King Kong back at Universal Hollywood
After nearly 19 months away from the spotlight, a new King Kong - more grizzled and, definitely, ferocious - is preparing to return to Universal Studios Hollywood.
Since the old animatronic Kong was destroyed in a 2008 fire on the theme park's back lot, Hollywood's top visual effects wizards - including Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson - have been tinkering away in a giant hangar to create a new, more realistic ape to terrify visitors who take the park's signature back lot studio tour.
The new Kong attraction, described by Universal Studios as the largest 3-D exhibit in the world, will debut this summer at the height of tourist season.
WHAT'S NEW If the new technology works as designed, Park visitors will not only see Kong in three dimensions but will smell his banana breath, feel the gust of wind as he jumps over the guests and sense the ground quake when the ape engages a Tyrannosaurus rex in a life-or-death battle. The Kong attraction will be one stop on the park's back lot studio tour ride.
During a recent preview of the technology, a battle-scarred Kong stared menacingly out from two 180-foot-long by 40-foot-tall screens that wrap around the trams that will carry visitors. In another scene, a 35-foot-tall T. rex steps over the trams, turns to the audience and bares its massive teeth.
TECHNOLOGY The new digital Kong represents the latest trend in theme park attractions: the increased use of movie magic to thrill park visitors, including 3-D effects, holograms and pyrotechnics.
Although they declined to discuss the price tag Theme park officials said the 3-D production's cost will be more than six times the price of rebuilding the destroyed mechanical Kong. Many of the technological advances developed for the Golden Globe-
winning film "Avatar" will be used in the Kong attraction, Universal said.
WHAT'S IN STORE Guests on the studio tour will don 3-D glasses and board a tram that will enter a 200-foot-long soundstage for the 2 1/2-minute attraction.
Inside the building, massive air bags will lift, shake and drop the tram, giving guests the feeling of being jolted during the battle between Kong and the T. rex, Universal Studios show producer Valerie Johnson-Redrow. The 180-foot-long screens will curve around the tram so the 3-D images seem to surround the viewers.A system of fans, sprayers and other devices will spew riders with air, water and odors to bring the images to life.
