King Kong film poster – 1933

King Kong film poster – 1933

This reproduction film poster is a copy of the original three sheet version created for the 1933 American release of  King Kong. The film is widely considered to be one of the greatest horror fantasy adventure films ever made. King Kong is a giant gorilla who has a fixation on a beautiful young woman. Kong has had an illustrious career since first hitting the big screen in 1933.

The idea for King Kong was conceived by the screenwriter Merian C Cooper and the British writer Edgar Wallace. The American pre-Code film stars Fay Wray as Ann Darrow, Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham, and Bruce Cabot as Jack Driscoll. However, it is Willis O’Brien’s s use of stop-motion effects that were ground breaking for the time, that helped make the film a success.

King Kong premiered at the 6,200 seat Radio City Hall and the 3,700seat RKO Roxy in New York City on 2 March 1933, to rave reviews. Tickets for the premier were priced at $.35 to $.75. In its first four days, every one of its ten shows a day was sold out – setting an all-time attendance record for an indoor event.

When the film was released nationally it was a box office success. According to Wikipedia it earned around $5 million in worldwide rentals on its initial release, and an opening weekend estimated at $90,000.  During the film’s first run it made a profit of $650,000, with worldwide rentals reported to have brought in a further  $2,847,000. After the 1952 re-release, Variety magazine estimated the film had earned an additional $1.6 million in the United States and Canada, bringing its total to $3.9 million in cumulative domestic (United States and Canada) rentals. Profits from the 1952 re-release were estimated by the studio at $2.5 million.

Incredibly at the time, the great artists that produced fabulous images for the industry’s many film posters remained anonymous, which is the case for this poster. The original 1933 King Kong poster was produced as a three-sheet which when joined produced a final size of 10 feet in height. The rare poster features the gorilla in one of its most iconic scenes. Kong sits on top of the Empire State coming under attack from bi-planes. One he has managed to catch and is in the proces of crushing in his powerful right hand while keeping Fay Wray out of harm’s way in his left. 

Different versions, including International variations of this poster were created upon the film’s worldwide release. A copy of an almost identical Swedish version was put up for sale by Kirk Hamnett the lead guitarist of the rock group Metallica, which sold for £40,000 in 2012. However, at the time of listing (2021), a copy was put up for sale on an online website with a price tag of £75,000. American original posters sell for even more. In 1999, Cecil B DeMille’s grand-daughter went ape paid a monster amount of $244,500 for one of  just a handful of original copies known to exist.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and poster for just £22.