Disney+ is Headed to Skull Island for a New King Kong Series

Is there any character that Disney won’t try to bring under its huge, ever-expanding franchise umbrella? Apparently not. The company is now developing a ‘Disney+.

“Hang on,” we hear you asking, “aren’t the rights to Kong stories currently held by Legendary and Warner Bros., with movies and Apple TV+ series already in production?” And you’d be right! Legendary in particular holds many of the rights to the giant ape and some other associated monster.

Warner Bros. is still proceeding with its “MonsterVerse” movies – ‘Dan Stevens starring in a story that will see the big beasts once again face off – or more likely team up to battle a worse threat.

Then there is Apple TV+. Matt Fraction have been shooting a new show, which will follow the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco and the shocking new reality that monsters are real. The series explores one family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch.

‘Pachinko’s Elisa Lasowski.

And finally Netflix has a ‘Skull Island’ anime series working its way to the streaming service.

The lesson here, then, is that Kong rights are spread everywhere, like a city block after the super-sized simian has stomped his way through.

As for Disney+, it has Prime Video, is writing.

Merian C. Cooper’s original books and more recent ‘King Kong’ novelizations by Joe DeVito.

They’re the same source material that Mar Vista Entertainment and IM Global Television were looking to adapt roughly five years ago without success.

And in case you were still wondering about the rights and how the character is used, it’s worth noting that Warner Bros./Legendary only ever use “Kong” in their titles, since they don’t apparently have the rights to the “King” bit.

Wan, of course, is no stranger to creatures given his horror credentials and his superhero work on ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, launching next week.