King Kong (1976)

Like the movie. King Kong is the star.

This review is pertaining to the "extended edition" steelbook that was released in April of 2024. While I already have this movie on DVD, I got this version of the movie for 1#, the beautiful steelbook packaging that the movie comes in, & 2#, the extended tv cut of the movie which I had never seen before; both of which were definitely worth getting. First off, like I said the steelbook packaging is really great. The colors are nice and vibrant and the image of Kong is very detailed. As a fan of steelbook packaging, this is definitely a great edition. I will say that the plastic slipcover that goes over the steelbook is a little loose and comes off a little too easily for my liking, but that might just be the specific copy that I got. Either way, it's not too big a deal and it still looks really nice. Now this comes with the theatrical cut of the movie on a 4K disc and the tv extended cut on a separate Blu-ray disc. I don't have a 4K disc player, so I can't really say what the movie looks like in 4K, but I was able to check out the tv cut which is the main reason I got this release. I was very pleased to see that the tv cut is presented in full high definition with the aspect ratio adjusted to how it was originally filmed as opposed to the cropped tv presentation that it originally aired on. I was really worried about that since a lot of "TV" cuts of films usually aren't preserved in the best of conditions, but here it looks great and I believe is on par with the standard high definition blu-ray releases of the theatrical cut. So, the real question is... is the extra footage added any good? Well it depends. If your a big fan this movie, then checking this version of the film out is a no brainer. As far as the story goes, the extra footage is mostly insignificant narrative-wise. There's a lot of "extended shots" that are just shots from the theatrical version that go on way longer without adding anything significant. A lot of the "unused" footage added in feels rather pointless such as an opening that actually shows the lead character Jack hanging out in a bar before he goes to ship at the start of the movie. The scene doesn't really go anywhere or lead into anything and just feels like filler which is how a lot of the "extra" footage feels for the first half of the movie. Now the second half of the movie is actually pretty interesting as we do get to see more footage of Kong rampaging through the city that was not shown in the theatrical cut. Not a whole lot of it is actually "new" per say, but rather the same destruction sequences of Kong with more footage here and there added in. Some of it seems to be extended shots but there's also unused angles and alternate takes of the Kong on display here. We even get a completely unused scene where Kong picks up some poor taxi cab driver and yeats him into the side of a building which is pretty great. While the theatrical cut is perhaps better paced and edited, I'd actually say that the second half of the TV cut is a little better simple because we get to see more footage of Kong's rampage. And honestly isn't that what you want to see in King Kong movie? More Kong? The only downside to the TV cut is that for obvious reasons they had to cut out the more graphic moments from the movie. The brief scene where Kong nudges Jessica Lang's top off is omitted and most of the bloodier moments are also cut out such as the scene where Kong rips a giant snake's jaw apart and a good portion of the helicopter shootout with Kong. Most of these cuts aren't too bad and are still edited in a way where it it's not too obvious or jarring( unless your a person who just really wanted to see that half second shot of Jessica Lang topless). Overall, I'd definitely recommend this release for fans of this movie. It's worth getting for The beautiful steelbook as well as the extended tv cut in High Definition.

King Kong 76 in UHD 4K Steel book is a very nice set. The package includes 2 versions of the film. Disc #1. Theatrical release only in 4K UHD HDR Disc #2. Extended Cut only on Blu-ray HD ** Includes a Digital Copy via VUDU / Fandango. presented in 4K Disc #1. The 4K disc looks great. Menus are minimal with original poster art in the background. DNR was never detected. The image has an appropriate amount grain. A couple of shots are rather soft but look to be part of the original film. The audio is 7.1 DTS so there's no ATMOS on this one. I finished watching the 4K disc and compared to the new included Blu-ray extended cut. The 4K disc looks considerably and noticeably better. Contrast, sharpness, & detail are all noticeably better on the 4K disc. The audio is serviceable, but not demo worthy. The audio is front heavy. Surrounds are used for music and other sounds to spread out the sound field, but fail to provide discrete sounds in the rear channels. The LFE channel is also lack luster. So many opportunities for LFE effects were missed. Kong76 had so many opportunities for an all new ATMOS sound track, but I guess it was just not in the budget. What we do get is a great looking image and clear audio. Side note: Kong76 predates CGI so all the effects are practical which translates well onto 4K. The makers of this film constructed a giant Kong hand and 2 giant legs & feet, Even a full size Kong which did not work very well so it was minimally used in the New York cage scene. The real magic is a very young Rick Baker who was involved in the Kong makeup and acted in the Kong "suit". Forced perspective was used a few times as well. All this was done without computers. There are a few scenes using Chroma-key (green-screen) which do not age very well, but fans of this film already know what to expect from a movie made in the mid-1970's. Disc #2: I'm happy to see Paramount made every effort to preserve the film's aspect ratio for the extended cut that was originally cropped for 4:3 TV presentation. This disc presents the extended movie in its original theatrical aspect ratio including the additional scenes also in 2.35:1. The entire disc presentation feels like something from Arrow-Video. One static simple menu, but excellent video transfer. The disc does not contain last point memory so if you stop the disc, you will need to manually hunt up your last time-point to continue. I would have liked to have seen a new ATMOS Sound track. I was not impressed by the 7.1 DTS track. The sound stage felt very front heavy. Many scenes were missed opportunities for ATMOS and even the 7.1-DTS was nothing exciting when it could have been. Overall, A worthy purchase for fans of the film.

Item is new =very good condition. Thou a 1976 heritage -( special effects kinda sucked -) it was a fun watch - for a 3 and a half dollars

I agree with all of the reviews stating that this is a great transfer and excellent color. This Steelbook is most likely the better version, as I've read the newest 4K release had color tint issues. The only downer for this version, there are no extras like the Scream Factory Blu-ray. However, I'm happy to have a great transfer and a nice collectible. Wish it didn't take so long to receive this item. I think it would have gotten here faster if they had walked.

Love this version of King Kong. Young Jeff Bridges as Jack Prescott reminds me of an adventurous version of the dude. Charles Grodin shines as the greedy oil executive/comic relief. The practical effects mostly still look as good or better than a lot of modern CGI.

Been waiting on this for a long time. Plays great on my PS5. The difference in DVD to 4k is unreal. Some people hate this movie but I do not. I wish a few things had been different, but at 14 yrs old in December 1976 and never having seen the original, it blew me away. The scene where Kong approaches the wall is the best of all the Kong movies. Not revealing him until a tense build up. It also inspired the story of Kong enough that Peter Jackson built on the bond in 2005. Well worth the price if you are a fan.

I love this movie. Great way to update the story of King Kong to modern times that still holds up today. The 4K scan looks great. An added bonus is you get the extended TV cut that isn’t on some subpar VHS rip. It doesn’t add anything to the story, but it’s fun to watch a 3 hour version of this. I’m not a big fan of steelbooks, but the presentation here is great. I like that they used original paintings and artwork, and in a fun and interesting way with the clear plastic slipcover.