Plot
Frederick Wilson, an executive of the Petrox Oil Company, forms an expedition based on infrared imagery, which reveals a previously undiscovered Indian Ocean island hidden by a permanent cloud bank. Wilson believes the island has a huge oil deposit. Jack Prescott, a primate paleontologist, sneaks onto the expedition's vessel and attempts to warn the team against traveling to the island, citing an ominous final message about "the roar of the greatest beast" from previous doomed explorers. Wilson orders Prescott locked up, assuming he is a spy for a rival corporation, but eventually hires him as the expedition's photographer. Prescott spots a life raft that carries the beautiful and unconscious Dwan. Upon waking, Dwan tells Prescott that she is an aspiring actress who was aboard a director's yacht, which exploded. During the rest of the ship's voyage, Prescott and Dwan become attracted to each other.
Upon arriving on the island, the team discovers a primitive tribe of indigenous people living within the confines of a gigantic wall built to protect them from a mysterious god known as Kong. The team finds that while there is a large oil deposit, it is of such low quality that it is unusable. Later, while Dwan is on the ship's raft, the natives kidnap her and take her back to the island, where they drug her and offer her as a sacrifice to Kong. The monumental ape grabs Dwan from the altar and departs back into the jungle.
Although an awesome and terrifying sight, the soft-hearted Kong quickly becomes tamed by Dwan, whose rambling monologue calms and fascinates the monstrous beast. After she falls in the mud while trying to escape, Kong takes Dwan to a waterfall to wash herself, and then uses great gusts of his warm breath to dry her. This ordeal leaves her so exhausted that she falls asleep in Kong's hand. Meanwhile, Prescott and First Mate Carnahan lead a rescue mission to save Dwan, who awakens later that night after Kong leaves her alone in a tree.
The rescue party encounters Kong while crossing a log bridge over a ravine, and Kong rolls the massive log, sending Carnahan and the rest of the sailors falling to their deaths, leaving Prescott and crewman Boan as the only survivors who are trapped on opposite sides of the ravine. The following day, Kong takes Dwan to his lair. Prescott pursues Kong while Boan returns to the others to warn them. Later that night, a giant snake appears and attempts to eat Dwan, but Kong battles and kills it while Prescott escapes with Dwan. Kong chases them back to the native village, only to fall into a pit trap and be smothered with chloroform.
Without any of the promised new oil, Wilson decides to transport Kong to America as a promotional gimmick for his company. When they finally reach NYC, Kong is put on display in a Beauty and the Beast farce, bound in chains with a large crown on his head. When Kong sees a group of reporters crowding around Dwan, hoping for interviews, the ape thinks it is an assault on Dwan, breaks free of his bonds, and goes on a rampage throughout the city. In the commotion, Wilson is killed when Kong steps on him. The ape also destroys an elevated train in his search for Dwan. Prescott and Dwan flee across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan while Kong pursues them. While Dwan hides in a bar, Prescott calls the military and, in exchange for a promise that Kong will be captured unharmed, tells them that Kong will climb the WTC, which resembles a mountain on his native island. Kong, using his keen sense of smell, discovers Dwan and snatches her from the bar. He begins to make his way to the WTC, with Jack and the military in hot pursuit.
In the climax, Kong climbs the South Tower of the WTC. However, the military ignores Jack's plea and uses deadly force against Kong. After being attacked by Marines with flamethrowers while standing on the roof, Kong leaps across to the North Tower. There, he is shot hundreds of times by military helicopters while Dwan futilely tries to stop them. The fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the WTC plaza. As Dwan makes it to the ground, she watches as Kong dies from his injuries. A sea of photographers bombards the grieving and traumatized Dwan. The crowd is so big that Dwan cannot even get close to Jack. She stands still and is photographed relentlessly by reporters while Kong lies dead in a pool of blood and broken concrete.
