While Legendary Entertainment creates a MonsterVerse around their films GODZILLA and KONG: SKULL ISLAND, building toward a 2020 rematch between the iconic creatures, IM Global Television and MarVista Entertainment are teaming up to make their own separate Kong project – a television series titled King Kong: Skull Island that will serve as a "re-invention" of the Kong property.
Based on the original 1933 KING KONG film and the art of Joe DeVito, who has been working in conjunction with the family of KING KONG producer/director Merian C. Cooper to build a universe around Kong and his Skull Island home since 1992, King Kong: Skull Island will be
a serialized, contemporary continuation of the classic with a female-led, multi-cultural ensemble that delves fully into the wonders and horrors of Skull Island and its origins.
Jonathan Penner and Stacy Title, the husband and wife writer/director duo behind this year's horror release THE BYE BYE MAN, are on board to write and executive produce the series.
Dannie Festa will also serve as an executive producer, and had this to say about the project:
It's been a privilege to work with Joe DeVito and his truly unique, never-before-seen Kong universe. We feel confident that it will be hugely appealing to fans all over the world."
Kong has been the star of a TV series before, but always in animation form – The King Kong Show in the 1960s, Kong: The Animated Series in 2000, and the current Netflix series Kong: King of the Apes. King Kong: Skull Island will be the first live action Kong television show.
It is kind of odd to have the MonsterVerse, the Netflix cartoon, and this series all going on at the same time, but I'm certainly not going to be complaining of Kong overload. I'll gladly watch any Kong movies and shows that are out there.