Massive King Kong Looms in 'Kong: Skull Island' Comic-Con Trailer

When you’re trying to launch a new era (and franchise) for the mighty gorilla known as King Kong, size does matter. Comic-Con audiences got a peek at just how big the latest cinematic Kong will be when a teaser for Kong: Skull Island debuted in San Diego on Saturday during the Warner Bros. panel. Set in the 1970s, the new film follows a crew of explorers — including Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, and Brie Larson — to the titular island, where they encounter hostile natives, difficult terrain, and one supersized ape, whose handprint takes up an entire cliff side.

So just how big is the new Kong? Skull Island helmer Jordan Vogt-Roberts offered some hints to Entertainment Weekly recently, saying that this simian towers above his 1933 stop-motion counterpart, as well as Peter Jackson’s CGI creation from 2005. “In terms of actual size, our Kong is by far the biggest Kong,” Vogt-Roberts bragged, adding that his heft was necessary to the movie’s sense of wonder. “The thing that most interested me was … how big does this creature need to be, so that when you stand on the ground and you look up at it, the only thing that can go through your mind is: ‘That’s a god.’” For the most part, the teaser keeps Kong under wraps, though we get a partially obscured glimpse of his terrifyingly large head at the very end.

It goes without saying that defeating a god is no easy task, which is why mankind launches an all-out military assault against the King of Skull Island. In the process, Skull Island seems to become less of a jungle adventure tale and more of a war movie, with artillery rockets reflecting the sun’s red glare and bombs bursting in air. We’ll have to wait until March 10, 2017, to see which side walks away from this particular battlefield.

Watch the ‘Skull Island’ cast talk about why this is a different kind of monster movie: