King Kong in Popular Culture - King Kong From The 1980s To The Present

King Kong From The 1980s To The Present

King Kong was the first film to feature a giant monster running amok in civilization (the silent The Lost World was actually the first—although it featured a rampaging Brontosaurus rather than a non-science-based monster—but was rarely seen after its first release until the video and cable-TV booms of the 1980s); there are echoes of the original King Kong film in every giant-monster film that has been made since 1933. These include The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Godzilla (1954) and Jurassic Park (1993). The dinosaur scenes from King Kong are referenced or mimicked in the three Jurassic Park films, especially the second film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). In the third act of the film, a creature (a tyrannosaurus rex) is brought to civilization from a remote island where it runs amok in a city (the ship that transports the beast is even called The Venture, which is the name of the ship in King Kong). Kong is even mentioned directly in the first one: as the tour group approaches the massive Jurassic Park gate that is reminiscent of the gate in King Kong, Jeff Goldblum's character asks, "What have they got in there, King Kong?" In the third film in this series, a spinosaurus vs. tyrannosaurus rex fight is similar to the Kong–rex battle in the original and the second remake.

One of the most frequently used images of King Kong in popular culture is the scene where King Kong and Ann Darrow are on top of the Empire State Building. This image has been copied or parodied in cartoons, comic books, horror films, and television commercials. A popular television spoof was the segment 'King Homer' from The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror III", in which the King Kong story was retold featuring Simpsons characters, with Homer as Kong, Marge as Ann Darrow and Mr. Burns as the Carl Denham analogues. The spoof follows the plot of the 1933 film closely; however, it ends with Marge marrying King Homer after he collapses in exhaustion, failing to climb beyond the second story of the Springfield State Building. King Kong's family, consisting of smaller apes, appear at the wedding, and Homer has a habit of eating people, at the end he eats Marge's father. King Homer also has a cameo in the music video for "Deep Deep Trouble" from The Simpsons Sing the Blues CD, and years later, makes another appearance in the opening couch gag of "Jazzy and the Pussycats." Homer grabs Marge from the couch and scales the Empire State Building, all while fending off 1930s-style airplanes. King Homer (or Homer Kong) would reappear battling Bridezilla (a Godzilla version of Marge Simpson) in the episode Wedding for Disaster. The character also appeared in video games such as Bart's Nightmare and Treehouse of Horror (video game) as well as various merchandise such as toys and T-shirts. The original film was referenced again on The Simpsons in the episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", where Mr. Burns captures the Loch Ness Monster and brings him back to America to entertain an audience; however, instead of the Monster going berserk during its debut, Burns himself is startled by the flash photography and causes the carnage.

King Kong is often used in commercial culture, for example in advertisements for Coca Cola and Energizer Batteries. A New York insurance company used clips from the film to persuade people of the hazards of city life. A two-part Energizer Battery commercial had the 1933 Kong himself contracted by a rival battery corporation (SuperVolt) to get rid of the Energizer Bunny for them. The commercials were done in black-and-white, and used cleverly edited 1933 Kong sequences (possibly combined with new computer-generated Kong shots). The concluding second-part had Kong cornering the Bunny on the roof of a New York City building, complete with biplanes flying in the sky. His foot in an open window interrupts a couple that resemble Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll having a romantic moment. The woman, extremely annoyed, slams the window on Kong's toes, making him lose his balance and grip, sending him falling. In 1990 Kongfrontation became one of the original rides at Universal Studios Florida.

The film character was the inspiration for the 1981 Nintendo video game Donkey Kong and subsequent spin-offs. In the game, the hero must rescue his girlfriend from the eponymous ape. The marauding ape climbs a huge structure after kidnapping the woman, as in the film. The game's creator Shigeru Miyamoto, intended the name "Donkey Kong" to mean "stubborn gorilla". MCA/Universal attempted to sue Nintendo for copyright infringement in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., claiming that the game infringed its copyright for the film. However, they lost and had to pay Nintendo $1.8 million in damages when it was discovered that King Kong was in fact in the public domain at that time and that MCA/Universal knew this when they filed the lawsuit. They did not own the copyright to King Kong and had not trademarked the name "King Kong". They had even argued in the past that the name "King Kong" was in the public domain in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. RKO General Inc., et al.

In the film The Nutty Professor (1996), Sherman Klump has a nightmare where he is a giant, horrifically obese man. Reggie Warrington (a comedian from earlier in the film) exclaims, "Run for the hills, it's Fatzilla! Brother here looks like King Kong with titties!"

In the 2008 film Be Kind Rewind, Jerry (Jack Black) gets magnetized, thus erasing all the tapes in his friend's video store. They set out to remake the movies, and one of them is King Kong.

The Family Guy episode "Hannah Banana" includes an extended spoof of the famous Empire State building scene from the original film. However the roles are reversed as a malevolent, robotic Hannah Montana holds the Evil Monkey from Chris Griffin's closet hostage hostage.

In The Mr. Men Show episode "Skyscrapers", he was seen carrying Little Miss Sunshine up a building.

In the Total Drama Action (2009–2010) episode "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special", the character Izzy plays a role as Ann Darrow and a monkey plays King Kong portraying a scene on the empire state building.

In the 25th Anniversary Super Sentai Series "Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger" (2001), one of the living Power Animal mecha is a large green gorilla called Gao Gorilla, which stands over 100 ft tall and is regularly seen in the series against the GaoRanger's enemy, the kaiju Orgu. The toy repaint of Gao Gorilla is featured prominently in the GaoRanger theatrical film in the same year, "Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger- The Movie: Fire Mountain Howls", and is called Gao Kong. The primarily-red colored Gao Kong makes his debut from out of the crater of an erupting volcano, and forms the torso & head of the Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Knight giant robot combination. Both Gao Kong and Gao Knight are only seen in the movie, but are not mentioned or seen in the TV series.

In the anime-manga series Toriko, the protagonist is a gourmet hunter whose job is to travel around the world to hunt the most delicious animals and creatures. One of the first animals Toriko faces is a group of giant four-armed gorillas named Trollkongs that are led by an elder and even larger one named Silverblack Trollkong. The name of these creatures and the idea of a giant ape are based on King Kong's concept.

In the Script's song, Hall of Fame, it mentions King Kong (you can be King Kong banging on his chest).