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Exclusive: Nearly two decades after producing The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a video game documentary that’s emerged as a cult classic since its unveiling at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, Ed Cunningham has wrapped production on Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad Of Walter Day, a follow-up film picking up with his documentary subject, known as the father of Esports.

Directed by Seth Gordon, The King of Kong offered a look into the world of competitive arcade gaming with a focus on the quest for the high score in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong. The specific focus of the film is the intense rivalry between two gamers: the reigning champion, restaurateur Billy Mitchell, and underdog challenger, Steve Wiebe. As Wiebe relentlessly pursues the Donkey Kong high score, he faces obstacles and skepticism from the gaming community, particularly from Mitchell and the organization Twin Galaxies, which oversees video game records.

Billy Mitchell, the notorious gamer who proved a perfect antagonist in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, is back at the top of the leaderboard after years of dispute that his Donkey Kong gaming may have been through emulators.

Twin Galaxies – the organization that officially bestows world records on gamers – has again confirmed that Billy Mitchell holds the following Donkey Kong records: 1,047,200 (the King of Kong Score), 1,050,200 (the Mortgage Brokers score) and 1,062,800 (the Boomers score). And while it’s not in the record books, we have yet to see another professional gamer with such a gorgeous head of hair.

Twin Galaxies launched their official investigation into the legitimacy of Billy Mitchell’s records back in 2018 after there was a dispute that his achievements “were not generated by unmodified original Donkey Kong arcade hardware as required by the leaderboard rules”, with some pointing to Mitchell’s video...

Jordan Clarkson is following up on his passionate nightclub speech on the late Nipsey Hussle with a more permanent tribute ... honoring the slain rapper with a tattoo on his body. As we previously reported ... the Cleveland Cavaliers guard gave an emotional tribute to Nip at a Scottsdale nightclub hours after Hussle was murdered ... calling for an end to gang and gun violence. Clarkson decided to go one step further to show love for Nip ... getting...

To a certain strata of die-hard old-timers who fondly remember the arcade days of yore, when dimly-lit bars darkened by the constant swirl of smoke housed all the latest and greatest flashing amusements, and drunken arguments were settled by the quarter, the name “Twin Galaxies” exudes a kind of faded authority, a promise of a universal video game scoreboard that was never quite fulfilled, at least in its original conception.

But now, under new management led by industry veteran Jace Hall, the organization has shifted its score dispute process from a single referee to the hordes of arcade enthusiasts, jettisoning suspect records held by the likes of hot-sauce slinging “King of Kong” Billy Mitchell in the process. With that behind them, Twin Galaxies now seeks to establish itself as not only the ur-scoreboard for the dusty cabinets at your local barcade, but the destination for all of competitive gaming, from “Angry Birds” on up.

“I was told not to do this.” – Billy Mitchell, Saturday, June 9th, 2018

Billy Mitchell is the best at what he does.

You might know him as one of the most famous players of video games in the world. In 2007, he featured prominently in the documentary “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” about the world of competitive arcade players who chase high scores. Mitchell held the world record high score for “Donkey Kong” at the time; in the film, an unknown upstart named Steve Wiebe takes him on, turning Mitchell into the de facto villain. In the decade since, even as his scores fell off the top ranks, Mitchell’s charismatic personality and lanky presence — most always seen in his all-white suit and stars-and-stripes necktie– have dominated a certain corner of retro game culture.

But what he’s really good at is talking.

This past Saturday night, in the Marriott...

The recently dethroned “King Kong” champion promised in a video over the weekend that a new investigation will prove that he didn’t cheat.

“I’ve been asked to address things that are recently in the media,” Billy Mitchell said in a YouTube video on Sunday recorded for Old School Gamer Magazine, for which he is an advisor. “The fact of the matter is, now there is a true professional due diligence being done to investigate things that happened as far as 35 years ago in a professional manner, not in a shock-jock mentality designed to create hits.

“We will show that everything that has been done, everything was done professionally, according to the rules, according to the scoreboard, the integrity that was set up. Not 2014-forward by the current regime, who wants to reach back 35 years. Everything will be transparent. Everything will be available. I wish I had it in my hands right now,...

