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What Would Walt Do?
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From Bloomberg.com
Universal Studios Fire Destroys King Kong, Tapes (Update2)
By Nancy Kercheval
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- King Kong, the giant ape from Skull Island, the courtyard used in ``Spider-Man 2'' and ``Bruce Almighty'' and a tape vault were destroyed today in a fire at General Electric Co.'s Universal Studios in California.
The blaze was reported about 4:45 a.m. local time in an area of the Universal City property that includes working sets and soundstages, popular sites for tram passengers from the nearby Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.
The fire also damaged the clock that allowed Michael J. Fox to travel ``Back to the Future'' and the New York and New England street scenes, spokesman Eliot Sekuler said.
``There's still a lot of smoke,'' said Sekuler, who was watching firefighters put out the flames at about noon. ``The tape vault still appears to be burning. From what I understand there were no original materials in it. Many of them were salvaged.''
NBC Universal hadn't determined the cost of damages, Sekuler said.
As many as 50,000 videos and reels, including every film made by Universal, and television series such as ``I Love Lucy,'' were damaged, NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer told the Associated Press. Duplicates are stored at a separate location.
The fire burned as many as four acres of the 391-acre lot, or about two city blocks, said Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gardner.
Facades
``These were not traditional buildings. They were facades,'' she said. ``There were no soundstages affected. There was no production happening at the time of the fire.''
A ``deep-seated'' fire still burned in the afternoon in the vault, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Ron Haralson.
``There is nothing that was damaged that is not replaceable,'' Gardner said. ``The video vault contained all copies; no one-of-a-kind stuff.''
About 300 firefighters and several helicopters poured water on the burning buildings as the fire spread, surpassing three alarms, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Frank Garrido. Four county firefighters and two Los Angeles city firefighters sustained minor to moderate injuries, including burns and chest pains, Haralson said.
No cause for the blaze has been determined, Garrido said. Captain Frank Reynoso told CNN that an explosion was reported before flames were seen.
Delayed Opening
Universal Studios Hollywood and CityWalk, located north of Los Angeles and less than an hour from Disneyland, delayed its opening for three hours until noon, according to spokeswoman Audrey Eig.
``The backlot tram tour will resume operation tomorrow,'' she said in an e-mail.
The fire didn't affect CityWalk's theaters, restaurants, clubs and shops or the Gibson Amphitheater, Sheraton Universal or Universal Hilton Hotels operations, Eig said.
The Studio Tour visits sets from movies such as ``War of the Worlds,'' ``King Kong,'' and ``The Fast and the Furious'' as well as Wisteria Lane from the ABC television drama ``Desperate Housewives,'' according to the studio's Web site.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 1, 2008 17:03 EDT
The latest that I have heard is that the entire complex, including City Walk did not open at all today. The MTV Movie Awards are still going on as scheduled from the Amphitheatre. I still haven't heard if the clock tower facade from "Back To The Future" was affected. That was in the same area where the fire from 1990 occurred. The tower was not affected then, but almost all of the surrounding structures were destroyed.
Universal Studios Fire Destroys King Kong, Tapes (Update2)
By Nancy Kercheval
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- King Kong, the giant ape from Skull Island, the courtyard used in ``Spider-Man 2'' and ``Bruce Almighty'' and a tape vault were destroyed today in a fire at General Electric Co.'s Universal Studios in California.
The blaze was reported about 4:45 a.m. local time in an area of the Universal City property that includes working sets and soundstages, popular sites for tram passengers from the nearby Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.
The fire also damaged the clock that allowed Michael J. Fox to travel ``Back to the Future'' and the New York and New England street scenes, spokesman Eliot Sekuler said.
``There's still a lot of smoke,'' said Sekuler, who was watching firefighters put out the flames at about noon. ``The tape vault still appears to be burning. From what I understand there were no original materials in it. Many of them were salvaged.''
NBC Universal hadn't determined the cost of damages, Sekuler said.
As many as 50,000 videos and reels, including every film made by Universal, and television series such as ``I Love Lucy,'' were damaged, NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer told the Associated Press. Duplicates are stored at a separate location.
The fire burned as many as four acres of the 391-acre lot, or about two city blocks, said Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gardner.
Facades
``These were not traditional buildings. They were facades,'' she said. ``There were no soundstages affected. There was no production happening at the time of the fire.''
A ``deep-seated'' fire still burned in the afternoon in the vault, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Ron Haralson.
``There is nothing that was damaged that is not replaceable,'' Gardner said. ``The video vault contained all copies; no one-of-a-kind stuff.''
About 300 firefighters and several helicopters poured water on the burning buildings as the fire spread, surpassing three alarms, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Frank Garrido. Four county firefighters and two Los Angeles city firefighters sustained minor to moderate injuries, including burns and chest pains, Haralson said.
No cause for the blaze has been determined, Garrido said. Captain Frank Reynoso told CNN that an explosion was reported before flames were seen.
Delayed Opening
Universal Studios Hollywood and CityWalk, located north of Los Angeles and less than an hour from Disneyland, delayed its opening for three hours until noon, according to spokeswoman Audrey Eig.
``The backlot tram tour will resume operation tomorrow,'' she said in an e-mail.
The fire didn't affect CityWalk's theaters, restaurants, clubs and shops or the Gibson Amphitheater, Sheraton Universal or Universal Hilton Hotels operations, Eig said.
The Studio Tour visits sets from movies such as ``War of the Worlds,'' ``King Kong,'' and ``The Fast and the Furious'' as well as Wisteria Lane from the ABC television drama ``Desperate Housewives,'' according to the studio's Web site.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 1, 2008 17:03 EDT
The latest that I have heard is that the entire complex, including City Walk did not open at all today. The MTV Movie Awards are still going on as scheduled from the Amphitheatre. I still haven't heard if the clock tower facade from "Back To The Future" was affected. That was in the same area where the fire from 1990 occurred. The tower was not affected then, but almost all of the surrounding structures were destroyed.
