Skull Island is the dumbest part of King Kong. The appeal of a giant gorilla fighting dinosaurs is obvious, which explains Legendary Pictures’ rush to bring King Kong back to the screen in its upcoming movie “Kong: Skull Island.” Yet there will always be something distracting about the Skull Island sequences of King Kong movies.

The proper role of Skull Island is to establish the alien realm where King Kong is in his element, making his kidnapping all the more poignant. Skull Island is the place where we learn to understand and sympathize with King Kong, but with its hordes of big critters to battle, it’s easy to see why so many Kong movies begin to think of Skull Island as an ends in itself. But while the title “Kong: Skull Island” may induce “here we go again!” eyerolls, some new hints from one of the “Kong: Skull Island” stars offers up a fascinating new setting for the upcoming Kong movie.

“Kong: Skull Island”: J.K. Simmons and Michael Keaton on the New King Kong

If you hate watching videos, here’s the relevant portion:

“…there’s such an interesting new take on it, and it’s set in Detroit in 1971 which is where I grew up, and we’re gonna shoot in Detroit during baseball season and I’ll be able to go to Tigers games, so there’s a lot to like about this movie.”

In other words, it looks like the new King Kong won’t be set entirely on Skull Island. Plus, we’re getting a King Kong period piece that doesn’t care about the Peter Jackson King Kong’s slavish (though largely successful) reproduction of the 1930’s of original “King Kong!”

The original announcement press release for “Kong: Skull Island” promised an “entirely new, distinct timeline” that still “honors the foundations of existing King Kong lore.” Everybody thought they knew what that meant: Kong would be returning to the modern era for the first time since the 1976 “King Kong” (let’s just pretend the 1986 “King Kong Lives” never happened).

“Kong: Skull Island” will almost certainly be better than this:

If J.K. Simmons is right, the truth of “Kong: Skull Island” is actually far more interesting. What the heck does King Kong have to do with Detroit? Is this set-up for some good ol’ corporate cynicism, like Charles Grodin’s evil oil company in the John Guillermin “King Kong”?

We’ll have to wait until the March 10, 2017 release date of “Kong: Skull Island” to find out. Still, while the initial announcement was baffling, this new King Kong movie is beginning to move a number of interesting pieces into place. A King Kong movie starring Tom Hiddleston, Michael Keaton, and J.K. Simmons, directed by the same guy who did the excellent “Kings of Summer”? “Kong: Skull Island” might just end up worth the wait.