Two years ago, the building that housed the original animatronic “King Kong” attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood was destroyed in a back-lot fire that swept through four acres of the studio. Now the back-lot has been rebuilt and King Kong has returned.

The replacement? “King Kong 360 3-D” created by Peter Jackson. “We’re confident that our ‘King Kong’ attraction is the largest, most intense 3-D experience on the planet. Our intention was to create an enormously spectacular and immersive 3-D experience and we’re pretty confident we’ve done that,” describes Jackson, writer, producer, director of the multiple Academy Award®-winning film, King Kong, and the creator of the new “King Kong 360 3-D” attraction.

“King Kong 360 3-D” is a monumental, visceral tour de force featuring new, never-before-seen imagery re-imagined from the film and presented in groundbreaking 3-D technology. In creating this ambitious, interactive theme park ride, Jackson infused progressive film technology and dynamic storytelling with an adrenalized motion-based environment and visceral special effects to propel guests into the heart of the action as it materializes in a 360-degree environment.

For the first time ever, guests on the Studio Tour will don special 3-D glasses to experience “King Kong 360 3-D.” Trams will enter a darkened soundstage where guests will be launched—via the magic of Surround Digital 3-D projection—deep into the tangled jungle location of Skull Island. They’ll survive a close encounter with a swarm of hungry raptors, only to be confronted by the terrifying presence of 35’ tall dinosaur behemoths, intent on attacking the tram and Studio Tour guests.

When a gigantic 30’ tall, 6,000 pound silverback gorilla thunders onto the screen, the tram will jolt and shudder as guests physically find themselves trapped in the middle of a titanic struggle between two colossal foes, the great ape and a carnivorous reptile. 

The realism of the immersive 3-D action will enable each guest sitting in the tram to have a ringside seat to the best prize fight on earth as King Kong and the colossal T-Rex battle to the very end as the tram cars slide ever closer to the edge of a bottomless chasm.
Jackson and his team at Weta Digital and Park Road Post Production in New Zealand were set the grand task to craft an entirely new spectacle that would transport visitors to Skull Island.

The team at Park Road were involved with designing the soundscape and colour-grade on the stadium-sized images. Suffice it to say, the project gave Park Road the opportunity to work to the zenith of their abilities.

Mike Hedges, Academy Award winning Sound Mixer, said the challenges were significant. “While we did the final mix in Los Angeles, we also had to replicate the Sound Stage in our mixing theatre here at Park Road in Wellington,” he explains. Park Road entirely converted one of their sound theatres to replicate Universal’s Sound Stage in miniature in order to accurately sound design and mix. They were able to replace their full 5.1 sound system with a 22.2 system, so speakers and amplifiers were hired in and rigged on massive temporary scaffolds. “We had never worked in this format before,” admits Hedges, “every Pan law went out the window as we needed to move up to 20 tracks or more at a time, of the 1000-plus we started with, between 22 different aural locations in the space!”

Setting up the room with dual screens was a major logistical exercise, “but it’s just the sort of stuff we loving getting our teeth into,” beams Hedges. “Being 3-D, the images come at you from every angle - the battle crosses overhead with Kong and the Rex slamming into the sides of the tram. So we had to ensure that the sound mix worked across the room and for each person on the tram.”

Brent Burge, one of the Sound Designers on Jackson’s original King Kong, led the team of Sound Editors. Everyone worked using incomplete images for most of the job up until the mix, causing even greater pressure as the deadline loomed closer. Each thump, crunch, breath, rumbling rolling, busted bone had to be meticulously placed and replaced as the images continued evolving.

“This has to be one of the most difficult sound mixes I’ve ever worked on, with such great demands placed on the stage, sound team, as well as the technology. It really has been a remarkable feat to achieve these results. It’s a must see to fully appreciate the awe-inspiring King Kong.”

Hedges finally concedes, “What a rush! The challenge now is – with technology moving so fast, 3-D, new sound formats – the sky’s the limit. Let’s see how we can use what worked so well on this, for the next feature film!”

PHOTO ATTACHMENTS: Sound Mixer Mike Hedges and Sound Designer Brent Burge breathe life into Kong.

For all further enquiries, please contact:
Vicki O’Hagan
Communications Executive
Park Road Post Production
vohagan@parkroad.co.nz
Phone: +64.4.380.7800
Fax: +64.4.380.7331

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