Kong: Skull Island is just one week away from its March 10 release, but the film is not done being promoted just yet. The final trailer promised plenty of great action and humor while some new original posters celebrated Kong as the King. The early reviews are largely positive for Skull Island, especially in terms of its visuals and action set pieces based around the battle between man and monsters.

Though much of Kong: Skull Island is expected to center on the invasion of King Kong’s homeland, part of the appeal of the Kong franchise has always been the concept of the gargantuan beast invading human civilization in New York or other cities. In a unique new promotional item for the film, Kong has temporarily “taken over” a California beach to help recreate the idea of Kong himself stalking its residents.

A new story posted by Fox 11 in Los Angeles contains a video showing a series of large footprints that were “discovered” at Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles. The “footprints” measured 25 feet by 12 feet and were “reported” as King Kong’s footprints. The “report” also not-so-subtly hints at the presence of other Kong footprints located around L.A. Also surfacing online this weekend was a series of Kong: Skull Island TV spots on the We Got This Covered YouTube channel, focusing on the human characters’ perception of Kong as they encounter the beast.

The TV spots focus heavily on Samuel L. Jackson’s character Preston Packard, who appears as combative against Kong as much as anyone in the film. Packard will battle heavily against not just the giant ape, but the very idea that anyone but humankind can be king. Tom Hiddleston’s James Conrad, meanwhile, looks determined to “save” Kong as the compassionate foil for Jackson’s more aggressive counterpart.

Kong’s giant “footprints” are an amusing way to promote Kong: Skull Island ahead of its release. There’s no simpler way to visually represent the presence of a giant beast lurking in your area than its footprints, and there will surely be some of that in the film itself. You saw the ape’s bloody handprint on the side of a mountain in the TV spots, a huge, direct symbol of the struggle that Kong will face when the small army of humans steps foot in his home.

Ultimately, Kong: Skull Island is promoting the concept of humans and monsters mixing together. Whether it’s on Skull Island or Dockweiler Beach, a band of humans and a bunch of gigantic monsters are not going to get along. You may be disappointed if you’re expecting Kong: Skull Island to take place anywhere other than the island, but the early critical response credits the movie with delivering plenty of enjoyable action – even if it mostly plays it safe. Still, the end result of Kong: Skull Island appears to be as fun as the previews have looked.

Next: Kong: Skull Island Early Reviews – Fun Monster Movie Plays It Safe

Source: Fox L.A., Legendary Pictures

  • Kong: Skull Island Release Date: 2017-03-10