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King Kong Statue Catches Fire at Skull Island Vietnam Premiere

A fire broke out during the “Kong: Skull Island” premiere in Ho Chi Minh City, engulfing a large model of King Kong in flames.

A Vietnamese representative for WB released a statement saying that the fire was quickly put out, no one was hurt and that guests were still able to attend the screening.

“The fire was extinguished quickly and after all was deemed safe, the resiliency of Kong’s Vietnamese fans came through when they filled the theater to enjoy the film,” the statement said. “We want to express our gratitude to the Ho Chi Minh City fire department, who kept everyone in attendance safe, as well as the CGV management, who acted quickly to address the situation.”

“Kong: Skull Island,” which stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman, is set at the end of the Vietnam war, and was filmed on location in Southeast Asia.

At the film’s L.A. premiere — which included a giant Kong statue that was notably not set ablaze — director Jordan Vogt-Roberts spoke to Variety about his vision for the film. “We wanted it to be ‘Apocalypse Now’ meets ‘King Kong,’ this idea of a Vietnam War movie mixed with a creature feature,” he said.

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“Skull Island” hits theaters this weekend in the U.S., and is expected to compete with “Logan” for the top spot at the box office.

See video of the flames posted by Sky News below:

A massive gorilla statue burst into flames at the Vietnamese premier of Kong: #SkullIsland after fire from a model volcano began to spread pic.twitter.com/2mMo3AWeg9

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 10, 2017

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