The truth is the priority. That is the concern. Whatever it takes. (from Twin Galaxie’s official statement on stripping Billy Mitchell of his high scores.)

I saw Billy Mitchell in person last year at an arcade convention in Atlanta, Georgia. It was summertime, and so it was hot. Amidst the seething crowd of t-shirts and shorts, Mitchell wore a white suit draped atop his lanky 6’ 2” frame. A stars-and-stripes tie peeked out between the lapels. He looked like a cross between Tom Wolfe and Colonel Sanders. I watched as he posed for pictures with fans, most of whom knew him as that guy from the film “King of Kong,” a 2007 documentary by Seth Gordon about his tete-a-tete with Steve Wiebe for the world record high score in “Donkey Kong.”

The first world record on Nintendo’s 1981 arcade machine pitting an angry ape against an unnamed Mario belonged to a youthful...

Star of The King of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters documentary Billy Mitchell has been stripped of his Twin Galaxies high score titles after an investigation proved he completed the records on emulation software. Engadget reports that all of Mitchell's records on Twin Galaxies have been removed in addition to his Donkey Kong title, and that he has been banned from ever competing in the scene again. Mitchell has also had his records stricken from the Guinness Book of World Records. 

So he used emulation software, what's the big deal? As it was stated in the documentary, emulation software cannot replicate the uniqueness of a traditional arcade cabinet, and can almost certainly be manipulated to achieve a higher score. 

In a final bit of justice, Mitchell is no longer recognized as the first person to hit a million point high score in Donkey Kong, and Steve Wiebe has been awarded the high honor.

Seth Gordon’s 2007 documentary, “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” received a bonus life this month thanks to the stripping of “antagonist” Billy Mitchell’s “Donkey Kong” world records by independent video game achievements organization Twin Galaxies.

Steve Wiebe, who was the “protagonist” in the documentary, told Variety that being back in the news after 11 years has been “surreal.” He had heard gamers questioning the authenticity of Mitchell’s scores for years both in person at Kong Off events and online through the “Donkey Kong” forum, although there was never anything concrete until James Young recently revealed video evidence. And with Twin Galaxies finding Mitchell had cheated, Wiebe finally beat Mitchell.

“The more I thought about it from the ‘King of Kong’ days, it all seemed to make sense now,” Wiebe said. “All the things that were happening at the time… like why he didn’t come out and play me,...

Recurring documentary subject and video-game legend Billy Mitchell was unanimously stripped of his record-breaking scores Thursday following allegations of cheating. Twin Galaxies, the premiere tracker of global gamers’ success, will also not recognize any of Mitchell’s future scores.

In 2010, Mitchell became the first “Donkey Kong” player to earn one million points; he started setting records in that game 28 years prior. Now 52, Mitchell also attained the first “Pac-Man” perfect score in 1999. His gaming prowess led to roles in “Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade” (2007), “The King of Arcades” (2014), and “Man Vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler” (2016).

But his most notable onscreen appearance came in future “Horrible Bosses” and “Baywatch” (2017) director Seth Gordon’s 2007 film, “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.” A SXSW and Tribeca Film Festival selection, “The King of Kong” was about an upstart named Steve Wiebe who scheduled multiple public challenges against no-show Mitchell.

Famed high-score gamer Billy Mitchell, best known for his leading role in “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” documentary, was officially stripped of his “Donkey Kong” and other video game high scores and banned from submitting scores to the world’s largest tracker of video game world records following a decision that he cheated, Twin Galaxies announced today.

“With this ruling, Twin Galaxies can no longer recognize Billy Mitchell as the first million point ‘Donkey Kong’ record holder,” the group wrote in its announcement. “According to our findings, Steve Wiebe would be the official 1st million point record holder.”

Variety has reached out to Mitchell and Wiebe for comment and Guinness to see if his record there will stand.

The decision comes after months of research by the administrators of Twin Galaxies, which tracks world gaming records and helps the Guinness Book of World records validate gaming scores,...

One of the best gaming documentaries of all time is being developed into a musical. The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters the musical is being developed by the original director Seth Gordon whose most recent film, Baywatch, is now in theaters.

Very little is known about the adaptation, save the fact that it will feature an original song from Twin Galaxies iconic scorekeeper Walter Day called ‘Museum of Your Heart’. I'm also sure, like the doc, it will explore the rivalry between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell who were competing for the world record for Donkey Kong.

