Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com ) is a sub-genre of comedy and romance fiction , focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles.
102-476: Date Movie is a 2006 American romantic comedy parody film written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer , directed by Seltzer, and produced by Paul Schiff and Friedberg. It was released on February 17, 2006 by 20th Century Fox and stars Alyson Hannigan , Adam Campbell , Sophie Monk , Tony Cox , Jennifer Coolidge , Eddie Griffin , and Fred Willard . It is a parody of the romantic comedy film genre, and mostly references My Big Fat Greek Wedding , Meet
204-410: A romantic comedy is that two characters meet , part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately, realize their love for one another and reunite. Sometimes the two leads meet and become involved initially, then must confront challenges to their union. Sometimes they are hesitant to become romantically involved because they believe they do not like each other. This could be because one of
306-406: A B− grade, and compared it to fast food, suggesting that if audiences are "hungry for comedy that's salty and loud," this film might be just what audiences are craving. Variety praised Jennifer Coolidge for providing a few bright moments with a spot-on spoof of Barbra Streisand , but was otherwise unimpressed describing the film as "padded and repetitious". Critic Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club
408-484: A King Kong and Godzilla crossover film (in the continuity of the 2014 Godzilla movie ), since Legendary still had the rights to make more Godzilla movies with Warner Bros. before their contract with Toho expired in 2020. Richard Cooper, through the Merian C. Cooper Estate, retained publishing rights for the content that Judge Real had ruled on December 6, 1976. In 1990, they licensed a six-issue comic book adaptation of
510-588: A King Kong film of their own, King Kong (2005). In the summer of 2010, Universal opened a new 3D King Kong ride called King Kong: 360 3-D at their Hollywood park, replacing the destroyed King Kong Encounter . In July 2016, Universal opened a new King Kong attraction called Skull Island: Reign of Kong at Islands of Adventure in Orlando. In July 2013, Legendary Pictures made an agreement with Universal to market, co-finance, and distribute Legendary's films for five years starting in 2014 and ending in 2019,
612-503: A King Kong remake as far back as 1976. They finally followed through almost 30 years later, with a three-hour film directed by Peter Jackson . Jackson opted to make Kong a gigantic silverback gorilla without any anthropomorphic features. This Kong looked and behaved more like a real gorilla: he had a large herbivore's belly, walked on his knuckles without any upright posture, and even beat his chest with his palms as opposed to clenched fists. In order to ground his Kong in realism, Jackson and
714-681: A building came from him seeing a plane flying over the New York Insurance Building , then the tallest building in the world. He came up with the ending before the rest of the story as he stated, "Without any conscious effort of thought I immediately saw in my mind's eye a giant gorilla on top of the building". Cooper also was influenced by Douglas Burden's accounts of the Komodo dragon , and wanted to pit his terror gorilla against dinosaur-sized versions of these reptiles, stating to Burden: "I also had firmly in mind to giantize both
816-401: A deliberate, systematic campaign to coerce all of Nintendo's third party licensees to either stop marketing Donkey Kong products or pay Universal royalties. Finally, Universal's conduct amounted to an abuse of judicial process, and in that sense caused a longer harm to the public as a whole. Depending on the commercial results, Universal alternatively argued to the courts, first, that King Kong
918-509: A former president of RKO Studio Corp.) confirming that Cooper had only licensed the rights to the character for the two RKO pictures and nothing more. Without these letters, it seemed Cooper's rights were relegated to the Lovelace novelization that he had copyrighted (he was able to make a deal for a Bantam Books paperback reprint and a Gold Key comic adaptation of the novel, but that was all that he could do). Cooper's lawyer had received
1020-564: A garage where she gets " pimped out " and made slimmer. She earns a spot on a reality television dating show called The Extreme Bachelor: Desperate Edition , where the bachelor turns out to be Grant. Host Ty Andrews introduces him, who greets all the women and is asked to eliminate the losers, which he does by shooting them one by one. As the last woman standing, Julia is rewarded with dinner for two at "A Restaurant". After their meal, Julia and Grant venture to her apartment, where they have sex. Later, Grant takes Julia to Tiffany & Co. , where
1122-480: A giant Kong battling Toho's Godzilla , and King Kong Escapes (1967), a film loosely based on Rankin/Bass ' The King Kong Show (1966–1969). In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis produced a modern remake of the original film directed by John Guillermin . A sequel, King Kong Lives , followed a decade later featuring a Lady Kong. Another remake of the original , set in 1933, was released in 2005 by filmmaker Peter Jackson . Kong: Skull Island (2017), set in 1973,
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#17327914985811224-420: A gold spandex bra and tights. The couple are shocked as she shows off her provocative dance moves, then scream in fear as she backs up towards them and joyfully smothers them with her butt, getting even for declining her earlier offer. Grant introduces Julia to his best man, Andy, his ex-fiancée, who seemingly harbors no resentment towards Julia for marrying Grant, even helping Julia shop for her wedding dress. At
