Galleycat reports that Pocket Books is going ape for King Kong Tie-ins.
Anybody can put out a novelization for their blockbuster film, but Peter
Jackson had bigger plans for King Kong: He came up with a
backstory that’s been turned into an official prequel, King Kong: The
Island of the Skull [by Matthew Costello]. As Rod
Lott writes in Bookgasm, "Kong himself does not appear, not even in a
cameo. His name is whispered, his face is crudely drawn, but the ape never rears
his giant, ugly head." Still, Lott found it entertaining enough, and a cut above
the usual tie-in.
There will also be a novelization, by Christopher Golden, as well as two behind-the-scenes picture books (The Making of King Kong
and The World of King Kong), and sci-fi writer Karen Haber will be edit
Kong Unbound, "in which various writers will discuss "the history and
legacy of the most famous ape in Hollywood and his continuing impact on pop
culture and modern filmmakers."
King Kong is such a cinematic concept that books about him seem irrelevant — unless you want to get detailed insight into KK’s feelings of isolation and existential despair.
High concept pitch; Albert Camus meets King Kong. Kong, acting on his subsequent feelings of hopelessness, carries a cross-dressing Dr. Phil up the Empire State Building to discuss a question more important than the sonic possibilities of a tree falling to its death without a witness.. ” Who would you rather be– Vincent Van Gogh or Thomas Kincade?”
I’d pay ten bucks to see the movie and twenty bucks for the book.