Even for such a gargantuan beast, the King Kong of Jordan Vogt-Roberts upcoming reboot has previously been likened to a lonely god – a mighty, 100ft-tall simian that roams the picturesque plains of Skull Island and largely keeps to himself.
But it’s important to remember that although Kong may be lonely, he’s not strictly speaking alone. For in Kong: Skull Island, the sky-scraping ape will share his home with a hoard of other creatures known as Skull Crawlers. That’s simply the name given to the otherworldly abominations by John C. Reilly’s erratic explorer, but thanks to Idle Hands, up above you’ll be able to take a closer look at those ghastly critters courtesy of Skull Island‘s tie-in toy line.
Among them are an impossibly large spider, a mutated Pterodactylus – take a look at its nightmarish beak! – the two-legged Skull Crawler and finally, Kong himself. That gives Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Co. plenty to contend with, though we fully expect King Kong to clash with his monstrous neighbors a la Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla.
Set to deliver a creature feature with a Vietnamese tinge, Vogt-Roberts spoke recently about the film’s stark aesthetic, along with his decision to situate Skull Island in a time period where napalm was the weapon of choice.
“The script I first read took place in 1917. But when I started talking to the Legendary [Entertainment] guys, I was thinking, ‘What weird King Kong movie would I want to see?’ So I pitched them the Vietnam War connection, literally thinking they were gonna laugh me out of the room. And to Legendary’s credit, they said, ‘Cool. Let’s figure it out.’ The aesthetics of that time mixed with King Kong makes for an incredible genre mash-up.”
Held up as the second entry into Legendary’s shared universe after the Gareth Edwards-directed Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island will stomp into theaters on March 10, 2017. It’ll be followed in quick succession by Godzilla: King of Monsters in 2019, before the studio will begin selling tickets for what is perhaps the greatest gladiator battle of all, Godzilla vs. Kong, the following year.
