King Kong | |
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Cinematography |
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Edited by | Ted Cheesman |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $672,254.75[3] |
Box office | $5.3 million[3] |
King Kong is a 1933 American pre-Code adventure romance monster film[4] directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, with special effects by Willis H. O'Brien and music by Max Steiner. Produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, it is the first film in the King Kong franchise. The film stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot. The film follows a giant ape dubbed Kong who is offered a beautiful young woman as a sacrifice.
King Kong opened in New York City on March 2, 1933, to rave reviews, with praise for its stop-motion animation and score. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[5][6] It is ranked by Rotten Tomatoes as the greatest horror film of all time[7] and the fifty-sixth greatest film of all time.[8] A sequel, Son of Kong, was made the same year as the original film, and several more films have been made, including two remakes in 1976 and 2005.
1933 release: $1,856,000; 1938 release: $306,000; 1944 release: $685,000
1952 release: $2,500,000; budget: $672,254.75