Eighty years ago, in 1933, the film King Kong introduced the concept of a giant gorilla captured on a South pacific island rampaging through New York City. This is why it is considered the “ancestor of all kaiju movies” today.

This pivotal special-effects film showcased the work of stop-motion animation pioneer Willis O’Brien and deeply influenced the creators of Japan’s first kaiju film, “Godzilla” (1954).

King Kong was remade in 2005 with state-of-the-art digital effects by the New Zealand-born director of the “The Lord of the Rings” series, Peter Jackson.　Jackson harnessed the technologies he had perfected on the “The Lord of the Rings” to re-create King Kong, the 7.5 meter terror of Skull Island.

In an effort to portray Kong as an expressive and intelligent living creature rather than simply a crazed monster gorilla, Jackson also added new emotionally charged situations involving King Kong heroine Ann Darrow, portrayed by Naomi Watts.

The sculpting of the new King Kong was overseen by Jackson’s longtime friend and collaborator Richard Taylor, the founder of the world-renowned special effects company WETA Workshop. Although portrayed entirely with computer graphics in the film, Taylor personally sculpted the prototype used as the basis for the digital models. Taylor used a variety of techniques to bring the monster’s essentially tragic character, including the contours of his face during battles and the use of dog fangs not normally present in great apes.

Realistically simian proportions and posability!
Experience S.H.MonsterArts innovation for yourself!

The S.H.MonsterArts King Kong is designed to replicate Richard Taylor’s stunning sculpt. The “volume” of the fur has been captured with exquisite fine detail. Even the scars from battles with the dinosaurs of Skull Island have been replicated exactly as they appear on-screen. These are indispensible details for portraying Peter Jackson’s unique take on King Kong.

The figure makes ample use of S.H.MonsterArts technology to portray both King Kong’s unique quadruped motion and bipedal fighting stances. His forward-leaning walking posture and his standing threat posture are captured with perfect realism, and the sculpt is designed so that the needed joints blend right in visually. The result is a figure that captures all of the power of King Kong onscreen.

Special attention was paid to his expressiveness. In addition to his normal, contemplative face, a roaring and threatening face, and the playful face are included as well. By combining these three different faces with different poses, you can re-create nearly any of Kong’s expressive scenes from the film.

We look forward to your experiencing the brave and mighty King Kong, painstakingly replicated in three dimensions as based on the computer graphics.