King Kong Returns!
HOLLYWOOD ATTRACTIONS
King Kong roars back to life at Universal Studios Hollywood — in 3-D
The giant gorilla will save studio tour tram riders from an attacking pack of T. Rex in a new attraction created by Peter Jackson.
By Noelene Clark
Los Angeles Times
June 30, 2010
For more than 45 years, the defining experience for Universal Studios Hollywood has been the venerable tram tour through the production facilities and backlot. Now the ride is being brought to the 21st century by filmmaker Peter Jackson and the world’s most famous gorilla.
Beginning Thursday, the tram will take a detour that transports guests to Jackson’s version of Skull Island, where they will be attacked by dinosaurs and rescued by the three-story-tall silverback gorilla.
The new attraction, “King Kong 360 3-D,” replaces the original, which burned in a June 2008 fire that also destroyed several famous backlot sets.
Instead of reviving the 1986 attraction, which brought visitors to 1970s New York to face off with a 30-foot animatronic ape, Universal decided to revamp it based on Jackson’s 2005 remake of “King Kong.” The Academy Award-winning director of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” jumped at the chance to resurrect a character whose tragic end doesn’t lend itself to a sequel.
Click here to continue reading the Los Angeles Times article
_____________________________
