A limited edition 4K steelbook of the 1976 movie is being released today:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSKGS1SH/?tag=imwan-20

I received my pre-order.

This film has one of the best musical scores of all time. There is wonderful, beautiful music playing throughout most of the movie.

I'll have to get this at some point.

That moment when you receive your second blu-ray edition of King Kong (1976)

There was a time when I was a small child that I believed King Kong 1976 was the first, original King Kong movie.

I dated a girl that thought Sargeant Pepper was originally done by the Bee Gee’s.

One of the most critically panned movies of all time gets the deluxe treatment. Which goes to show that one's trash is the other's treasure. Or something.

I remember seeing that one in the theater.

It's been reappraised as a slightly above average movie over the last few decades.
IMDB rating:6/10
Letterboxd rating: 2.9/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 54%

So now instead of being critically reviled it's the embodiment of mediocrity! Get your collector's edition now!

One of the first movies I went to see in the theatre without my parents.

My first exposure to it was the MAD Magazine satire. It was better than the movie.

The movie was also terrible in that the actual monkey in the movie, unlike on the poster, was nowhere near big enough to have a foot on both World Trade Towers simultaneously. I was upset and some of my innocence was lost that day, my friends.

Tragic...

Which goes to show that standards and tastes change over time. Or something.

Dino de Laurentis always did have aspirations to mediocrity.

It also endures just because of its name in a way that a lot of other better films simply haven't. It lives on just because it's a remake of an acknowledged classic so it will always be there included in discussions of King Kong, and just by enduring in that regard it inevitably lends itself to "was it really that bad?" takes. Such is life.

And as others noted above, it does have the benefit of a really good score.

I was too young to see this one in the theaters. I did eventually see it on TV in the 80s. It didn't live up to the hype, to say the least. The original 1933 is far superior, as is the (admittedly bloated and overlong) Peter Jackson one.

And Rick Baker's work was genius. He really pulled a rabbit out of the hat -- Dino had no viable plan. And a young Rick Baker made a mask and costume that is the peak of what make-up art can accomplish. I still think it looks really good and pleasing to the eye.

And I think the jungle/island scene is shot in a terrifying way.

The extras on the blu-ray are great -- in depth interviews with Rick Baker, and good film commentary.

I know I am in the minority, but I prefer the Dino version to the Peter Jackson remake. I couldn't even make it through the whole thing. It looked great of course, but it was far too long and drawn out.
But the original still rules.

I feel the same way, across the board. With the additional gripe that I don't like that Jackson Kong looks like a large gorilla. The dino-fight is awesome, but I think Kong should be non-identifiable species of upright ape.

Jackson's Kong looking like a giant silverback gorilla was what I disliked the most. I wish he'd leaned heavier into the original film for that, like he did for everything else.

King Kong (1976) is available for free on YouTube if anyone wants to revisit this movie.

I saw the 1976 one at the movies with my Dad. I loved it and I still love it...I'll get this new version eventually but I already have it on Blu Ray.