1326-827: A gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. Kong has been dubbed the King of the Beasts , and over time, it would also be bestowed the title of the Eighth Wonder of the World , a widely recognized expression within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelization of the 1933 film King Kong from RKO Pictures , with the film premiering a little over two months later. A sequel quickly followed that same year with The Son of Kong , featuring Little Kong, also known as "Kiko". The Japanese film company Toho later produced King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), featuring
1428-433: A letter from John Beck's lawyer, Gordon E. Youngman, that stated: For the sake of the record, I wish to state that I am not in negotiation with you or Mr. Cooper or anyone else to define Mr. Cooper's rights in respect of King Kong. His rights are well defined, and they are non-existent, except for certain limited publication rights. In a letter addressed to Douglas Burden, Cooper lamented: It seems my hassle over King Kong
1530-404: A mockery of itself, with juvenile toilet humor and empty pop culture references." The site ranked the film 77th in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s. On Metacritic , the film has a score of 11 based on 18 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly awarded the film
1632-425: A nightmarish gorilla monster. As he described Kong in a 1930 memo: "His hands and feet have the size and strength of steam shovels ; his girth is that of a steam boiler. This is a monster with the strength of a hundred men. But more terrifying is the head—a nightmare head with bloodshot eyes and jagged teeth set under a thick mat of hair, a face half-beast half-human". Willis O'Brien created an oil painting depicting
1734-587: A number of sequels, remakes, spin-offs, imitators, parodies, cartoons, books, comics , video games, theme park rides, and a stage play . King Kong has also crossed over into other franchises, such as Planet of the Apes , and encountered characters from other franchises in crossover media, such as the Toho movie monster Godzilla , pulp characters Doc Savage and Tarzan , and the Justice League . His role in
1836-493: A remake of the original King Kong Glow-In-The-Dark Model Kit, and a video game developed by IguanaBee called Skull Island: Rise of Kong . In April 2016, Joe DeVito sued Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., producers of the film Kong: Skull Island , for using elements of his Skull Island universe, which he claimed that he created and that the producers had used without his permission. Devito partnered with Dynamite Entertainment to produce comic books and board games based on
1938-698: A sacrifice (in the 1976 remake, her character is named "Dwan"). A pseudo-documentary about Skull Island that appears on the DVD for the 2005 remake (originally seen on the Sci-Fi Channel at the time of its theatrical release) gives Kong's scientific name as Megaprimatus kong ("Megaprimatus", deriving from the prefix " mega- " and the Latin words " primate " and " primatus ", means "big primate " or "big supreme being") and states that his species may be related to Gigantopithecus . However, that genus of giant ape
2040-809: A sense of awkwardness between the two potential partners by depicting an initial clash of personalities or beliefs, an embarrassing situation, or by introducing a comical misunderstanding or mistaken identity situation. Sometimes, the term is used without a hyphen (a "meet cute"), or as a verb ("to meet cute"). Roger Ebert describes the "concept of a Meet Cute" as "when boy meets girl in a cute way." As an example, he cites "The Meet Cute in Lost and Found [which] has Jackson and Segal running their cars into each other in Switzerland. Once recovered, they Meet Cute again when they run into each other while on skis. Eventually, they fall in love." In many romantic comedies,
2142-639: A single bit of empathy for another living creature in his long life; it has been a brutal life that he's lived. In the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island , Kong is scaled to be 104 feet (31.7 m) tall, making it the second largest and largest American incarnation in the series until the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong , in which he became the largest incarnation in the series, standing at 337 feet (102.7 m). Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts stated in regard to Kong's immense stature: The thing that most interested me was, how big do you need to make [Kong], so that when someone lands on this island and doesn't believe in
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#17327914985812244-420: A subsequent ruling, which held that all the rights in the name, character, and story of King Kong (outside of the original film and its sequel) belonged to Merian C. Cooper's estate. This ruling, which became known as the "Cooper judgment", expressly stated that it would not change the previous ruling that publishing rights of the novel and serialization were in the public domain. It was a huge victory that affirmed
2346-501: A traditional, elegant wedding. Jell-O instead insists they pick a fast food restaurant called Taco Butt as their venue, which Julia declines. Annoyed, Jell-O angrily tells them that it's the best she can do on short notice. Grant tries to ease the awkward situation by telling them he has already chosen a best man. Jell-O's mood changes and excitedly reveals that she will also be the wedding entertainment by slamming her desk over with her massive butt and aggressively rips off her suit to reveal
2448-408: A very lonely creature, absolutely solitary. It must be one of the loneliest existences you could ever possibly imagine. Every day, he has to battle for his survival against very formidable dinosaurs on the island, and it's not easy for him. He's carrying the scars of many former encounters with dinosaurs. I'm imagining he's probably 100 to 120 years old by the time our story begins. And he has never felt
