King Kong Lives

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

Company type	Film production company
Industry	Film production
Founder	Dino De Laurentiis
Headquarters	United States
Products	Films, including King Kong Lives (1986)

King Kong Lives—known in certain regions as King Kong 2—is a 1986 American monster adventure movie directed by John Guillermin. Produced by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and featuring special effects by Carlo Rambaldi, the film stars Linda Hamilton alongside Brian Kerwin.

Serving as a continuation of the 1976 King Kong, the story unfolds a decade later. This entry marks the final King Kong production to utilize suitmation and practical effects before the franchise transitioned to digital animation techniques. It represents the sixth installment within the King Kong franchise.

Plot

A decade after being presumed dead following his fall from the World Trade Center, Kong remains comatose at the Atlantic Institute, cared for by surgeon Dr. Amy Franklin. To save his life, doctors perform a heart transplant with an artificial, computer-regulated heart; however, Kong requires a blood transfusion from a compatible species, which is unavailable.

Adventurer Hank "Mitch" Mitchell journeys to Borneo, hypothesizing that Kong’s original island was once connected there. He captures a giant female ape of Kong’s species, named "Lady Kong," and provides her blood for Kong’s operation. Although Dr. Franklin expresses reservations, the institute agrees to proceed.

The transplant and transfusion succeed after a perilous procedure. Upon regaining consciousness, Kong senses Lady Kong nearby. When attempts are made to remove her from the institute, she panics, prompting Kong to break free and rescue her. The two apes escape into the wild.

A military unit commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Archie Nevitt is sent to apprehend them. To safeguard Kong, Franklin and Mitchell pursue the apes while evading Nevitt’s troops. During their time together, Kong and Lady Kong form a mating bond; concurrently, Franklin and Mitchell develop a romantic connection.

Nevitt’s forces launch an assault; Lady Kong is captured while Kong falls into a ravine and is presumed dead. Months pass with Lady Kong held captive; Mitchell works toward creating a Borneo wildlife reserve. Franklin suspects that Kong remains alive based on Lady Kong’s behavior but faces disbelief.

Kong survives in concealment and searches for Lady Kong. When sighted in a residential area, hunters and Nevitt’s men aggressively chase him. Franklin and Mitchell discover Kong trapped by hunters; his artificial heart malfunctions after its computer monitor is destroyed.

They infiltrate Nevitt’s base to free Lady Kong and find she is pregnant. Following them to a farmhouse where Lady Kong gives birth, Nevitt attacks once more. Despite severe wounds, Kong repels the assault, kills Nevitt, then dies after touching his newborn offspring.

Lady Kong and her infant are rescued and relocated to the Borneo reserve for peaceful living.

Production

Following the 1976 remake’s underwhelming financial results and ongoing legal rights issues, De Laurentiis remained interested in developing a King Kong sequel. Various scripts were considered, including unconventional ideas like placing Kong in Russia or outer space. Writer Steve Pressfield and Ron Schusett proposed reviving Kong through an artificial heart after prolonged life support—a concept De Laurentiis favored for its uniqueness.

Initially involved with other projects, director John Guillermin joined the film and helped develop a storyline introducing a female ape to aid in reviving Kong. Though initially doubtful, De Laurentiis approved this element upon recognizing its potential to enrich the plot.

The project was announced in October 1985 alongside other De Laurentiis-Embassy films such as Blue Velvet, positioning it as an action-romance hybrid that incorporated contemporary themes like women’s emancipation through Lady Kong’s character development.

Guillermin later admitted that producing a sequel was ill-advised during De Laurentiis’s string of commercial disappointments at the time. Lead actor Brian Kerwin noted that despite low expectations due to the previous film's reception, Kong remained the central figure. Lead actress Linda Hamilton valued her role for breaking away from traditional damsel-in-distress stereotypes.

Principal photography commenced in April 1986 in Tennessee, focusing heavily on special effects sequences featuring Kong alongside action scenes involving vehicular destruction, highlighting the film’s emphasis on spectacle.

Home media

King Kong Lives became available on VHS and LaserDisc in 1987 through Lorimar Home Video. Later, it was issued on DVD by 20th Century Fox in 2004, and subsequently released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment in 2023.

Box office

Although promotional efforts were made, King Kong Lives failed to perform well at the box office in the United States and Canada, earning only $4.7 million during its theatrical run.

The film’s advertising did not effectively convey its central storyline—Kong acquiring a mate—and it was presented as a conventional B-movie despite having a production budget typical of A-list films.

Conversely, the movie achieved significant success in the Soviet Union, where it sold 53.6 million tickets in 1988. This made it the highest-grossing foreign film of that year and one of the top-grossing foreign movies ever there. With an average ticket price of 50 kopecks, the revenue translated to roughly 26.8 million USD.

Globally, approximately 54.8 million tickets were sold, including around 1.2 million in North America, yielding an estimated total gross of about $49 million.

Despite grossing nearly four times its budget, expenses related to marketing led to financial losses. Alongside other unsuccessful projects like Tai-Pan, this contributed to the bankruptcy of producer De Laurentiis' company.

Critical response

Critics largely dismissed King Kong Lives. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an 8% approval rating from 13 reviews, with an average score of 2.6 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100 based on nine critics, reflecting "generally unfavorable" opinions. Audience polling by CinemaScore resulted in a "D+" grade for the movie.

Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, commenting, "The issue with everyone in King Kong Lives is that they realize they are part of a dull movie but cannot summon enthusiasm." DEG informed Ebert and Gene Siskel that they could show clips locally but were prohibited from national broadcasts unless positive reviews were guaranteed—a condition both critics declined. Siskel remarked, "They were afraid [...] couldn’t find a single scene worth airing." Ebert observed that children in the theater were more engaged with playing with the doors than watching the film.

Patrick Goldstein from the Los Angeles Times acknowledged director John Guillermin and special effects designer Carlo Rambaldi’s efforts on Kong’s design but criticized the unchanged narrative as "Kong versus Civilization," featuring implausible plot developments. Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised Rambaldi's special effects but found the cast and storyline uninspiring. Variety pointed out that Brian Kerwin’s performance strained believability early on, undermining credibility.

The movie received a single nomination for a Razzie Award in the category of Worst Visual Effects. Actor Peter Goetz chose to frame his three-cent residual check as a keepsake instead of cashing it.

It is featured in Razzie founder John J. B. Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.

Filmink described the film as "terrible," criticizing its absence of genuine adventure or peril, noting that Kong’s destructive scenes are treated humorously. The review suggested that leads Linda Hamilton and Brian Kerwin could be removed entirely and questioned why the plot centered on an ape romance rather than human relationships.

Video games

Konami developed and launched two official video game adaptations of the movie, exclusively available in Japan. These titles were King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch for the Famicom and King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu for the MSX. The Famicom version eliminated the human narrative, concentrating on King Kong's global journey as he combats enormous robots and military forces to rescue the female Kong. This installment was crafted as an action-adventure game incorporating science fiction themes. Conversely, the MSX edition is a role-playing game that follows the story through the viewpoint of Mitchell.