Of all the shows to appear on Broadway, I truly believe this is the first I would make the trip to NYC to go and see. When talking to IGN about the project, Gordon said:

“Yeah, some scripts have been written – we’re actually working on a musical right now, which is pretty great.

We’re still waiting on New Line’s remake of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Seth Gordon‘s excellent 2007 doc about Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell competing over the world record for Donkey Kong. Gordon, who went on to direct Horrible Bosses and Baywatch, has been wanting to dramatize their rivalry in a feature film for years now – […]

The post ‘The King of Kong’ Musical in the Works appeared first on /Film.

Welcome to another installment of Movies to Show My Son. This is the blog series were I discuss movies I can’t way to show my son in the future. I’ll be covering my own personal experience with the movie, movie and life lessons I hope he will learn, and lastly my concerns about showing said film. This week’s film is The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

Personal Memories:

With this movie being only ten years old I do not have the same type of personal attachment to it as something like The Sandlot. It was one of the first movies I remember watching on a streaming service before they completely took over. It was at a time when Netflix only gave you so many movies to stream a month (insane thinking about that now) and one of those months I chose to watch The King of Kong.

Wil Jones Sep 7, 2016

Movies based on videogames tend to be awful. But documentaries about games? They're sometimes brilliant...

Hollywood has always has an awkward relationship with videogames. Studios are scared of them because they’re a threat, and something else for teenagers to spend money on instead of big summer movies. But on the other hand, there’s a lot of money in games, and Hollywood wants some of that — but they’ve never properly worked out how. Ever since 1993’s Super Mario Bros, there has been a steady stream of movies based on videogame properties, and their guaranteed awfulness has become a running joke. And while that’s slightly unfair on a few films (Raul Julia totally makes Street Fighter worthwhile), it’s not without reason.

And even when they’re not based on an actual title, attempts to make movies more broadly also tend to be terrible. The Last Starfighter,...

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a decade since The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was released. Seth Gordon‘s now-classic documentary chronicled the world of arcade gaming championships, with the main storyline focusing on the feud between a Redmond, Washington high school teacher named Steve Wiebe who attempted to break Billy Mitchell‘s record […]

The post Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell Will Never Be ‘The King of Kong’ Again appeared first on /Film.

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Fleet-fingered player Wes Copeland has posted a new high score in Donkey Kong - and it may just be unbeatable...

"How high can you get?" was the challenge issued by Nintendo's arcade classic, Donkey Kong - and players are still tussling over who can get the highest score over three decades later.

The rivalry between retro gamers Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe captured imaginations the world over thanks to the 2007 documentary King Of Kong, but their high scores have since been kicked into the bushes by another pair of players - Wes Copeland and Robbie Lakeman.

In fact, the dramatic rivalry between the two gives King Of Kong a run for its money: last year, the world record changed hands between Copeland and Lakeman three times, with Copeland wresting the score from Lakeman only for the latter to break the high score yet again less than six hours later.

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit by former Donkey Kong record holder Billy Mitchell — who was featured in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong — over his claim that a Cartoon Network show stole his likeness, The Associated Press reports.

Mitchell had taken umbrage with the Regular Show character Garrett Bobby Ferguson, a floating head with a beard who cheats his way to video game glory. Cartoon Network said Ferguson is a transformative depiction of Mitchell — who also sports a beard and long brown hair — and New Jersey Federal District...

Read More: Exclusive: Attention, Filmmakers: Here's Your Shot at Screening at Slamdance Arclight Presents has announced two new titles for their Slamdance Cinema Club series: Documentaries "Queen Mimi" and "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters." "Queen Mimi" tells the story of Mimi Haist, a woman who left her adulterous husband for a life on the street, eventually settling rent-free in a California laundromat. Over the years, Mimi's laidback worldview and cheery disposition have made her countless friends, including stars such as Zach Galafianakis and Renee Zellweger. "King of Kong" follows two men: "Video Game Player of the Century" Billy Mitchell and recently unemployed Steve Wiebe. In 1999, Mitchell set a high score on "Donkey Kong" that most considered unbeatable, though Wiebe set out to beat his score and did in 2003. The two men begin a cross-country rivalry as they set out to beat the other's high score and...

