King Kong is a true legend! He’s been a major part of popular culture since 1933, and with another movie – Godzilla x Kong: Supernova – on the horizon, his popularity shows no signs of fading. Let’s revisit some of the greatest King Kong films ever made.
What are the best King Kong movies as of 2025?
Since the first King Kong movie in 1933, there have been thirteen films about the giant ape. While some are better than others, a handful are truly excellent. But no matter how you feel about the sequels, the original King Kong remains the best.
King Kong (1933)
Released in 1933, King Kong wasn’t just a blockbuster – it was a groundbreaking film that paved the way for countless monster movies. It introduced innovative special effects techniques like stop-motion animation and rear-screen projection, and its influence can still be seen in filmmaking today. In many ways, the entire monster genre – and a significant portion of modern filmmaking – owes a debt to King Kong.
King Kong, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, tells the story of filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) and his team as they travel to a remote island to film a movie. Ann Darrow, played by Fay Wray, is an actress who joins the expedition under slightly misleading circumstances.
Ann joins the film crew and sailors aboard The Venture without knowing much about their mission. When a native tribe sees her blonde hair, they believe she’s the perfect offering to their god and kidnap her. This sets off a desperate rescue effort by the team, culminating in the iconic scene at the Empire State Building, where Kong holds Ann as airplanes swarm around them. Even today, despite the special effects looking dated, the story remains powerfully moving.
King Kong (2005)
Remakes often fail to live up to the originals, but the 1976 version is still worth seeing. Peter Jackson, fresh off the success of The Lord of the Rings, delivers a truly impressive remake that feels like a tribute to the 1933 film. He was deeply affected by the original—he remembers crying as a child when King Kong fell from the Empire State Building and even attempted his own version with a home camera as a young boy. Universal Pictures first considered his vision in 1995, but the project took years to develop. It wasn’t until Jackson became a widely recognized director after the success of Lord of the Rings that the studio fully supported his remake.
When it was released, King Kong was the most expensive film ever made. It retells the classic story, but with the grand scale and heartfelt details that only director Peter Jackson could deliver. The film boasts a talented cast, including Jack Black, Naomi Watts, and Adrien Brody, and features another memorable performance from Andy Serkis, who brought Kong to life through his incredible motion capture work.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Skull Island, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, is the second film in the modern Monsterverse series. It’s a prequel, showing Kong before he became the massive creature we know. The story takes place in 1970s, near the end of the Vietnam War, and follows a group of soldiers and scientists who venture to a mysterious, unexplored island in the Pacific Ocean. They soon discover the island is inhabited by dangerous, ancient beasts, and ruled by a powerful, dominant creature.
The film follows tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), and military commander Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) as they discover the power and danger of the natural world. While it’s a classic survival story, the movie also makes you think about what truly makes a monster.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
Okay, so Adam Wingard delivers exactly what the title promises with Godzilla vs. Kong – a massive monster mash-up! Picking up after the last films, things were… relatively calm with Godzilla and Kong. Humanity had sort of figured out a way to coexist, but that peace doesn’t last. When Godzilla starts randomly destroying cities, everyone jumps to conclusions and the military tries to figure out what’s going on. It’s a classic setup, and honestly, it works.
The clash between these powerful creatures creates a lot of exciting moments. The action sequences are impressively done, giving you everything you expect from a monster movie – buildings collapse, ships sink, and planes fall from the sky, all with incredible sound effects. While “Godzilla vs. Kong” focuses more on visual spectacle than a complex story or developed characters, the film finds heart in the touching connection between Kong and a young deaf girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle).
King Kong Escapes (1968)
King Kong Escapes is a film that tends to divide viewers – people either really enjoy it or really dislike it. The main reason for the negative reactions is its unexpected shift in tone. Made by the studio behind Godzilla, this Japanese-American movie is less of a scary monster film and more of a fun, over-the-top science fiction adventure. If you can embrace that, you might find it surprisingly charming.
The movie centers around Dr. Who, a villainous scientist (with no connection to the famous TV doctor), who creates a massive robotic version of Kong called Mechani-Kong. His scheme involves using the robot to mine a potent radioactive material in the Arctic. Of course, the robot goes haywire, and unfortunately, the real Kong is captured and put to work as an animal laborer. True to the title, Kong escapes and ultimately battles his robotic counterpart in the heart of Tokyo.
Originally released in Japan in 1967 and the U.S. in 1968, King Kong Escapes was connected to the animated TV show The King Kong Show, sharing characters and a similar adventurous style. While it doesn’t have the same serious tone as the 1933 King Kong film, it’s still a notable part of Kong’s story, and a product of its unique late-1960s era.
How we picked the best King Kong movies
We based our choices on what audiences and critics thought, and also considered which movies were the most influential. To be clear, nothing else compares to the 1933 classic or Peter Jackson’s remake. However, the other films we’ve included still offer interesting insights into Kong’s past and potential future.
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2025-11-05 04:38