Peter Jackson makes documentary on original Kong

Peter Jackson (L) on the set of his film King Kong, which is due in theatres on December 13.

Not content with remaking King Kong, director Peter Jackson has also found time to produce a two-hour documentary about the original 1933 version.

The documentary RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World will be released in November as part of a new DVD edition of the original film.

Jackson's documentary, which is in seven parts, is his first unrelated to his films since his mock documentary Forgotten Silver in 1995.

Entertainment industry newspaper the Hollywood Reporter says the documentary reveals why a "spider pit" scene was mysteriously deleted before the 1933 film was released.

"For years there has always been speculation - does this footage exist? So we have a piece that actually explains what it was and we do a recreation of it," a Warner Home Video spokesman said.

The fact that the DVD was being released on November 22, three weeks before Jackson's King Kong from Universal Pictures, was "actually a coincidence", Warner Home Video said.

The company had been working on the DVD for the past two years.

Jackson and his King Kong team have also been collaborating with American company Ubisoft on the computer game version. The collaboration is to a level not seen in other game versions of movies, with the game's main designers in Wellington during filming.

"The creative process for gaming is actually very similar to film-making. You are really focusing on the story," Jackson said.

"What this has done is enabled us to really look at key scenes from both the cinematic and interactive perspectives and hopefully offer viewers the best of both worlds."

The original King Kong will arrive in stores in two configurations: a two-disc special edition and a two-disc collector's edition packaged in a collectable tin and including a 20-page reproduction of the original souvenir programme and a mail-in offer for a reproduction of a vintage 27-by-41-inch movie poster.

- NZPA