Read More: Exclusive: Attention, Filmmakers: Here's Your Shot at Screening at Slamdance Arclight Presents has announced two new titles for their Slamdance Cinema Club series: documentaries "Queen Mimi" and "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters." "Queen Mimi" tells the story of Mimi Haist, a woman who left her adulterous husband for a life on the street, eventually settling rent-free in a California laundromat. Over the years, Mimi's laid back worldview and cheery disposition have made her countless friends, including stars such as Zach Galafianakis and Renee Zellweger. "King of Kong" follows two men: "Video Game Player of the Century" Billy Mitchell and recently unemployed Steve Wiebe. In 1999, Mitchell set a high score on "Donkey Kong" that most considered unbeatable, though Wiebe set out to beat his score and did in 2003. The two men begin a cross-country rivalry as they set out to beat the other's high score and.

Blac Chyna is trying to convince the world her Future tattoo isn't the real deal -- that it's just a Sharpie drawing -- but we have the proof it's 100% authentic. Chyna and her friends posted a video on Snapchat Wednesday night where they all had "Blac Chyna" written on their hands in Sharpie, and then she asked followers to do the same in solidarity. [[tmz:video id="0_9uvr3xqx"]] But she ain't fooling us. TMZ has obtained a set of...

What would you do if aliens interpreted examples of 1980s video games found in a space probe as a declaration of war? And sent giant versions of icons such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong to attack us? Clearly, you’d hire... Adam Sandler to defend the human race. Or at least, that’s what happens in action-comedy Pixels. Spawned from Patrick Jean’s inventive short, Pixels has is a big, brash Roland Emmerich-style alien invasion thriller welded to a high-concept Sandler comedy. The story finds Us President Will Cooper (Kevin James) tracking down old friend and ‘80s video-game champ Sam Brenner (Sandler) so he can put together a team of old-school arcade masters (including Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage) to defeat the techno-menace. So, basically it’s Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell from The King Of Kong saving the world?With director Chris Columbus aboard to marshal the spectacle...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

After narrowing the Oscar documentary feature shortlist to five at the 87th Academy Award nominations Jan. 15, a number of notable exclusions were featured, particularly Al Hicks‘ Keep on Keepin’ On, which documents the mentorship and friendship of a jazz legend and a blind piano prodigy, and Steve James‘ Life Itself, about the life and career of famed film critic Roger Ebert. (James is no stranger to snubs and the exclusion of his 1994 film Hoop Dreams led to rule reform within the documentary category.) Both films hold 97 percent positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

Some films surprised when they didn’t even land a spot on the shortlist, such as Red Army, which examines the rise and fall of the Soviet Union’s hockey team from the perspective of its coach. That film holds a 100 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In light of these best documentary feature snubs,...

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Directed by Seth Gordon

Us, 2007

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a documentary that follows Steve Wiebe’s attempt to break the Donkey Kong high score held by “Gamer of the Century” Billy Mitchell. Director Seth Gordon captures a classic underdog story on film that has you rooting for Steve the moment he takes on the Donkey Kong challenge, even though it means snatching the crown from Billy. More importantly, The King of Kong demonstrates the importance of good sportsmanship.

Initially Billy appears to he a pretty stand-up guy. His charisma pulls you into his world and makes you want to be a better gamer. I was actually torn at the beginning of the documentary. On one hand I wanted Billy to hold onto the title, but on the other I’ve always cheered for the underdog. I mean,...

One of the more underrated gems of the past ten years of documentaries is a film called "The King of Kong," wherein real life hero Steve Wiebe wrestles over control of the all-time high score in Donkey Kong with real life creepster nemesis Billy Mitchell. If you haven't seen it, check it out and join us in loving/loathing strangers for their video game skills.

In the meantime, with a tip of the hat to our homies at movies.com, there's a faux documentary out there paying homage to "The King of Kong" and "Wreck-It Ralph," called "Wreck-It Ralph Presents 'Garlan Hulse: Where Potential Lives,'" whose 28-minute run time serves as a nice contrast with its War and Peace-esque title. Indeed, "Garlan Hulse" follows the same basic plot points as "The King of Kong" — grown men playing video games, a hero and a nemesis, questionable hygiene, etc. — only with,...

