King Kong Making Of

I just watched the most amazing show on the SciFi Channel that detailed the making of King Kong, director Peter Jackson's epic new movie. He's the new Speilberg if you ask me. The movies' scenes are breathtaking, and the technology used behind the scenes takes movie making to a new level.

The Sci Fi Wire has a great interview with Joe Letteri, senior visual-effects supervisor on Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. Letteri, who also worked on "Lord of the Rings", said that he and his team at New Zealand's Weta Digital used original Empire State Building blueprints, as well as aerial and ground-level photographs, to create a digitally rendered 3-D Empire State Building and surrounding New York cityscape. Computer graphics were also used to fill in the finer details of a practical New York set erected on a back lot at a former paint studio in New Zealand.

King Kong fever is sure to spread quickly as the movie opens today. Go catch it!

"King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries," DVD and bonus material is also now available at the same time as the new King Kong movie comes out in theaters. The boxed-set includes two discs, together running three hours and 46 minutes.