Jackson's King Kong Remake Shelved by Universal

In the mid-1990s, filmmaker Peter Jackson was in the process of developing a remake of the classic film King Kong. However, during this period, Jackson became embroiled in legal proceedings against the New Zealand Listener magazine for defamation. The magazine published a review of his film The Frighteners, which criticized it as being derivative, stating it was 'built from the rubble of other people's movies.' Although Jackson initiated the lawsuit, he ultimately decided not to pursue the case further. This legal distraction coincided with Universal Studios' decision to shelve Jackson's King Kong project. The studio's concerns were primarily driven by the production of other giant monster films, notably Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla, which were already in the pipeline. Universal feared that Jackson's King Kong would struggle to compete against these higher-budget films, leading to its cancellation.