Universal Studios Hollywood BackLot has a major fire - 6/1/08

[krystledm]

i just realized...
yes its an awful loss...but who do you think will be getting all that smoke?




thats right, all us in the Central Valley

As if our air isn't awful enough, now were gonna get that too....just crap....

[sir clinksalot]

^ It's not THAT much smoke, not like a brush fire. You should be okay. It was pretty localized.

[Ride Warrior]

If Kong was destroyed, Universal will be predisposed (due to public expectations) to build a new replacement animatronic - either Kong or some other iconic figure. With the recent dismantling of the Back To the Future ride, a destroyed set would pretty much wipe out the physical remnants of the film franchise. So sad.

[Barbossa]

Maybe they were trying to enhance Backdraft by expanding it to the backlot area?

[Soulquarian]

Man, I was just going to go too! Geez.

Hopefully they replace Kong with something BETTER. There are lots of possibilities!

[disneytim]

FoxNews, citing the blog site www.slashfilm.com, reports that Universal Studios fully intends to rebuild Courthouse Square and New York Street. Both were rebuilt according to the original blueprints after the 1990 backlot fire.

http://www.foxnews.com/blogentertain...xsUCre3huaR58T

Many great movies were filmed, at least in part, on New York Street and Courthouse Square including "Dirty Harry," "Spiderman," "The Music Man," "Spartacus" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." The LA Times gives a detailed history of the famous sets and confirms Universal's intent to rebuild them.

It was where Robert Zemeckis shot the electrifying clock-tower climax with Michael J. Fox in "Back to the Future." It was also the courthouse backdrop for Gregory Peck's Oscar-winning performance in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

In addition to engulfing a soundstage, a video vault and part of the King Kong attraction at Universal's theme park, the fire that broke out early Sunday on the studio's famous back lot destroyed the iconic Courthouse Square set, used in hundreds of film and TV productions over the decades, as well as part of the studio's New York Street area.

This isn't the first time the backlot has caught fire. Though the courthouse was spared in a 1990 blaze that swept through the studio (and destroyed more than four acres, including a building used in "Dick Tracy" and sets for "Ben-Hur"), the New York Street set had to be rebuilt from the smoldering ashes. That set was also destroyed by a fire in 1957.

Both outdoor sets have a tremendous history at Universal.

Fans of the old television series "Leave It to Beaver" may recognize the courthouse facade as where the Beav went to school.

And before it was called Courthouse Square, thanks to its use in the "Back to the Future" movies, the area was known as Mockingbird Square because of its extensive use in the 1962 adaptation of the Harper Lee novel.

The Hill Valley clock tower was added to the courthouse for "Back to the Future," but over the years, filmmakers have removed the clock and redressed the buildings for several films, including Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," plus "Bruce Almighty" and "The Cat in the Hat." It was also used in the 1960s musicals "Bye Bye Birdie" (it was where pop star Conrad Birdie performed to his adoring female fans) and "The Music Man" (as the locale of the "76 Trombones" parade finale).

Courthouse Square was one of the standing sets of the current CBS paranormal drama "Ghost Whisperer."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,1821458.story

[Ride Warrior]

Originally Posted by Barbossa

Maybe they were trying to enhance Backdraft by expanding it to the backlot area?

Originally Posted by Soulquarian

Man, I was just going to go too! Geez.

Hopefully they replace Kong with something BETTER. There are lots of possibilities!

Hopefully, a Backdraft expansion isn't one of the replacement possibilities under consideration.

[Aladdin]

The courthouse square area has has been used in so many prominant movies, shows, but the facades in that area are continually being changed and modified. And they do have the blueprints for the area, so they can rebuild. Even the NY set gets a little change from time to time. but to rebuild those facades eh. no real big deal, as most had been rebuilt not that long ago.

The bigger loss that will be most noticable by the public, and more difficult to replace is King Kong. Of course the tram tour will avoid the affected areas, until those sets can be rebuilt.

For Universal, they certainly are trying to minimize the effect to the public gate. BUT with Universal saying that the tram tour will be open tomorrow, and even them saying earlier that they Would be open today really shows that their management team is really showing "an overly optimistic view" shared by their own T-2 3D show. Brushing off safety concerns, and overpromising, instead of being upfront and honest. Really their PR dept should have stated that they will reopen when it is safe to do so, and to keep checking with them for further announcements.

