So this happened today. We didn't know what was on fire, but we knew our whole neighborhood smelled like burning tires. Turns out it was an enormous videotape library, and we were smelling the cases burning up. Also a set from Back to the Future burnt, and the New York backlot set.
Then JPX said: You beat me to the punch, I was going to post this tomorrow!
From USA Today: LOS ANGELES — When visitors wander through the back lot of Universal Studios on their tour buses today, they'll miss some memorable sets of movies and TV shows, destroyed in a raging fire Sunday. Much of Courthouse Square, where 1985's Back to the Future was filmed, was destroyed. The movie's iconic clock tower was severely damaged, and officials said it was too early to say whether it could be salvaged.
Also lost in the blaze: sets featured in Bruce Almighty, Spider-Man 2 and Transformers, and the mock New York and Boston streets where portions of House, Crossing Jordan and Scrubs have been shot. The King Kong theme park exhibit, where the robotic ape shouted at tourists, also was damaged.
"I don't think that's salvageable," Universal Studios chief Ron Meyer told KABC-TV.
No one was killed in the blaze, though at least four firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The fire broke out at around 4:45 a.m. PT Sunday and was under control by 9:30 a.m., but it continued to belch black smoke into the sky from props and canisters of video in one of the studio's vaults.
"It looked like a bomb had exploded," Los Angeles City Council member Tom LaBonge said.
According to Meyer, no movies or TV shows were permanently lost in the fire, which remains under investigation.
The video vault, which contains thousands of digital copies of films, TV shows and music videos, was severely damaged. But the content can be duplicated, Meyer said, adding that the original film and negatives are stored in a vault not touched by the fire.
"We were very lucky today," he said at the news conference. "Nothing irreplaceable was lost."
Only one television show, The Ghost Whisperer, which uses eight locations on the Universal lot, could experience delays. The total damage is expected to cost millions.
The theme park, which normally opens at 9 a.m. on weekends, opened at noon, and the King Kong attraction was closed. Business was scheduled to resume regular hours today, though it was uncertain what routes of the park's back-lot bus tour would be closed.
Los Angeles County Fire officials said that at least one building had burned and as many as three blocks of movie facades were destroyed. Crews drew extra water from the studio's man-made lakes and ponds to fight the fire.
"Those props and backdrops are extremely combustible," chief Doug Barry said at the news conference.
Another fire at Universal Studios in November 1990 caused $25 million in damage. It was started by a security guard who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to arson.
3 comments:
Oh my God. Ghost Whisperer is going to be delayed!?!?! NOOOOOOOOO!
Just kidding. That all sucks, especially that burnt plastic smell.
Maybe it doesn't all suck (long dramatic pause) on some subatomic level the, as of yet, unborn Z now has little pieces of movie streaming through his system...he is now the perfect L.A. baby!!! Perhaps this is what he was waiting for all along.
That's what I said! "We're breathing in history!" Too bad history had to have that foul, acrid tire taste.
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