I had started to do an edit of this monster of a film as well back at the start of the year using a bootleg video for stratch. Problem is, now I doubt that I can easily replace my footage with the DVD data. However, I also used some of the same methods you listed to trim the movie down including the useless Jimmy subplot, shortened boat sequences, etc.

I was surprised though to hear you only were able to knock it down to 2:40 or so (the exact time escapes me). My first cut, before I had to move and temporarily abandonded the thought of trying to swap footage, I was able to knock down to 2;16. I relentlessly trimmed down all dinosaur sequences (what 3 t-rexes? i only saw one) and Kong and Ann's date in NYC.

So naturally I'm looking forward to seeing your edit to take notes and apply them to my own if I ever get back to it.

And if anyone here knows a way to easily replace footage in Adobe Premiere Pro (footage with different timecodes/starting points, and possibly aspect ratios) lemme know.