Every time I go to New York City, I make sure to do two things:

1. Eat my body weight in authentic, New York-style pizza like Sbarro’s.
2. Look at the Empire State Building to make sure it isn’t being scaled by a gigantic ape.

I do this because the image of King Kong scaling that sprawling skyscraper in Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong (1933) is one of the most indelible in all of cinema history. Now, a new chapter is about to unfold in the legacy of America’s favorite primate in Kong: Skull Island. In honor of that film, which hits theaters on March 10, 2017, we’re going bananas with a heaping helping of King Kong facts that you need to know. From a legendary lost scene in the 1933 original to the horrifying diet Skull Island‘s Kong would need to eat every day to survive and beyond, these are some colossally cool facts about one of the greatest movie monsters of all time.

Which of these facts is your favorite? What would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.

Special thanks to Kong: Skull Island for sponsoring today’s episode. You can experience the mystery and danger of the primordial island Kong calls home when Kong: Skull Island hits theater on March 10, 2017.

Image: Warner Bros./Legendary

Sources: Toho Kingdom; Mental Floss; WhatCulture; 

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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter and ask him about all things anime (@Osteoferocious).

Editor’s note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Pictures.