Disney Plus’ attempts to completely dominate the streaming market with originals are heating up, with reports of a new King Kong series headed to the platform.
Thanks to the complex legal rights around one of cinema’s first monsters, Disney has been able to swoop in and develop its own version of the iconic primate. A new report from Deadline suggests that King Kong (working title) is currently in development at Disney as a streaming exclusive series.
The report believes that Insidious and Aquaman director James Wan’s production company Atomic Monster Productions is working on the new series, with Paper Girls writer Stephany Folsom as scribe for the big monster series. The series will likely have absolutely no connection to the recent MonsterVerse films such as 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong.
Folsom has also worked on Toy Story 4 and Thor: Ragnarok so she’s a well-known quantity to Disney. Her most recent project was The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which is set for a Sept. 2022 release.
Legally, Legendary’s MonsterVerse can only use the moniker of “Kong” and must leave the “King” section out of any of their projects. Disney’s new project will be able to use the full title, with Deadline’s report suggesting that the new series will be based upon a recent slew of books by Joe DeVito and an origin story.
There’s no clear timeline for when the series would hit the streaming platform, but it’ll be curious to see if it comes before or after the Godzilla vs Kong sequel which is set for a March 2024 release in cinemas.