If you loved the battle between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell in the documentary King of Kong, and have found yourself clamoring for the two to go head-to-head in another battle for video game supremacy, then yesterday was your lucky day. Disney got the two competitive gaming titans together (Wiebe in Seattle, Mitchell in Miami) for a showdown – but the battle wasn’t waged over Donkey Kong. Instead, these two master gamers fought to become the best Fix-It Felix Jr. player in the world. For those not up to speed, Fix-It Felix Jr. is the game at the heart of Disney’s latest animated feature, Wreck-It Ralph. In the film, the game’s “villain” (John C. Reilly) hops from one game to another after he gets tired of always being the bad guy. He then...

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Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph is set in a video game world, so who better to help promote it than gaming legend and King of Kong star Steve Wiebe? Wiebe was in Seattle for the recent Penny Arcade Expo (better known as Pax to gamers) – and Disney had a special challenge for him: set a high score on a playable version of the Fix-It Felix game that is one of the centerpieces of the new film. Wiebe sat down (with cameras around to capture the action, naturally) and proceeded to turn in a pretty impressive score on the game – which finds the titular Felix hopping around on a building fixing broken windows while dodging bricks tossed from the roof by Ralph. The game has some similarities to Donkey Kong (which is probably why Wiebe picked it up so effortlessly) as well as...

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Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph is set in a video game world, so who better to help promote it than gaming legend and King of Kong star Steve Wiebe? Wiebe was in Seattle for the recent Penny Arcade Expo (better known as Pax to gamers) – and Disney had a special challenge for him: set a high score on a playable version of the Fix-It Felix game that is one of the centerpieces of the new film. Wiebe sat down (with cameras around to capture the action, naturally) and proceeded to turn in a pretty impressive score on the game – which finds the titular Felix hopping around on a building fixing broken windows while dodging bricks tossed from the roof by Ralph. The game has some similarities to Donkey Kong (which is probably why Wiebe picked it up so effortlessly) as well as...

Read More...

1.) The first photos from A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III have made their way online, and in case you, like me, had never heard of this movie until this morning, I thought I'd offer you a little plot description as well. It's written and directed by Roman Coppola, a frequent collaborator of both his sister, Sophia Coppola, and Wes Anderson, and was just picked up by brand new indie distributor A24 for a February 2013 release. The film stars Charlie Sheen as the title character, a charismatic playboy whose life begins unraveling when the love of his life breaks up with him. Some of the scenes take place inside the character's mind, with surrealistic results, including a western sequence and an underground spy-agency sequence. Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman play his best friends, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead also plays a prominent role as the ex-girlfriend's best friend. Two more pictures are directly below.

Documentary and video game fans alike were already on the edge of their seat watching King of Kong, a chronicle of the competition between gamers Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell to achieve the world record high score on the original Donkey Kong arcade game. That battle still continues to this day, but Wiebe took some time away from Donkey Kong to do battle with a soon-to-be-famous video game. The gamer went to Gameworks in Seattle during the Penny Arcade Expo (orPAX) to play Fix-It Felix Jr., the video game (which you can play right now) from Disney’s November animated release Wreck-It Ralph. Watch below! Here's a video of Steve Wiebe playing Fix-It Felix Jr. (via SlashFilm): And also an interview with Wiebe about playing the game itself: Wiebe set the high score on the game, and if anyone beat it before the end of the weekend, they won...

Chicago – What can be said about “Man Up” that wasn’t already said about “Last Man Standing”? Neither show has the slightest shred of insight into the mind of modern man. They appear to have been conceived by network executives who hate men with a fiery passion. How else to explain the thoroughly insulting, utterly asinine portraits of masculine arrested development?

Whereas “Standing” cast Tim Allen as an aggressively ignorant family man yearning for a less enlightened yet more testosterone-fueled era, “Man Up” assembles three pathetic schlubs who represent the man-children who Allen reviles. As bad as Allen’s show is, with its stale banter and laugh track that guffaws at every single line, “Man Up” has achieved the unthinkable: it’s even worse. In fact, it’s flat out torturous.

