King Kong: According to Variety, the trio that wrote and adapted the script for the Lord Of The Rings films will be getting a pretty heafty paycheck for writing the upcoming re-imagining of King Kong:

Universal Pictures will pay "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy director Peter Jackson $20 million against 20% of the gross from the new King Kong movie, marking one of the largest deals ever made with a director.

Jackson will share that fee with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the duo with whom he wrote "The Lord of the Rings" films. The trio shares writing duties on King Kong. And part of the compensation goes to Walsh for producing the film with him.

The $20 million advance puts Jackson in the same territory as stars like Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson. There will be no other gross players on the film, which has been greenlit and is slotted for Christmas 2005.

Jackson's payday is tied to bringing in the film at an agreed-upon budget. The compensation doesn't include funds Universal will invest to shoot the film in New Zealand.

Thanks to CS! for the scoop!