2550-407: A woman, Anne, tied between two poles. After King Kong rips off her dress and gropes her, she says "I like hairy boys", so King Kong flattens her. Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg sold an untitled romantic comedy pitch to Regency Enterprises and became attached to helm it. In June 2005, it was announced Alyson Hannigan and Adam Campbell were to star in the film. The film grossed $ 48,548,426 in
2652-579: Is an adolescent when we meet him in the film; he's still growing into his role as alpha". While one of the most famous movie icons in history, King Kong's intellectual property status has been questioned since his creation, featuring in numerous allegations and court battles. The rights to the character have always been split up with no single exclusive rights holder. Different parties have also contested that various aspects are public domain material and therefore ineligible for copyright status. When Merian C. Cooper created King Kong, he assumed that he owned
2754-536: Is closer to tragicomedy ." It was not until the development of the literary tradition of romantic love in the western European medieval period, though, that "romance" came to refer to "romantic love" situations. They were previously referred to as the heroic adventures of medieval Romance . Those adventures traditionally focused on a knight's feats on behalf of a lady, so the modern themes of love were quickly woven into them, as in Chrétien de Troyes 's Lancelot,
2856-407: Is destined to be a protracted one. They'd make me sorry I ever invented the beast, if I weren't so fond of him! Makes me feel like Macbeth : "Bloody instructions which being taught return to plague the inventor". The rights over the character did not flare up again until 1975, when Universal Studios and Dino De Laurentiis were fighting over who would be able to do a King Kong remake for release
2958-447: Is meant to be a throwback to the '33 version. I don't think there's much similarity at all between our version and Peter [Jackson]'s Kong. That version is very much a scaled-up silverback gorilla, and ours is something that is slightly more exaggerated. A big mandate for us was, "How do we make this feel like a classic movie monster"? Co-producer Mary Parent also stated that Kong is still young and not fully grown as she explains that "Kong
3060-528: Is more closely related to orangutans than to gorillas. Merian C. Cooper became fascinated by gorillas at the age of 6. In 1899, he was given a book from his uncle called Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa . The book, written in 1861, chronicled the adventures of Paul Du Chaillu in Africa and his various encounters with the natives and wildlife there. Cooper became fascinated with
3162-427: Is part of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Entertainment 's Monsterverse , which began with a reboot of Godzilla in 2014. A sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong , once again pitting the characters against one another, was released in 2021. It was followed by the film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in 2024, which featured more of Kong's kind. The character is an international pop culture icon , having inspired
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3264-712: The Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance in this film and Scary Movie 4 . At the 2006 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards , Jennifer Coolidge was nominated for Most Annoying Fake Female Accent but lost to Cindy Cheung for Lady in the Water . However, the film won the awards for Worst Screenplay and Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy. The film was released on DVD on May 30, 2006 in rated (83 minutes) and unrated (84 minutes) versions and 1,051,878 units were sold, bringing in $ 18,777,508 in revenue. Romantic comedy The basic plot of
3366-676: The Weta Digital crew gave a name to his fictitious species Megaprimatus Kong and suggested it to have evolved from the Gigantopithecus . Kong was the last of his kind. He was portrayed in the film as being quite old, with graying fur and battle-worn with scars, wounds, and a crooked jaw from his many fights against rival creatures. He is the dominant being on the island, the king of his world. Like his film predecessors, he possesses considerable intelligence and great physical strength and also appears far more nimble and agile. This Kong
3468-518: The film ends on a happy note . Even though it is implied that they live happily ever after, it does not always state what that happy ending will be. The couple does not necessarily get married for it to be a "happily ever after". The conclusion of a romantic comedy is meant to affirm the primary importance of the love relationship in the protagonists' lives, even if they physically separate in the end (e.g., Shakespeare in Love , Roman Holiday ). Most of
3570-494: The " Eighth Wonder of the World ". Kong escapes and climbs the Empire State Building , only to fall from the skyscraper after being attacked by weaponized biplanes . Denham comments, "It wasn't the aeroplanes, it was beauty killed the beast", for he climbs the building in the first place only in an attempt to protect Ann Darrow, an actress originally kidnapped by the natives of the island and offered up to Kong as
3672-425: The "public domain" claims, the courts ruled that Universal acted in bad faith (see Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. ). They were ordered to pay fines and all of Nintendo's legal costs from the lawsuit. That, along with the fact that the courts ruled that there was simply no likelihood of people confusing Donkey Kong with King Kong, caused Universal to lose the case and the subsequent appeal. Since
