User:Cohozilla/Sandbox/King Kong in popular culture
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An enduring image of American film culture, King Kong is frequently referenced and parodied in popular culture. King Kong, as well as the characters featured in the debut film, have appeared in a variety of mediums ranging from cartoons, films, literature, television series, comics and video games. The following is a list of such references, organized in alphabetical order. While this page aims to be comprehensive, due to the broad subject matter, it is always ever-growing.
Film
Image | Film of origin | Release date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | 1996/12/20 | Beavis and Butt-Head at one point have a Godzilla-based dream. Butt-Head kidnaps a woman, reminiscent of King Kong, while Beavis breathes fire at military troops, reminiscent of Godzilla. The two fight over who wants a 'go' with the woman before the dream ends. | |
The Big Hit | 1998/04/24 | The main character's inability to return a VHS copy of King Kong Lives back to the video store is a running gag throughout the film. | |
Cats Don't Dance | 1997/03/26 | King Kong is one of the animal actors on the Mammoth Pictures backlot Danny and Sawyer cross paths with on their way to the Little Ark Angel set. | |
Chicken Little | 2005/11/04 | During gym class, Fish Out of Water reenacts the climax of King Kong by using paper versions of the Empire State Building and planes. Runt mentions "T'was beauty that killed the beast". | |
Cloverfield | 2008/01/18 | A freeze frame of Kong atop the Empire State Building can briefly be seen when the camera's footage glitches out. | |
Godzilla | 1954/11/03 | The film's special effects director, Eiji Tsuburaya, was inspired to make a monster movie after seeing the original King Kong, and initially wanted to make his film stop-motion like his favorite film. | |
I Like Mountain Music | 1933/06/14 | ||
Japanese King Kong | 1933/10/05 | A lost parody of the original film featuring a man playing King Kong in a theater production. | |
Jurassic Park | 1993/06/11 | Upon viewing the imposing gates to Jurassic Park, Ian Malcolm remarks, "What have they got in there, King Kong?" | |
King Klunk | 1933/09/04 | Parodied by Walter Lantz | |
Little Shop of Horrors | 1986/12/19 | A song in the film sung by Audrey II, Mean Green Mother From Outer Space, features the following line:
"Don't you talk to me about old King Kong" | |
The King Kong that Appeared in Edo | 1938/03/31 | ||
The LEGO Batman Movie | 2017/02/10 | One of the villains trapped in the Phantom Zone, King Kong escaped with the Joker and the other villains to wreck havoc on Gotham, only for Kong to be defeated by Robin crashing the Batmobile into his face. | |
The Pet Store | 1933/10/28 | In this 1933 Mickey Mouse short, Beppo the Gorilla escapes from his cage in the pet shop and decides to imitate King Kong by carrying Minnie up towards a high shelf. | |
Ralph Breaks the Internet | 2018/11/21 | An insecure virus named Arthur replicates Ralph's insecurities, creating a legion of Ralph clones that rampage through the Internet. During the climax of the film, the Ralph clones combine into one giant Ralph named Ralphzilla, although this name is never spoken by the characters. Ralphzilla behaves like King Kong. He climbs the Google Building and swats at a Gmail chain email, carrying Vanelope with him in a recreation of the climax from the original 1933 King Kong film. The song that plays during this scene is even titled "Kling Kong". | |
Ready Player One | 2018/3/29 |
| |
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie | 2000/11/17 | The babies take control of a giant mechanical Reptar called the Reptar Robot and roam through the city causing unintentional destruction, referencing both Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. They also pilot the Robot against Robosnail, a giant purple snail robot with mechanical crab-like pincers, and scale the Eiffel Tower with the Robot holding Angelica in its hand, referencing King Kong. Both mechas are eventually destroyed, with the Reptar Robot having its tail, right claw and head cut off. | |
Supercroc | 2007/04/03 | The back cover of the DVD mentions Godzilla and King Kong, although they do not appear in the film itself. | |
Training Day | 2001/10/05 | Detective Alonzo Harris declares "King Kong ain't got shit on me!" | |
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie | 2017/06/02 | As George Beard and Harold Hutchins were attempting to stop Captain Underpants being a so-called hero, he gets on the roof of a building and jumps onto a purple ape inflatable. |
Television
Image | Series of origin | Episode(s) | Air date | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
