According to Variety Spirit Pictures picked up the rights to the book Kong: King of Skull Island as well as a project that was initially put together by special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen.

Kong: King of Skull Island is a prequel to the original King Kong story.

The book was written by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland. It covers the backstory of Skull Island and how King Kong got there.

The movie rights were brokered with the Merian C. Cooper family (they own the rights to the King Kong property). Merian Cooper co-directed the original King Kong from 1933.

Kong: King of Skull Island will be produced using motion-capture technology similar to such films as The Polar Express and Beowulf.

In addition to this, Spirit is putting together War Eagles. This is a project that Cooper and Harryhausen worked on together and almost made before the outbreak of WWII. The film is set in 1939 and follows an ace fighter-pilot who tests a new jet and crash-lands in the arctic. While there "he encounters a lost civilization that's been thriving there for centuries."

Currently, Andy Briggs is penning scripts for both films.