STUDIOCANAL have now released the brand new 4K restoration of John Guillermin’s(Blazing Inferno, Death on the Nile) Academy Award Winning remake of iconic Hollywood classic, KING KONG(1976). I saw this film at the cinema when it was released when I was just a young un and I think the last time I saw it would have been the late 80s when it was on a tv broadcast. Of course now the last time I revisited the film was this weekend and it took me right back to childhood. The restoration looks fantastic and looked fantastic on my wall projector. Id forgotten h ow much I enjoyed this version of King Kong. Starring Jeff Bridges(The Big Lebowski, Crazy Heart, True Grit) and Jessica Lange (Tootsie, American Horror Story), and produced by Hollywood legend Dino de Laurentiis (Flash Gordon, Nights of Cabiria, Barbarella), this retelling of the classic monster adventure film went on to jointly win the Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects (Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson and Frank Van der Veer), as well as receiving Academy Award® nominations for Best Cinematography (Richard H. Kline) and Best Sound (Harry W. Tetrick, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Jack Solomon). Jessica Lange was also honoured as Best new Actress for her role at the Golden Globes that same year.

 STUDIOCANAL have released the film across 4K UHD Blu-ray (which also contains the 3 hour TV broadcast version of the film) , Blu-ray, DVD and Digital as well as a 4K UHD Steelbook.

New artworks have been created for the Home Entertainment releases by graphic designer Sophie Bland, and for the 4K UHD Steelbook release by Francesco Francavilla. The 4K UHD will include a limited-edition poster of Sophie Bland’s artwork and as you can see, they look great. 

Ive checked out the film, andhave been checking out the special features. Whilst they arent super long (other than the two full length commentaries of course), this is quality over quantity and the 6 mini featurettes we get which average around 6 minutes each and are all take from different viewpoints, are really good and filled with fun stories from the shoot. So they are definitely worth checking out. 

This 2022 restoration is presented by STUDIOCANAL and Paramount Pictures. The 35mm original negative was scanned in 4K and colour graded by Paramount. The restoration and mastering was then carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata, under the supervision of STUDIOCANAL. The purpose of this restoration was to give a new lease of life to the film for audiences to enjoy on the big screen, and eventually on the smaller screen. A 4K DCP was created, as well as a UHD HDR Dolby Vision master, to enhance the sharpness and brightness in cinemas which is not usually possible with a standard HD master. In addition there is a new, improved and cleaned up 5.1 audio.

SPECIAL FEATURES

   Extended TV broadcast cut (unrestored) On the $K UHD disc

   Audio commentary with film historian Ray Morton

   Audio commentary with actor and makeup artist Rick Baker

   Interview with Barry Nolan (6 mins)

   Interview with Bill Kronick (6 mins)

   Interview with Scott Thaler and Jeffrey Chernov ( 13 mins)

   Interview with David McGiffert and Brian E. Frankish (11 mins)

   Interview with Jack O’Halloran (6 mins)

   Interview with Steve Varner (6 mins) 

   Deleted Scenes     

   Original Trailer