Television Rating: 1.0/5.0

What in the world did writer/creator/co-star Christopher Moynihan think he was making? Did he see...

There have been few better panto villains in documentaries than King of Kong's Billy Mitchell and this shows what happened when he met Morgan Spurlock. Like us, you too will be in awe of Billy's tie. Champion video-gamer Billy Mitchell became one of the big screen's most mesmerising antiheroes during King of Kong, the film which followed his and Steve Wiebe's tussle to be crowned the best Donkey Kong player in history.

Hot off the heels of his apparent success with Horrible Bosses, director Seth Gordon is already talking about a sequel* -- to his previous (much more moderate) hit The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. The concept of a sequel, or a fictional remake, to the documentary is at least a three years old, but Gordon insists via The Playlist that it will totally happen this time. And he now knows how he wants to tell that story:

"There's a few different avenues [the film can take]. I've done some work on 'Modern Family' and 'The Office' and have worked in this doc style, and so that inspired me to say, instead of doing a traditional narrative feature script, what if we did the remake in the doc style? What doors what that open? What opportunities? What additional story could we tell? And that's essentially the approach we took."

The angle is an interesting one,...

For some people, a serious look at the world of competitive "Donkey Kong" would already count as a mockumentary. Not so for Seth Gordon, the director of "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," who has made public his intentions to direct a new mockumentary adaptation of his breakout hit.

The 2007 documentary followed "Donkey Kong" newcomer Steve Wiebe as he struggled to wrest the world record high score on the game from long-time champion Billy Mitchell. As you can probably imagine, 85% of the people in this movie are at least 75% nuts, so it makes for a pretty good time.

Rumors of some kind of follow-up to the film have circled for years, with Gordon having claimed at different times that it would be both a remake and a sequel. Now, the "Horrible Bosses" director appears to be taking the mockumentary route: "I've done some work on 'Modern Family' and...

We all know that Hollywood is in the habit of remaking anything and everything, but this one took me a little off guard. And here I thought I was immune to such things. You all remember The King Of Kong, the (sensationalized) documentary that pit Donkey Kong pro Steve Wiebe against video game god Billy Mitchell in a race to get the highest score possible for the game. It was an endearing little film, and a lot of fun, and so uh, what's happening with it now? It's being remade as a dramatic...

Seth Gordon has quickly made a name for himself in the world of film. He started as a cameraman for the documentary, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing and eventually produced and edited the documentary, New York Doll, which was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize in documentary at Sundance Film Festival in 2005. But most people know him best for his feature directing debut with the 2009 hit documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Since he has kept busy directing a video series focusing on the threat posed by cybercrime to Internet users, H*Commerce: The Business of Hacking You. He’s also directed various music videos and commercials, as well as an episode each of Modern Family and Community, two episodes of The Office, and multiple episodes of Parks and Recreation.

But the man behind the cameras of this weekend’s Horrible Bosses can’t escape...

Seth Gordon's Horrible Bosses was a hilarious ride so I am excited to report the following news. It looks as though the long-planned sequel of his directorial debut, The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters will be in a faux documentary style. Gordon sat down with The Playlist to talk a bit about the project. The film that brought humor anda touching story to a film about Billy Mitchell's and Steve Wiebe's battle for the Donkey Kong crown. The film was such a success that New Line picked up rights to a sequel immediatley.

Here is what Gordon had to say:

“Totally. It’s stunning…I think it’s the thing that won’t ever die in a way because I think we all love the doc,” Gordon said, confirming the remake is still being worked on. “And so we haven’t given up on it.

Seth Gordon seems to have become a director of studio comedies like Horrible Bosses (and he's remaking WarGames) but don't forget that he first took the spotlight as the guy who made The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters back in 2007. The film really struck a chord with people, and New Line bought the rights to make a dramatic remake of the video game showdown between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe. We haven't heard too much about the film in a while, but it hasn't died off. In fact, Seth Gordon is talking about it while doing the press rounds for Horrible Bosses, and he says that we might expect a mockumentary-style movie. Seth Gordon told The Playlist [1], I think it’s the thing that won’t ever die in a way because I think we all love the doc. And so we haven’t given up on it.

