided to replace Frankenstein / Prometheus with their own monster Godzilla. They thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of their studio. Neither Willis O'Brien nor Merian Cooper was paid for their contributions. In 1963, Merian Cooper tried to sue for the use of his character, but as it turned out, he was not the only owner of Kong, as he had thought before, so the matter did not end there.

Director Eiji Tsuburai announced his intention to move Godzilla to a number of lighter audiences. This approach was not approved by most people on the special effects team, who understood that it would be a huge step backward for brands like Godzilla and King Kong. But Tsuburai wanted to make a film designed for children. This approach was endorsed by Toho and, in the end, King Kong vs. Godzilla has a much lighter tone than the previous two Godzilla films, and contains a lot of humor, and the sequence of actions turned out to be less meaningful (than if it actually happened). It was also the first film in which both monsters first appeared in color. Toho planned to make a film in Sri Lanka , but that didn’t work out because they ended up paying RKO about $ 200,000 for rights to use King Kong. Most of the film was shot on Oshima .

In Japan, the film has the highest box office of all films of the Godzilla series to date. 11.2 million tickets were sold during its initial theater performance, collecting 352 million yen. ^[5] This film became the fourth highest grossing film in Japan and was the second largest source of money for Toho. ^[6] The film was re-released twice as part of Matsuri Championship ”(東宝 チ ャ ン ピ オ ン ま つ り) ^[7] , a film festival that took place from 1969 to 1978, which showed many films packed together and intended for children. For the first time in 1970, and then again in 1977 ^[8] to coincide with the Japanese release of King Kong ^[9] . After In these two theatrical reprints, the film collected 12,550,000 tickets sold ^[10] and 430 million in Japan ^[1] in its entire life.

After theatrical reprints, the film was shown two more times at specialized festivals. In 1979, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Godzilla, the film was re-released as part of the triple-count festival, known as the “Gojira Eiga Zenshu Movie Collection” ⁽¹¹⁾ . This release is known among fans for its exciting and dynamic movie poster featuring all of the main kaiju of the three films involved in the battle. ^[12] Then, in 1983, the film was shown as part of the "Godzilla Resurrection Festival" ("Gojira no Fukkatsu"). At this big festival, ten Godzilla / Kaiju films were presented. ( Godzilla , King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Motra, Gidor, Three-headed Monster , Astro-Monster Invasion, Godzilla vs. Mehagodzilla, Rodan , Motra , Atragon and King Kong Escape ) ^[13] .

In North America, the premiere of King Kong vs. Godzilla was held in New York on June 26, 1963. He brought 2.7 million dollars ^[2] , accumulating profit (through rent) in the amount of 1.25 million US dollars ^[14] .

The film has also been rolled out in many international markets. In Germany, he was known as “Die Rückkehr des King Kong” (“The Return of King Kong”), and in Italy “Il Trionfo Di King Kong (Triumph of King Kong)” ^{[15] [16]} . In France, where he was called "King Kong Contre Godzilla", he received 554,695 box office receipts ^[3] .

• King Kong
• Godzilla

• King Kong vs. Godzilla on Toho Studio
• King Kong vs. Godzilla at the Japanese Movie Database