Director Peter Jackson spills details on new King Kong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood

Filmmaker Peter Jackson has been quietly working on a new and “technologically complicated” King Kong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood.

The writer-director of the 2005 “King Kong” remake told a panel at Comic-Con 2009 that the  attraction will feature an epic battle between the 35-foot-tall ape and a pair of T-Rex dinosaurs.

The park’s old Kong attraction, destroyed in a devastating backlot fire in summer 2008, was a key element of the movie and television theme park’s tram tour. The new attraction opens in 2010.

In the new attraction, Jackson said the tram will drive onto a motion-simulator base inside a darkened soundstage surrounded by eight Cinerama screens that envelop riders with a wraparound view of Skull Island, according to Ain’t It Cool News.

“You’re getting buffeted around and you’re sliding down towards a chasm and Kong is thumping the hell out of the tyrannosauruses as they’re trying to grab tourists out of the trams,” said Jackson, according to Sci-Fi Wire.

A series of 4-D effects will blast riders with sound, wind, fire, smells and “dino slobber.”

“We’re going to be pumping hot air and stinky breath at you,” Jackson said. “And when Kong gives a dinosaur a right hook, there will be goo that will be flying. So it’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s something I’m looking forward to.”

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter and Facebook.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Image: Universal Studios Hollywood

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 at 3:28 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Celebrity, Family & Kids, Los Angeles, Theme Parks, Universal Studios Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.