31 Minutes | "The Explosive Wizard" | 2004/06/19 | In the credits, Dante Torobolino the Explosive Wizard is seen flying through the universe with his jetpack, destroying Ultraseven, King Kong and the Heisei Godzilla. | |
The Amazing World of Gumball | various episodes | The character Hector Jötunheim has a strong resemblance to King Kong. | ||
Back at the Barnyard | "Plucky and Me" | 2011/10/03 | When the other barn animals discover Plucky, who is a dinosaur, Pip says "That's a Godzilla!". Later, when Mrs. Beady is captured by Plucky, she calls the police and says "I've been captured by a Godzilla!". The policeman later says "Time to hunt some Zilla." Afterwards, Plucky gets on top of the farmhouse holding Mrs. Beady in his hand, and the policeman comes in a plane and starts shooting at Plucky (which is a reference to the original King Kong film). The policeman hits Plucky with a giant ball of cheese and he falls off, pretending to be dead. Mrs. Beady then says that "it was beauty that killed the beast". | |
The Fairly Oddparents | "Formula for Disaster" | 2009/07/07 | Poof turns into King Kong and later into a three-headed monster resembling King Ghidorah. | |
The Muppet Show | "Shields & Yarnell" | 1979/11/23 | An oversized Quongo the Gorilla performs "It's Lonely at the Top" at the top of the Empire State Building. | |
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | "Secret of My Excess" | 2011/12/10 | A giant, monstrous version of Spike grabs Rarity, rampages around the town, then climbs up a mountain as the flying Wonderbolt ponies try to stop him. | |
The Simpsons | "Treehouse of Horror III" | 1992/10/29 | The King Homer segment is a direct parody of the 1933 film. | |
"HOMR" | 2001/01/07 | During Homer's fantasy sequence, a giant ape is revealed on stage like Kong in the 1933 film's presentation scene. | ||
"Jazzy and the Pussycats" | 2006/09/17 | The couch gag has Homer as an ape grabbing Marge and climbing the Empire State Building as biplanes try to shoot him, with a style matching the 2005 Peter Jackson remake. | ||
"Wedding for Disaster" | 2009/03/29 | During an argument, Homer calls Marge "Bridezilla" and Marge calls Homer "King Wrong." Maggie then imagines them both as Simpsonized versions of Godzilla and King Kong, respectively, that are fighting each other. | ||
Turbo Fast | "Skidzo-Brainia" | 2014/06/27 | Skidmark's song has the line "I can be King Kong", accompanied with a mix of Kong and Skidmark's designs on top of the Empire State Building. | |
We Bare Bears | "Adopted" | 2018/11/07 | Baby Grizz and Baby Ice Bear use an airplane to rescue Baby Panda from Carl the Gorilla on the roof of the mansion. | |
The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants | The Heartbreaking Havoc of the Haunting Hack-A-Ween | 2019/10/08 | George and Harold mention that Gorilla Lawyer was cancelled due to the ape turning berserk. It cuts to a shot of the ape standing upon the Empire State Building, with planes surrounding him. |
Video Games
Image | Game of origin | Release date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Donkey Kong | 1981/07/09 | In the first appearance of two of Nintendo's flagship characters, Jumpman (Mario) must climb to the top of an under-construction skyscraper to rescue a Lady (later named Pauline) from the clutches of the massive gorilla Donkey Kong. Spawning numerous copycats including a King Kong themed one, Donkey Kong would become the focal point of a court battle between Universal and Nintendo over concerns of Donkey Kong infringing on Universal's King Kong trademark, which Nintendo won when pointing out the King Kong character's public domain status. | |
Dragon City | 2012/05 | There is a type of dragon known as Dragon Kong, who resembles a bat-winged King Kong with horns on his head and a dragon's tail. | |
Final Order: New Horizon | 2020/09/05 | The game includes kaiju based on Godzilla Earth, King Kong and SpaceGodzilla. | |
GigaBash | 2022/08/05 | Gorogong has a subspecies called "Gorokong" which features Gorogong with brown fur and chains around his arms. | |
Scribblenauts Unlimited | 2012/11/18 | In Capital City, if you give the Gorilla a crown, throne, checkers and other objects, it will grow bigger and fight planes before being killed, referencing King Kong. | |
Super Smash Bros. Brawl | 2008/01/31 | The event titled "Three-Beast Carnage" has R.O.B. fight a giant Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Charizard. | |
Super Smash Bros. Melee | 2001/11/21 | The event match titled "Gargantuans" has a giant Bowser fight a giant Donkey Kong on top of buildings. |
Books
Image | Book of origin | Author(s) | Publish date | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
