The 2005 remake of “King Kong” doesn’t arrive in theaters until Dec. 14, but that isn’t stopping the DVD industry from hopping early onto the big-ape bandwagon.

“King Kong: Peter Jackson’s Production Diaries,” a two-disc box set that chronicles the director’s work on the reimagined adventure, hits DVD shelves on Dec. 13. (Yes, we’re now living in a world where the bonus features come before the film itself.) And last week, Warner Home Video released a collector’s edition of the original “Kong,” a must-see for longtime fans of the Fay Wray feature and anyone who wants to bone up before catching Jackson’s gorilla thriller.

Jackson is one of several filmmakers and historians to appear during the extensive interviews on the double-disc collector’s edition, which marks “King Kong’s” DVD debut. The film is spotted with occasional flecks and scratches, but, at 72, looks pretty decent for its age. Watched in tandem with its extra features – including the nearly three-hour documentary “RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World” and Jackson’s recreated version of the movie’s famous lost spider pit sequence – this “Kong” delivers a wonderful education in the art of cinema, as well as proof that effects were pretty special long before computers were invented.

As is the trend these days, “Kong” is available in several incarnations. If you’re shopping for someone who loves all of producer Merian C. Cooper’s monkey movies, the “King Kong” Collection ($39.98), which includes “Kong,” “Son of Kong” and “Mighty Joe Young,” is your best option. “Kong” enthusiasts will covet the collector’s edition reviewed here, which comes with postcards of original movie posters and a replica of the program from the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre premiere, all packaged in a snazzy, silver tin. Buyers on a budget should be satisfied with the two-disc special edition ($26.98), which is the same as the collector’s model but without the fancy packaging and swag.

Most familiar bonus: The documentary “I’m King Kong: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper” is a compelling look at the producer’s unconventional career. But it may seem redundant to those who already watched it earlier this month on Turner Classic Movies.

Must-watch bonus: Special effects aficionados should proceed directly to parts four and five of the “RKO Production 601” doc, which reveal how Jackson and his team (many of whom worked on the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) recreated the “King Kong” puppet as well as the aforementioned spider pit sequence, using stop-motion and other techniques from the early ’30s era. In what might be the coolest homage to the original, the sound engineers working on the new spider pit footage come up with the perfect dinosaur roar: It’s the sound of Fay Wray’s scream played on super-slow speed.