3774-506: The 1976 film, Kong was scaled to be 42 feet (12.8 m) tall on Skull island and rescaled to be 55 feet (16.8 m) tall in New York. Ten years later, Dino De Laurentiis got the approval from Universal to do a sequel called King Kong Lives . This Kong had more or less the same appearance and abilities, but tended to walk on his knuckles more often and was enlarged, scaled to 60 feet (18.3 m). Universal Studios had planned to do
3876-428: The Apes . In 2016, DeVito ArtWorks, through its licensing program, licensed its King Kong property to RocketFizz for use in the marketing of a soft drink called King Kong Cola , and had plans for a live action TV show co-produced between MarVista Entertainment and IM Global. Other products that have been produced through this licensing program include Digital Trading Cards, Board Games, a Virtual Reality Arcade Game,
3978-669: The California district court specifically found that King Kong had no secondary meaning". While they had a majority of the rights, they did not outright own the King Kong name and character. The courts ruling noted that the name, title, and character of Kong no longer signified a single source of origin so exclusive trademark rights were impossible. The courts also pointed out that the Kong rights were held by three parties: The judge then ruled that "Universal thus owns only those rights in
4080-512: The Cooper estate) jumped into the fray. During the battles, Universal discovered that the copyright of the Lovelace novelization had expired without renewal, thus making the King Kong story a public domain one. Universal argued that they should be able to make a movie based on the novel without infringing on anyone's copyright because the characters in the story were in the public domain within
4182-646: The Famous Artists Syndicate in Chicago in 1932 stating (in regard to Kong), "The rights of this are owned by Mr. Merian C. Cooper". Cooper however lost key documents through the years (he discovered these papers were missing after he returned from his World War II military service) such as a key informal yet binding letter from Mr. Ayelsworth (the then-president of the RKO Studio Corp.) and a formal binding letter from Mr. B. B. Kahane (also
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4284-563: The Fockers , Hitch , Legally Blonde , and Bridget Jones's Diary . Though reviews for it were more positive than Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer 's later films, Date Movie was panned by critics but was a box office success, grossing almost $ 85 million on a $ 20 million budget. Obese Julia Jones dreams of marrying Napoleon Dynamite , but even in her dreams, she is rejected. Writing in her diary, she thinks she will never find her true love. Julia goes outside and dances to impress men on
4386-471: The King Kong character such as model kits produced by Aurora Plastics Corporation . Cooper's executive assistant, Charles B. FitzSimons, said that these companies should be negotiating through him and Cooper for such licensed products and not RKO. In a letter to Robert Bendick, Cooper stated: My hassle is about King Kong. I created the character long before I came to RKO and have always believed I retained subsequent picture rights and other rights. I sold to RKO
4488-403: The King Kong name and character that RKO, Cooper, or DDL do not own". The court of appeals would also note: First, Universal knew that it did not have trademark rights to King Kong, yet it proceeded to broadly assert such rights anyway. This amounted to a wanton and reckless disregard of Nintendo's rights. Second, Universal did not stop after it asserted its rights to Nintendo. It embarked on
4590-556: The Knight of the Cart . The contemporary romantic comedy genre was shaped by 18th-century Restoration comedy and 19th-century romantic melodrama . Restoration comedies were typically comedies of manners that relied on knowledge of the complex social rules of high society, particularly related to navigating the marriage-market, an inherent feature of the plot in many of these plays, such as William Wycherley 's The Country Wife . While
4692-483: The United States and $ 36,247,230 internationally, adding up to a worldwide gross of $ 84,795,656. The film did not have advance press screenings. It received unfavorable reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 7% based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 2.9/10. The site's critical consensus states: "In an attempt to parody rom-com clichés , Date Movie ultimately makes
4794-403: The altar with Nicky, Julia is regretting it, having flashbacks about her and Grant. Frank objects to the union, realizing he was wrong about Grant who liked her even before the makeover. He persuades her to go after Grant who is revealed to have waited for months. Julia hurries to meet him as he is leaving, while shoving aside Andy who was pursuing him too. Julia arrives too late and sees Grant on
4896-477: The bridal shop, Julia hits her head on a power box and suddenly can read people's thoughts. Reading Andy's mind, she realises Andy wants to get back together with Grant and plans to split them up. The women fight each other, Kill Bill -style. On the wedding day, Julia arrives late, then witnesses Grant and Andy sharing a kiss (but Julia is unaware that Grant tried to reject her), leaving Julia heartbroken. Unable to forgive Grant, she agrees to marry Nicky. Once at
4998-433: The character, which he had conceived in 1929, outright. Cooper maintained that he had only licensed the character to RKO for the initial film and sequel, but had otherwise owned his own creation. In 1935, Cooper began to feel something was amiss when he was trying to get a Tarzan vs. King Kong project off the ground for Pioneer Pictures (where he had assumed management of the company). After David O. Selznick suggested
5100-471: The characters already has a partner or because of social pressures. However, the screenwriters leave clues that suggest that the characters are attracted to each other and that they would be a good love match. The characters often split or seek time apart in order to sort out their emotions or deal with external obstacles to being together, which they eventually overcome. While the two protagonists are separated, one or both of them usually realizes that they love
