One Tribe, Hemmings Films unleash The Real King Kong on Canada’s CBC

The Real King Kong centres on Gigantopithecus blacki

Canadian pubcaster CBC has commissioned Welsh factual producer One Tribe TV to produce The Real King Kong, a feature documentary exploring the science behind Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest known ape in prehistoric history.

Coproduced with Canadian prodco Hemmings Films and made for CBC’s long-running science and nature strand The Nature of Things, the 1×60’ film is also being developed for cinematic release in partnership with London-based Featuristic Films. International distribution is being handled by LGI Media.

The doc follows an international team of scientists excavating Gigantopithecus blacki remains in the karst cave systems of Southern China, with the investigation extending across Europe and North America. Standing up to 3.7 metres tall and weighing as much as 300kg, the ice age primate, which survived on Earth for almost two million years, is thought to have inspired legends of the yeti and Sasquatch.

The project marks the second collaboration between One Tribe, Hemmings Films and CBC for The Nature of Things, following iceberg doc The Berg.

One Tribe recently announced a co-development and coproduction pact with factual distributor Off the Fence and John Downer Productions. Its recent credits include Wonders of the Celtic Deep for the BBC, Unknown Belize for Amazon Prime and Uncharted Amazon for Prime Video.