10 Ripped Off Characters Movies Didn't Even Try To Hide

There’s no two ways around it—the eponymous simian from King Kong may be irreplaceable, but that hasn’t stopped generations of filmmakers from trying to ape his success (get it? Ape?).

Whether it's South Korea’s infamous attempt A*P*E, the gender bender variant Queen Kong, or eighties icon John Landis’ debut Schlock, countless creators have tried to convert titular giant apes into box office gold like they were… well, Jack Black in Peter Jackson’s King Kong.

Chief amongst these efforts is Mighty Joe Young, a rare rip off so successful it eventually led to a remake of its own. The original 1949 movie did share a significant chunk of King Kong’s crew, but the shamelessness was still palpable to audiences as the creators banded together again in search of the previous film’s magic.

Critics were not kind to the King Who Would Be Kong, but the film was nonetheless popular enough to warrant a remake helmed by The Mummy’s Stephen Sommers a few years before Peter Jackson tried his hand at remaking the greatest great ape flick of all.