5202-468: The company behind the Walking with Dinosaurs arena show. In 1996, artist/writer Joe DeVito partnered with the Merian C. Cooper estate to write and/or illustrate various publications based on Merian C. Cooper's King Kong property through his company, DeVito ArtWorks, LLC. Through this partnership, DeVito created the prequel/sequel story Skull Island on which DeVito based a pair of original novels relating
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#17327914985815304-502: The context of the public domain story. Richard Cooper then filed a cross-claim against RKO claiming that, while the publishing rights to the novel had not been renewed, his estate still had control over the plot/story of King Kong. In a four-day bench trial in Los Angeles, Judge Manuel Real made the final decision and gave his verdict on November 24, 1976, affirming that the King Kong novelization and serialization were indeed in
5406-534: The court case, Universal still retains the majority of the character rights. In 1986 they opened a King Kong ride called King Kong Encounter at their Universal Studios Tour theme park in Hollywood (which was destroyed in 2008 by a backlot fire), and followed it up with the Kongfrontation ride at their Orlando park in 1990 (which was closed down in 2002 due to maintenance issues). They also finally made
5508-717: The decades. We can see this through the screwball comedy in response to the censorship of the Hays Code in the 1920s–1930s, the career woman comedy (such as George Stevens' Woman of the Year , starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy ) post-WWII, and the sex comedy made popular by Rock Hudson and Doris Day in the 1950s–1960s. Over the years, romantic comedies have slowly been becoming more popular to both men and women. They have begun to spread out of their conventional and traditional structure into other territory, and to explore more complex topics. These films still follow
5610-540: The design: We sort of went back to the 1933 version in the sense that he's a bipedal creature that walks in an upright position, as opposed to the anthropomorphic, anatomically correct silverback gorilla that walks on all fours. Our Kong was intended to say, like, this isn't just a big gorilla or a big monkey. This is something that is its own species. It has its own set of rules, so we can do what we want and we really wanted to pay homage to what came before ... and yet do something completely different, and if anything, our Kong
5712-621: The different narratives varies, ranging from an egregious monster to a tragic antihero . The King Kong character was conceived and created by American filmmaker Merian C. Cooper . In the original film, the character's name is Kong, a name given to him by the inhabitants of the fictional " Skull Island " in the Indian Ocean , where Kong lives along with other oversized animals, such as plesiosaurs , pterosaurs , and various dinosaurs . An American film crew, led by Carl Denham , captures Kong and takes him to New York City to be exhibited as
5814-514: The dimensions of a bull gorilla from the American Museum of Natural History telling O'Brien, "Now that's what I want!" When the final model was created, it had the basic look of a gorilla but managed to retain some human-like qualities. For example, Delgado streamlined the body by removing the distinctive paunch and rump of a gorilla. O'Brien would incorporate some characteristics and nuances of an earlier creature he had created in 1915 for
5916-442: The end result, saying that it looked like a cross between a monkey and a man with very long hair. For the second model, O'Brien again asked Delgado to add human features but to tone it down somewhat. The end result (which was rejected) was described as looking like a missing link. Disappointed, Cooper stated, "I want Kong to be the fiercest, most brutal, monstrous damned thing that has ever been seen!" On December 22, 1931, Cooper got
6018-468: The fact that these films are still romantic comedies. One of the conventions of romantic comedy films is the entertainment factor in a contrived encounter of two potential romantic partners in unusual or comic circumstances, which film critics such as Roger Ebert or the Associated Press's Christy Lemire have called a " meet-cute " situation. During a "meet-cute", scriptwriters often create
6120-467: The film after the main character. He stated he liked the "mystery word" aspect of Kong's name and that the film should carry "the name of the leading mysterious, romantic, savage creature of the story" such as with Dracula and Frankenstein. RKO sent a memo to Cooper suggesting the titles Kong: King of Beasts , Kong: The Jungle King , and Kong: The Jungle Beast , which combined his and Selznick's proposed titles. As time went on, Cooper would eventually name
6222-455: The films King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes . ( See below ) In 1975, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis paid RKO for the remake rights to King Kong . This resulted in King Kong (1976). This Kong was an upright walking anthropomorphic ape, appearing even more human-like than the original. Also like the original, this Kong had semi-human intelligence and vast strength. In
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#17327914985816324-436: The follies and misunderstandings of young lovers, in a light‐hearted and happily concluded manner which usually avoids serious satire". This reference states that the "best‐known examples are Shakespeare's comedies of the late 1590s, A Midsummer Night's Dream , Twelfth Night , and As You Like It being the most purely romantic, while Much Ado About Nothing approaches the comedy of manners and The Merchant of Venice
