In a strange turn of events this late in the game (particularly given this production diary), Howard Shore is off King Kong, to be replaced by James Newton Howard, late of the Batman Begins score. Says PJ: “During the last few weeks, Howard and I came to realize that we had differing creative aspirations…Rather than waste time arguing with a friend and trying to unify our points of view, we decided amicably to let another composer score the film.” Well, he was right about Stu Townsend, I suppose.