IN 1991, at the age of 10, I was terrified to meet King Kong.

The experience — or should I say, Kongfrontation — was a ride at Universal Studios, Florida, based on the 1976 film King Kong.

Now, another King Kong flick is being released.

The big ape’s appeal doesn’t seem to be diminishing, as there’s already talk of a sequel.

So, what better opportunity to look back at King Kong over the years . . .

KING KONG (1933)

THIS film began from a dream the director had of a giant gorilla on top of the world’s tallest building, fighting aeroplanes.

Take one setting of New York, add a massive ape and a damsel in distress, and you have the ingredients for a perfectly-terrifying movie.

After a film crew discover and capture a giant ape on Skull Island, he’s taken to New York to be put on display. Chaos ensues.

The film grossed $90,000 for its opening. Doesn’t seem much by today’s standards, but it was the biggest opening ever at the time.

SON OF KONG (1933)

HOLLYWOOD must have known they were on to a good thing because a matter of months after King Kong, came Son of Kong.

The story is not dissimilar from the first film, but this time on Skull Island, the expedition discovers Kong’s offspring. He’s still massive, but much friendlier, and becomes an unlikely chum.

If a pterodactyl scene looks familiar, it’s because it was also used in Citizen Kane, to cut costs.

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949)

ALTHOUGH not strictly a King Kong film, with the ape named Joe, the premise is the same — take monster monkey out of his habitat and plant him in America.

This time, it’s Hollywood that becomes the focus. This film is different in that this gorilla has been raised by a young girl, Jill.

When Jill meets and falls in love with Max, he persuades her to move to Hollywood, where they can make money with her unusual pet.

Chaos ensues when a bunch of alcoholic customers ply Joe with booze . . .

KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962)

SO far, there hasn’t been much variation in these films, but this time, the action’s in Japan.

Not only that, Kong’s fighting Godzilla.

We’ve all seen disclaimers, saying: “No animals were hurt during the making of this film.”

That’s not strictly true here, though, as a special-effects man actually ate a “cast member”!

Four octopuses were used in a fight sequence. After filming, most were released — apart from one, which the special-effects man had for dinner.

KING KONG ESCAPES (1967)

THIS movie stars Dr Who — but not as you know him.

This Who doesn’t travel in a TARDIS, fighting Daleks. Instead, he’s an evil doctor whose robot King Kong is unable to dig for the radioactive Element X at the North Pole. The solution, Who reckons, is kidnapping the real Kong.

It would be a pretty-dull movie if Kong did as he was told. Instead, he escapes and heads for Tokyo.

The robot wants to share the spotlight, springs to life and faces off with the real Kong at the top of Tokyo Tower.

KING KONG (1976)

NO need to go over the plot, given that it’s a remake of the 1933 original.

Meryl Streep has received many awards, but was turned down for the role of Dwan. She once revealed to David Letterman that the reason was that the producer thought she was ugly.

He said this in Italian, not realising Meryl understood the language. Oops!

QUEEN KONG (1976)

TRYING to shake things up, producers made the gorilla female who falls in love with a man.

With an imdb.com rating of 3.5 — out of 10 — it’s not King of Kongs. To be fair, there were issues with the copyright, so it was never actually released in cinemas.

Its stars, Robin Askwith and Rula Lenska, are said to have been relieved, as they hated the final product.

KING KONG LIVES (1986)

The action returns to the Big Apple, where King Kong falls from the Twin Towers.

After his plunge, he’s still alive, but his heart is failing, so it’s replaced with an artificial one.

There are no issues — until a woman puts a spanner in the works. Well, not so much a woman, but a female ape, who Kong escapes to find.

We often imagine celebrities making mega bucks from post-release royalties, but actor Peter Michael Goetz wouldn’t have written home about this cheque.

It was for a total of . . . drum roll, please . . . three cents!

THE MIGHTY KONG (1998)

This is a remake of the 1933 film, but animated for kids.

Starring Dudley Moore, you’d expect the film to have been a hit, but it went straight to video.

They changed the ending to make it child-friendly, so Kong survives his fall from the skyscraper, caught in a net by the military.

This was Dudley’s last film, but not his finest work.

KING KONG (2005)

WINNING three Oscars, the 2005 movie saw Kong back to his former glory.

Naomi Watts, who rose to fame in Mulholland Drive, starred as Ann Darrow, while fellow cast members included Jack Black, Andy Serkis — aka Gollum from Lord of the Rings — and Jamie Bell of Billy Elliot fame.

The CGI version Empire State Building took 18 months to craft, with construction complete after 14 months.

Andy Serkis, who played Kong, studied wild gorillas in Rwanda in preparation. He also struck up a friendship with a female gorilla, called Zaire.

Time will tell whether new movie Kong: Skull Island will face praise or ridicule, but one thing is for sure, we haven’t seen the last of Kong.