6426-444: The following year. De Laurentiis came up with $ 200,000 to buy the remake rights from RKO. When Universal got wind of this, they filed a lawsuit against RKO, claiming that they had a verbal agreement from them regarding the remake. During the legal battles that followed, which eventually included RKO countersuing Universal, as well as De Laurentiis filing a lawsuit claiming interference, Colonel Richard Cooper (Merian's son and now head of
6528-735: The gender role that society has imposed upon them, as seen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall , in which the male protagonist is especially in touch with his emotions. It can also be seen in Made of Honor , in which the female bridesmaids are shown in a negative and somewhat masculine light in order to advance the likability of the male lead. Other remakes of romantic comedies involve similar elements, but they explore more adult themes such as marriage, responsibility, or even disability. Two films by Judd Apatow , This Is 40 and Knocked Up , deal with these issues. This Is 40 chronicles
6630-417: The giant ape "Kong". He loved the name, as it had a "mystery sound" to it. After Cooper got to RKO, British mystery writer Edgar Wallace was contracted to write the first draft of the screen story. It was simply referred to as " The Beast ". RKO executives were unimpressed with the bland title. David O. Selznick suggested Jungle Beast as the film's new title, but Cooper was unimpressed and wanted to name
6732-429: The giant gorilla menacing a jungle heroine and hunter for Cooper. However, when it came time for O'Brien and Marcel Delgado to sculpt the animation model , Cooper decided to backpedal on the half-human look for the creature and became adamant that Kong be a gorilla. O'Brien on the other hand, wanted him to be almost human-like to gain audience empathy, and told Delgado to "make that ape almost human". Cooper laughed at
6834-484: The gorilla and your dragons to make them really huge. However I always believed in personalizing and focusing attention on one main character and from the very beginning I intended to make it the gigantic gorilla, no matter what else I surrounded him with". Around this time, Cooper began to refer to his project as a "giant terror gorilla picture" featuring "a gigantic semi-humanoid gorilla pitted against modern civilization". When designing King Kong, Cooper wanted him to be
6936-405: The idea of myth, the idea of wonder – when we live in a world of social and civil unrest, and everything is crumbling around us, and technology and facts are taking over – how big does this creature need to be, so that when you stand on the ground and you look up at it, the only thing that can go through your mind is: "That's a god!" He also stated that the original 1933 look was the inspiration for
7038-468: The island of Komodo and his encounter with the Komodo dragons was a big influence on the Kong story. Cooper was fascinated by Burden's adventures as chronicled in his book Dragon Lizards of Komodo where he referred to the animal as the "King of Komodo". It was this phrase along with "Komodo" and "Kongo" [ sic ] (and his overall love for hard sounding "K"-words) that gave him the idea to name
7140-500: The letter "K". Some of his favorite words were " Komodo ", " Kodiak " and " Kodak ". When Cooper was envisioning his giant terror gorilla idea, he wanted to capture a real gorilla from the Congo and have it fight a real Komodo dragon on Komodo Island (this scenario would eventually evolve into Kong's battle with the tyrannosaur on Skull Island when the film was produced a few years later at RKO). Cooper's friend Douglas Burden's trip to
7242-567: The melodramas of the Romantic period had little to do with comedy, they were hybrids incorporating elements of domestic and sentimental tragedies, pantomime "with an emphasis on gesture, on the body, and the thrill of the chase," and other genres of expression such as songs and folk tales. In the 20th century, as Hollywood grew, the romantic comedy in America mirrored other aspects of society in its rapid changes, developing many sub-genres through
7344-429: The mid-life crisis of a couple entering their 40s, and Knocked Up addresses unintended pregnancy and the ensuing assuming of responsibility. Silver Linings Playbook deals with mental illness and the courage to start a new relationship. All of these go against the stereotype of what romantic comedy has become as a genre. Yet, the genre of romantic comedy is simply a structure, and all of these elements do not negate
7446-470: The models and sets scaling Kong to be only 18 feet (5.5 m) tall on Skull Island, and rescaled to be 24 feet (7.3 m) tall in New York. This did not stop Cooper from playing around with Kong's size as he directed the special effect sequences; by manipulating the sizes of the miniatures and the camera angles, he made Kong appear a lot larger than O'Brien wanted, even as large as 60 feet (18.3 m) in some scenes. As Cooper said in an interview: I
7548-415: The motion picture industry. While filming The Four Feathers in Africa, he came into contact with a family of baboons. This gave him the idea to make a picture about primates. A year later when he got to RKO , Cooper wanted to film a "terror gorilla picture". As the story was being fleshed out, Cooper decided to make his gorilla giant sized. Cooper stated that the idea of Kong fighting warplanes on top of
7650-409: The mystery and excitement of the scenes and action. Concurrently, the Kong bust made for the film was built in scale with a 40-foot (12.2 m) ape, while the full sized hand of Kong was built in scale with a 70-foot (21.3 m) ape. Meanwhile, RKO's promotional materials listed Kong's official height as 50 feet (15.2 m). In the 1960s, Toho Studios from Japan licensed the character for
