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# Peter Jackson's 'King Kong' Is a Spectacular, Once-in-a-Generation Film
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/review-20051216/
- Published: 2005-12-16T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:18:12.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*lost out on opportunities*

I received an e-mail recently from the folks at Chase encouraging me to “APPLY NOW to capture KONG-sized benefits with the Limited Edition King Kong Universal Entertainment Master- Card®.” There’s no annual fee for this card, and with the great low introductory rate I can afford to buy lots of “King Kong” merchandise on credit — everything I never imagined I needed, from the official video game to action figures to a special edition chess set. There are Kong T-shirts, hats, ties, books, posters, even coffee mugs. And if all that shopping makes me hungry, I can swing by Burger King and order something off of their new “Kong”-themed menu, or grab myself a Nestle Crunch bar in a colorful “Kong” wrapper. Take a look around, and you’ll find that big ole’ ape is everywhere.

Well, almost everywhere. Sure, the gorilla-sized marketing blitz for Peter Jackson’s latest movie is impressive (Kellogg’s, Volkswagen and Toshiba also are partners in promotion), but it appears Universal Studios neglected to take advantage of some rather obvious money-making opportunities.

They could have teamed with Samsonite, for instance, to put a new spin on those classic television ads that featured an angry gorilla vigorously mistreating a piece of a luggage. Imagine Kong doing the monkey-stomp on an indestructible carry-on bag. Heck, I’d buy it. Throw in one of those surly TSA agents (into the cage with Kong, that is) and I’d commit to a whole set of new luggage.

The Trojan company could have made millions offering a “Kong-dom” that promises to turn any man into a savage beast who can score with the likes of Naomi Watts. The “King Kong Bong,” probably wouldn’t go over very well stateside, but no doubt would have been a tremendous hit in Amsterdam.

CBS might very well have struck ratings gold with an episode of “Survivor” featuring the enraged giant ape. Wouldn’t it have been a gas to see the looks on the contestants face at that immunity challenge? Come to think of it, why stop at one episode when “Survivor: Skull Island” has the potential to be the best season ever? Better yet, King Kong could dance with the stars!

And finally, covetous consumers probably would have liked to have used their Limited Edition King Kong Universal Entertainment MasterCard® to buy a new King Kong iPod (featuring Bono, of course), but alas there’s no Apple in KK’s eye this Christmas.

Oh well, there’s always the sequel.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 16, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121605.pdf?ref=smdp.com)