Horrible Bosses Directed by: Seth Gordon Written by: Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein Starring: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell If you have never had one before, consider yourself one lucky son of a bitch. They’re a damn national epidemic, depositing caustic mental funk on the doorstep of every innocent member of the workforce. They dot the corporate landscape with their turd pellets of malcontent. They are horrible bosses, and they are, well, horrible. Can you tell I am tainted by their stank? It’s true. I suffered innumerable nightmares at the hand of an awful boss. Therefore, and so, I took immense pleasure in this wicked little exercise in cathartic glee. In case you couldn’t grasp the premise from the trailer, Horrible Bosses finds a trio of friends utterly fed up with their miscreant bosses, and they...

Director Seth Gordon, the man behind the cameras of "Four Christmases" and this weekend's "Horrible Bosses" still has people talking about his debut feature, the documentary "The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters" four years since it hit theaters. The sleeper sensation was an unlikely hit, tracking Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe as they slugged out to wear the crown as the champion players of Donkey Kong. As funny and at times absurd as that story was, it was also unexpectedly tender and moving, and it's no surprise that New Line snapped up the rights to remake it into…...

When Seth Gordon directed The King of Kong, a story of two men battling for the title of master of a classic arcade game, gaming whiz Billy Mitchell came across as the moustache twirling villain to Steve Wiebe’s devoted and entirely sympathetic hero. Was the characterization entirely fair? No, but it made for an incredibly compelling and entertaining documentary. With Make Believe, the Gordon-produced documentary directed by J. Clay Tweel, the feature avoids vilifying any of its subjects while still managing to give us a great film about the battle of human wills and the admirable human desire to be the best. The fact that it’s six teenagers fighting for the title of best teen magician just makes it that much more entertaining.

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There's a reason certain arcade games never really leave the public consciousness. The twitchy panic of "Asteroids," the interminable march of the pixellated aliens of "Space Invaders" and the surge of revenge from eating a ghost in "Pac-Man" still make all those titles incredibly powerful experiences, long after the heyday of the arcade era.

"Donkey Kong" rates up there as well and the game enjoyed resurgent awareness after Seth Gordon's acclaimed 2007 documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" chronicled the high-score rivalry of Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell. That film inspired Dr. Hank Chien to try his scalpel-wielding hands at the Nintendo masterpiece. Chien went on to jump right over both Wiebe and Mitchell like so many rolling barrels and is now the current "Dk" champion. Filmmaker and actress Alexis Neophytides met Chien just as he was gearing up for his Dk journey and recorded him for a year,...

For obvious reasons, I am a pretty big fan of Seth Gordon's 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which captures the intense battle between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe as they both try to attain the coveted title of Donkey Kong World Champion. One of the few unsatisfying things about the movie is the fact that the story never seems to end, because the title has continued to change hands ever since the release of the film. Things became even more complicated last year when a third contender entered the picture and stole the title away from both Mitchell and Wiebe: 35-year-old plastic surgeon Hank Chien. Chien's skills have earned him the nickname Doctor Kong, and now he is also getting a documentary of his own called Doctor Kong: Cutting Up the Competition. Directed by Alexis Neophytides, it's somewhat unclear if this is a feature-length doc or just a short.

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If you haven't seen Seth Gordon's amazing 2007 documentary, 'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,' about two star 'Donkey Kong' players whose stories play out like the ultimate tragic hero and villain, then you are seriously missing out. Algebra teacher Steve Wiebe and hot sauce salesman Billy Mitchell have both held the world record for highest score, but a New York plastic surgeon, Hank Chien, is a new contender on the scene and recently yanked the title away from Wiebe. Of course, that 1,090,400 score means he gets his own documentary, 'Doctor Kong: Cutting Up the Competition.'

Chien has a Natalie Portman laugh, but the dorky doctor can play some serious 'Kong.' Filming started in 2009 before Chien won the title and was created "as a character study of this odd guy who would show...

Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Video, Cinematical

If you haven't seen Seth Gordon's amazing 2007 documentary, 'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,' about two star 'Donkey Kong' players whose stories play out like the ultimate tragic hero and villain, then you are seriously missing out. Algebra teacher Steve Wiebe and hot sauce salesman Billy Mitchell have both held the world record for highest score, but a New York plastic surgeon, Hank Chien, is a new contender on the scene and recently yanked the title away from Wiebe. Of course, that 1,090,400 score means he gets his own documentary, 'Doctor Kong: Cutting Up the Competition.'

