Film unit picks up rights to 'King of Skull Island'

Spirit Pictures has picked up the rights to the book Kong: King of Skull Island, a prequel to the well-known tale of the big ape.Penned by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland, the story takes place twenty-five years after the monster’s iconic fall off the Empire State Building, but ultimately tells the story of Kong's origins. It introduces other giant gorillas and dinosaurs only hinted at in the previous films. The book was published at the same time Peter Jackson was producing his remake of King Kong. Rights to make the movie were brokered with the Merian C. Cooper family, who own the Kong property. Cooper co-directed the original Kong in 1933.

Variety reports the plan is to produce the film using motion-capture technology such as Robert Zemeckis used to make The Polar Express, Beowulf, and the upcoming A Christmas Carol.