7752-512: The novelization of the 1933 film to Monster Comics , and commissioned an illustrated novel in 1994 called Anthony Browne's King Kong . In 2013, they became involved with a musical stage play based on the story, called King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World which premiered that June in Australia and then on Broadway in November 2018. The production is involved with Global Creatures ,
7854-531: The origin of King Kong: Kong: King of Skull Island and King Kong of Skull Island . In addition, the Cooper/DeVito collaboration resulted in an origin-themed comic book miniseries with Boom! Studios , an expanded rewrite of the original Lovelace novelization, Merian C. Cooper's King Kong (the original novelization's publishing rights are still in the public domain), and various crossovers with other franchises such as Doc Savage , Tarzan and Planet of
7956-436: The other person. Then, one character makes some extravagant effort (sometimes called a grand gesture ) to find the other character and declare their love. However, this is not always the case; sometimes, there is a coincidental encounter where the two characters meet again. Alternatively, one character plans a romantic gesture to show that they still care. Then, with some comic friction, they declare their love for each other, and
8058-528: The other zombies and even starts to cure them. With the zombie cure, the two main characters can now be together since they do not have a barrier between them anymore. Another strange set of circumstances is in Zack and Miri Make a Porno where the two protagonists are building a relationship while trying to make a pornographic film together. Both these films take the typical story arc and then add strange circumstances to add originality. Other romantic comedies flip
8160-533: The position Merian C. Cooper had maintained for years. Shortly thereafter, Richard Cooper sold all his rights (excluding worldwide book and periodical publishing rights) to Universal in December 1976. In 1980 Judge Real dismissed the claims that were brought forth by RKO and Universal four years earlier and reinstated the Cooper judgement. In 1982 Universal filed a lawsuit against Nintendo , which had created an impish ape character called Donkey Kong in 1981 and
8262-434: The potential couple comprises polar opposites, two people of different temperaments, situations, social statuses, or all three ( It Happened One Night ), who would not meet or talk under normal circumstances, and the meet cute's contrived situation provides the opportunity for these two people to meet. King Kong King Kong , also referred to simply as Kong , is a fictional giant monster, or kaiju , resembling
8364-413: The project to Cooper, the flurry of legal activity over using the Kong character that followed—Pioneer had become a completely independent company by this time and access to properties that RKO felt were theirs was no longer automatic—gave Cooper pause as he came to realize that he might not have full control over this product of his own imagination after all. Years later in 1962, Cooper found out that RKO
8466-453: The public domain, and Universal could make its movie as long as it did not infringe on original elements in the 1933 RKO film, which had not passed into the public domain. Universal postponed their plans to film a King Kong movie, called The Legend of King Kong , for at least 18 months, after cutting a deal with Dino De Laurentiis that included a percentage of box office profits from his remake. However, on December 6, 1976, Judge Real made
8568-420: The right to make the one original picture King Kong and also, later, Son of Kong , but that was all. Cooper and his legal team offered up various documents to bolster the case that Cooper owned King Kong and had only licensed the character to RKO for two films, rather than selling him outright. Many people vouched for Cooper's claims, including David O. Selznick, who had written a letter to Mr. A. Loewenthal of
8670-414: The salespeople reveal that she may pick whatever she wants. He then declares he loves her and proposes , and she happily accepts. The couple then meets with Grant's parents, Bernie and Roz, who recommend a wedding planner, after which Roz reveals that Grant lost his virginity to the housekeeper, Eduardo. Julia and Grant visit the overzealous wedding planner, Jell-O , and suggest to her that they would like
8772-473: The scene. For example, if Kong had only been 18 feet high on the top of the Empire State Building, he would have been lost, like a little bug; I constantly juggled the heights of trees and dozens of other things. The one essential thing was to make the audience enthralled with the character of Kong so that they wouldn't notice or care that he was 18 feet high or 40 feet, just as long as he fitted
8874-476: The silent short The Dinosaur and the Missing Link into the general look and personality of Kong, even going as far as to refer to the creature as "Kong's ancestor". When it came time to film, Cooper agreed that Kong should walk upright at times (mostly in the New York sequences) in order to appear more intimidating. Merian C. Cooper said he was very fond of strong, hard-sounding words that started with
8976-469: The standard conventions of the romantic comedy genre. In films like 500 Days of Summer , the two main interests do not end up together, leaving the protagonist somewhat distraught. Other films, like Adam, have the two main interests end up separated but still content and pursuing other goals and love interests. Some romantic comedies use reversal of gender roles to add comedic effect. These films contain characters who possess qualities that diverge from
9078-474: The stories involving the gorillas, in particular, Du Chaillu's depiction of a particular gorilla known for its "extraordinary size", that the natives described as "invincible" and the "King of the African Forest". When Du Chaillu and some natives encountered a gorilla later in the book he described it as a "hellish dream creature" that was "half man, half beast". As an adult, Cooper became involved in