A Day with Wilbur Robinson | William Joyce | 1990/04/15 | Tallulah Robinson's cityscape themed outfit includes a miniature King Kong climbing on the skyscraper hat. While Disney's 2007 film adaptation Meet the Robinsons would carry over Tallulah's character design, a pet monkey that played the mini-Kong role would not make it out of storyboards. | |
Kat Kong | Dav Pilkey | 1993/09/29 | Children's book parody by Dav Pilkey |
Comics
Music
Image | Song of origin | Artist(s) | Release date | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Buvlja pijaca" | Riblja Čorba | 1982/11/29 | The cover art for the album features an edited image of Godzilla from Godzilla Raids Again fighting King Kong from the 1933 film King Kong. |
Miscellaneous
Image | Media of origin | Description |
---|---|---|
Kaiju Yokai Dai Koshin (怪獣妖怪大行進) | Kaiju Yokai Dai Koshin (怪獣妖怪大行進), a special mini-magazine / feature included with the August 1967 edition of Kaiju Magazine (怪獣マガジン), featured an illustrated creature described as The strongest monster in history: a hypothetical combination made from the body parts of other monsters such as Godzilla, Rodan, King Ghidorah, King Kong, Daimajin, Alien Baltan, Red King, Gomora, Ragon, Ganma (a multi-eyed Hyakume yokai from the 1966 series Akuma-kun), and several unidentified monsters. | |
The Miss Piggy Calendar 1980 | A King Kong parody with Miss Piggy in the grips of Kong's hand while Kermit the Frog flies in on a biplane to the rescue was used for the October photo. The photo was popular enough to be recycled into later calendars and other merchandising such as jigsaw puzzles. |
Real life
Image | Name | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
The World a Million Years Ago Century of Progress Fair Chicago, Illinois |
1933-1934 | In the immediate wake of the 1933 film's popularity, this exhibit at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair by Messmore & Damon would include giant gorillas in its cast of mechanical dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts. The head of one of these Kongs is now in the collection of author Don Glut. | |
King Kong Restaurants, Nebraska | c.1994-present | King Kong is a small chain of burger and gyro restaurants in the Nebraska cities of Omaha and Lincoln, with Kong being used to describe the large sizes of their burgers | |
Kong Morey's Piers Wildwood, New Jersey |
1971-1980 2015-present |
A Kong themed airplane spinner ride was a fixture of Morey's Piers until the Kong figure topping the central mechanism was broken when being moved for refurbishment. The park would bring Kong back to the pier in 2015, donning a cartoonier look and a t-shirt and climbing a lighthouse, as the centerpiece of a Flying Scooters ride.
Gallery | |
Dinosaur World
Beaver, Arkansas |
1976-2005 | Originally opened in 1967 under the name "Farwell's Dinosaur Park", the success of the 1976 King Kong film would inspire second park owner Ken Childs to construct a 40 foot Kong statue billed as the world's largest Kong statue and through a friend that knew one of actor John Agar's relatives (Agar having a minor supporting role in the film as a NYC City Official), ask permission to rename the park "John Agar's Land of Kong". The park would later be renamed again to Dinosaur World and shut down in 2005, with the site falling into disarray and the Kong statue having toppled over.[1] | |
Dinosaur Land
Winchester, Virginia |
1970s-present | Originally opened in 1963, Dinosaur Land is home to a giant Kong statue also inspired by the 1976 film's release designed as a photo opportunity allowing visitors to be held in his hand. | |
King Kong | Various | Manufactured by German amusement ride company Huss, King Kong (alternately marketed as The Giant), is a flat ride where a giant mechanical Kong lifts a cart containing guests into the air and shakes it around.[2]
Five parks have installed the ride: Bobbejaanland in Belgium, Vialand in Turkey, Le Pal in France, and two Chinese parks including Shenzen Window of the World and Changzhou Dinosaur World. | |
King Kong: The Eight Wonder of the World | 2016 | Francis Ford Coppola Winery released a wine label dubbed "Director's Great Movies", one of which features King Kong.[3] | |
King Kong spinning coaster at Carthageland
Hammamet,Tunisia |
2018/03/18 | Developed by EOS Rides, a giant animatronic King Kong serves as the centerpiece of the rollercoaster.[4] |
Videos
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See also
References
This is a list of references for Cohozilla/Sandbox/King Kong in popular culture. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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