For the studio, even though most shows are done filming for summer, I'm sure they will rebuild the NY and Courthouse Square as soon as they can, in order of importance depending on what things are scheduled to be filmed.

BUT the loss that will get the least amount of attention is exactly what was lost in the film vault fire. Their PR dept once again seemed to brush over those loses. What exactly was in there? What items in the vault did they not have copies of? I'm thinking that there are PLENTY of sigificant items in the vault that we will never have a chance to see again. And even of the items they did have copies of, how many of those have historical signance that cannot be measured.

So, they will get their park open again, and the trams will be running soon, NY and Courthouse sets rebuilt, and perhaps something in for the tram tours old Kong site . BUT what was lost in the vault is a MUCH bigger loss.

[PrincessAurora18]

It is so sad. I love the back to the future set and king kong. Everytime we were there we had to go see the big guy. It has been 2 years since i visited the big guy, i'm going to miss him.

[krystledm]

Originally Posted by sir clinksalot

^ It's not THAT much smoke, not like a brush fire. You should be okay. It was pretty localized.

I guess well find out in the next two days...but that on top of the three house fires we had last week....

[DisneyIPresume]

Originally Posted by krystledm

i just realized...
yes its an awful loss...but who do you think will be getting all that smoke?




thats right, all us in the Central Valley

As if our air isn't awful enough, now were gonna get that too....just crap....

Los Angeles is completely east of the Central Valley. In order for smoke or smog to reach the Central Valley from Los Angeles the winds would have to flow toward the Northwest from Los Angeles, which is not likely to happen if at all. I recently read an article in the Times that -- believe it or not -- much of the air polution in the Central Valley gets blown in from the San Francisco Bay Area.

[I Heart Disneyland]

They can rebuild, but, wasn't that courthouse used in the movie?? If so, rebuilding doesn't do it for me.

[Capt Hook's]

It is a lost but for me I have never been to US so I don't know what it looks like or what the sets looks like. Kind of a funny thing here. Tonight on HBO Comicy [ms] Around 9:30pm there were showing Back To the Future. But like I said I have never been there ever so I don't know what it was like. But sorry for you fans that lost something.

[Aladdin]

Originally Posted by I Heart Disneyland

They can rebuild, but, wasn't that courthouse used in the movie?? If so, rebuilding doesn't do it for me.

No, it's NOT the courthouse that was in any of the BTF movies. Look at Al's picture's on todays update on the Home page, and you see it's substantially different. And the "courthouse" wasn't a full building it was a facade. And the courthouse in the various BTF movies even changed its looks depending on the year. Not to mention how many different ways the courtyard square area appeared in the 3 different movies, a park, a parking lot, and then the huge pond area. Again, look at Al's pictures and you can see that the courthouse and the square area looks different than the BTF movies. It's unfornate there was a fire, but really they will build it up again, no big deal. They are constantly changing those facades in that area, anyway.

[disneytim]

Originally Posted by Aladdin

No, it's NOT the courthouse that was in any of the BTF movies. Look at Al's picture's on todays update on the Home page, and you see it's substantially different. And the "courthouse" wasn't a full building it was a facade. And the courthouse in the various BTF movies even changed its looks depending on the year. Not to mention how many different ways the courtyard square area appeared in the 3 different movies, a park, a parking lot, and then the huge pond area. Again, look at Al's pictures and you can see that the courthouse and the square area looks different than the BTF movies. It's unfornate there was a fire, but really they will build it up again, no big deal. They are constantly changing those facades in that area, anyway.

The courthouse/clock tower facade has undergone numerous alterations over many decades, appearing in movies as diverse as "Spartacus" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" (prior to BTTF, the area was called Mockingbird Square), but scenes from BTTF 1 & 2 were indeed filmed there (Part 3 was not). The fan site www.bttftour.com has pictures of the facade side by side with screenshots from the movie at www.bttftour.com/locations/1985HillValley/. While upclose details may have changed, structurally the facade has remained the same--and has survived multiple fires.