Chien has a Natalie Portman laugh, but the dorky doctor can play some serious 'Kong.' Filming started in 2009 before Chien won the title and was created "as a character study of this odd guy who would show...

If you have read the site, you likely know about 2007's documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Since the documentary's release, Billy Mithcell and Steve Wiebe have been gone back and forth reclaiming the the title. In the spring, we reported of a new king in town named Hank Chien. He is a plastic surgeon from New York, who took the title from Mithcell. Mitchell then took the title back, only to be bested by Wiebe in September. In January, Wiebe was once again unseated by Chien.

Chien has a high score of 1,090,400 and is now one of the top Donkey Kong players in the world. He was not a part of the 2007 film and now he has his own documentary called Doctor Kong: Cutting Up the Competition.

In 2009, Alexis Neophytides began filming the short documentary before Chien won the Donkey Kong title. Nintendo Life described...

[1] Ever since The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was released in 2007, we at /Film have watched [2] with [3] great [4] interest [5] as the documentary's two main subjects, Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, took turns beating each other for the Donkey Kong world record. Last spring, however, a New York plastic surgeon named Hank Chien burst [6] onto the scene and stole the title from Mitchell, who'd held it for the previous three years. Mitchell then took the title back, only to be bested by Wiebe in September. And Wiebe, in turn, found himself unseated by Chien this past January. Point being: Chien's up there now with Mitchell and Wiebe as one of the top Donkey Kong players in the world, with a high score of 1,090,400. And he's about to catch up to Mitchell and Wiebe in another way, too, as the star of his own documentary, Doctor Kong: Cutting Up the Competition.

[1] Many of you probably have seen the 2007 documentary The King of Kong (and if you haven't, Netflix it now!). The movie follows the battle between Steve Wiebe and noted Donkey Kong/vintage video game champion Billy Mitchell, over the world record for Donkey Kong. Since the release of the film, it has been fun tracking the back and fourth battle between Wiebe and Mitchell for the world record (Steve Wiebe recently reclaimed the Donkey Kong World Record [2] from Billy Mitchell before losing the title [3] months later to Plastic Surgeon Hank Chien). Billy Mitchell makes a great villain, but everyone knows that there have been accusations of selective editing and what not [4]. From what I understand, Mitchell claims that he has still, to this day, not seen the movie. But that didn't stop him from opening a King of Kong-themed arcade inside the Orlando International Airport (n the main terminal near...

Plastic Surgeon Hank Chien has beaten the world record for Donkey Kong!

First, I have to higly recommend you watch The King Of Kong, it is a great movie. The film follows Billy Mitchell and Steve Wieb on their road to world dominatin over the Donkey Kong arcade game. There has been a lot of one upmanship since the release of the film, with each gamer trying to out do the others score to claim the world record.

Lately the competition has increased. In August, Billy Mitchell scored 1,062,800 points (1,100 points more than the previous record) to beat the Donkey Kong record. It was reportd that after completing that feat, Mitchell announced his retirement from the Donkey Kong game and stated: “Some say I’m being cocky. Some say I’m being lazy. I say, I’m being Billy Mitchell.”

Steve Wiebe answered back with a score of 1,064,500 points later that...

Many of you probably have seen the 2007 documentary The King of Kong (and if you haven't, Netflix it now! [1]). The movie follows the battle between Steve Wiebe and noted Donkey Kong/vintage video game champion Billy Mitchell, over the world record for Donkey Kong. Since the release of the film, it has been fun tracking the back and fourth battle between Wiebe and Mitchell for the world record (we've even covered it on the site in the past). There has been a lot of action over the past few months. In August, Billy Mitchell beat the Donkey Kong high score with 1,062,800 points -- 1,100 points more than the previous record score. Mitchell reportedly quit his Donkey Kong game (still in progress). Asked why, Mitchell said: "Some say I'm being cocky. Some say I'm being lazy. I say, I'm being Billy Mitchell." Later that month, Steve Wiebe reclaimed [2] the Donkey Kong World...