King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster, or kaiju, resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has become an international pop culture icon, appearing in several movies, comics, videogames and television series, as well as repeatedly crossing over with the Godzilla franchise. Kong has been dubbed the King of the Beasts.
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. The Japanese film company Toho later produced King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), featuring 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.