9180-453: The story simply Kong while Ruth Rose was writing the final version of the screenplay. Because David O. Selznick thought that audiences would think that the film, with the one word title of Kong , would be mistaken as a docudrama like Grass and Chang , which were one-word titled films that Cooper had earlier produced, he added the "King" to Kong's name in order to differentiate it. In his first appearance in King Kong (1933), Kong
9282-501: The streets before she falls off the roof, though Grant conveniently catches her. They get back together and get married, with Hitch officiating and now dating Jell-O, who appludes. Andy and Nicky meet at the wedding and fall in love. Meanwhile, Grant and Julia leave in a horse and carriage. Roz gifts her a vaginal thermometer which apparently has been in their family for generations and is regarded as good luck when kept unwashed. On their honeymoon, Grant and Julia go to Skull Island and film
9384-468: The streets, but is unsuccessful. At Julia's father Frank's Greek diner , she meets and is instantly attracted to Grant Funkyerdoder. Frank barks an order at her and when she turns to respond she accidentally hits Grant over the head with a coffee pot, knocking him to the floor. She turns around, finding his table suddenly empty and figures he ran away. Julia seeks help from the love therapist Hitch, who initially rejects her but finally agrees, taking her to
9486-401: The time the ending gives the audience a sense that if it is true love, it will always prevail, no matter what the two characters have to overcome. Comedies, rooted in the fertility rites and satyr plays of ancient Greece , have often incorporated sexual or social elements. The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms defines romantic comedy as "a general term for comedies that deal mainly with
9588-468: The typical plot of "a light and humorous movie, play, etc., whose central plot is a happy love story" but with more complexity. Some romantic comedies have adopted special circumstances for the main characters, as in Warm Bodies where the protagonist is a zombie who falls in love with a human girl after eating her boyfriend. The effect of their love towards each other is that it starts spreading to
9690-415: The year that Legendary's similar agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures was set to expire. One year later, at San Diego Comic-Con , Legendary announced (as a product of its partnership with Universal), a King Kong origin story, initially titled Skull Island , with Universal distributing. After the film was retitled Kong: Skull Island , Universal allowed Legendary to move to Warner Bros., so they could do
9792-438: Was a gigantic prehistoric ape. While gorilla-like in appearance, he had a vaguely humanoid look and at times walked upright in an anthropomorphic manner. Like most simians, Kong possesses semi-human intelligence and great physical strength. Kong's size changes drastically throughout the course of the film. While creator Merian C. Cooper envisioned Kong as being "40 to 50 feet tall", animator Willis O'Brien and his crew built
9894-400: Was a great believer in constantly changing Kong's height to fit the settings and the illusions. He's different in almost every shot; sometimes he's only 18 feet tall and sometimes 60 feet or larger. This broke every rule that O'Bie and his animators had ever worked with, but I felt confident that if the scenes moved with excitement and beauty, the audience would accept any height that fitted into
9996-528: Was a part of the public domain, and then second, that King Kong was not part of the public domain, and that Universal possessed exclusive trademark rights in it. Universal's assertions in court were based not on any good faith belief in their truth, but on the mistaken belief that it could use the courts to turn a profit. Because Universal misrepresented their degree of ownership of King Kong (claiming they had exclusive trademark rights when they knew that they did not) and tried to have it both ways in court regarding
10098-458: Was amazed that a "joke-a-second comedy" failed to contain a single laugh. Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat described the film as a contender for the worst of 2006. He walked out of the film after 29 minutes without a single laugh and said he did not feel any guilt about it. He described the laughter of others in the audience as "inexplicable" and wondered if U.S. cinema-going audiences were made up of "deranged howler monkeys". Carmen Electra won
10200-494: Was licensing the character through John Beck to Toho studios in Japan for a film project called King Kong vs. Godzilla . Cooper had assumed his rights were unassailable and was bitterly opposed to the project. In 1963 he filed a lawsuit to enjoin distribution of the movie against John Beck, as well as Toho and Universal (the film's U.S. copyright holder). Cooper discovered that RKO had also profited from licensed products featuring
10302-512: Was reaping huge profits over the video game machines. Universal claimed that Nintendo was infringing on its copyright because Donkey Kong was a blatant rip-off of King Kong. During the court battle and subsequent appeal, the courts ruled that Universal did not have exclusive trademark rights to the King Kong character. The courts ruled that trademark was not among the rights Cooper had sold to Universal, indicating that "Cooper plainly did not obtain any trademark rights in his judgment against RKO, since
10404-399: Was scaled to a consistent height of 25 feet (7.6 m) tall on both Skull Island and in New York. Jackson describes his central character: We assumed that Kong is the last surviving member of his species. He had a mother and a father and maybe brothers and sisters, but they're dead. He's the last of the huge gorillas that live on Skull Island ... when he goes ... there will be no more. He's
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