King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries

When I heard that the King Kong Production Diaries do not duplicate material in the Extended Editions' extra features and discovered that they were not available anywhere online, I ordered this set right away. (It was only available 2nd hand from Hastings; arrived in like-new condition, even down to the packaging.) I am a great fan of the Appendices to Peter Jackson's Middle-earth movies and, while the King Kong Production Diaries don't have the in-depth discussion or polish of those Appendices, the are nevertheless a great collection of five-star enjoyment.The Production Diaries are just what their name implies: Short segments made every few days throughout the production of Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong. They cover all the good stuff, the plotting, writing, planning, filming, and fiendishly challenging special effects. They're just what I wanted to round out the whole King Kong experience.The package is an awkward size and shape but the clipboard had contains the DVD's happens to be just the right size to sit on the shelf next to the DVD'd and Blu-rays of the King Kong movies. The main box, designed to resemble a steamer trunk, sits on a different shelf with other odd-shaped movie memorabilia. You can find an unboxing video on YouTube that shows you all the extra goodies including the package, so I won't try to catalog it all here.

Firstly, the package arrived spotless and in perfect condition, unopened. Secondly, the box that the DVD's come in is beautiful and you can see the great care and talent that went into designing the packaging. It has a very 30's style, and looks like it certainly belongs in Peter Jackson's KONG universe. Upon opening, the rest is just as amazing. One of my favorite parts has to be the Certificate of Authenticity, with the numbered print of the box. It also includes a couple of Conceptual Art Prints from the movie, which look great, framed in any movie buff's room. The DVD case itself includes a booklet with pictures of the cast, crew and overall production, with superimposed text describing all of the production diaries themselves. Lastly, the Production Diaries are fantastic as well. They have very good video quality even if not Blu-Ray (they weren't filmed in HD in the first place), and include a wealth of information for anyone interested in the making of the movie, or the movie-making process in general. The DVD menu is delightful with a very KONG-style. Overall, it it an extremely fantastic set for the making of Peter Jackson's KING KONG. If you loved the movie and are interested in the making of the movie or the movie making process, I greatly recommend it!!!

Although I found the entire package to be great overall I am a bit disappointed as nothing was added new besides the packaging.All the footage is the same as seen on the Web Production Diaries of Konisking.net, not that it's bad but I would have enjoyed seeing more.Other than that the casing is unique and comes with some nifty conceptual art, only thing that irks me in the end is that this same footage will probably be available on a special edition DVD in the future, but it's a price I chose to pay.Pros: Unique Packaging, ArtCons: Nothing really new.

Great presentation of material, but I didn't read all the details before I purchased it. The one thing I didn't get in the package was the one thing I wanted, The Movie. There was all these special features but no movie. Oh well, I won't make that mistake again.

OMG ! This Is Amazing To Watch ! If You Wanna Be A Filmmaker Or If You Simply Like To Watch How Amazing Movies Are Made, You Have To Watch This ! Peter Jackson Is One Of My Biggest Inspirations ! And One Of My Favorite Directors ! His Dream Finally Came True To Remake King Kong. And He Did An Amazing Job. The Effects, The Cinematography, Visual Effects, And So Much More ! Another Thing I Like About This Is You Get To See The Actors Have Fun & Enjoy Themselves On Production ! This Inspires Me Sooo Much ! It Makes Me Wanna Become A a Filmmaker Even More ! Great Job Peter Jackson ! KING KONG Well Done.. You Gotta Get This ! You Will Get Your Money's Worth..

I purchased each expanded DVD set for LOTR, enjoying the extras, and had been downloading some of the production diaries from the KongIsKing website until I heard they would be issuing these DVDs. I decided to stop "wasting" my time downloading and just purchase the set. Note: the downloading wasn't illegal, since even encouraged by the site, but was prohibited once they issued this DVD set. Unfortunately, despite the hefty price for 2 DVDs, only a handful of all production diaries are on each DVD; these easily could have fit on one DVD. Moreover, no pre-production or post-production diaries are on the DVDs. The only reason to get this set is if you're into marketing chotchkies which, though hokey, are creative. The set still has limited use in instructing film students -- the reason I wanted the diaries -- but I was sorely disappointed with my purchase. I emailed the KongIsKing site about my disappointment, but no answer after 2 weeks. Peter, where are you?

According to TheDigitalBits' March 2nd report, on April 4th, 2006, (the week after the movie is released on DVD), the price on the Production Diaries will drop from SRP of $39.98 to just $22.98, which should get you the set for around $18, I'd say. This is probably due to the fact that the extras on the 2-disc set of the movie contains the production diaries AFTER the ones on this set which cover pre-production stuff.

This set is really nice. The packaging is cool, the DVD footage is very informative and interesting, and the concept art makes a nice decoration above any collection. Very pleased with this item.