List Of Shows And Films Made At Burned Out Studio Lot Long And Memorable

By now you’ve heard about the Hollywood sequel no one wanted to make – the devastating fire that destroyed a large section of the Universal Studios back lot in California on Sunday.

The areas known as New York Street, Brownstone Street and Courthouse Square are gone, the second time since 1990 the movie set facades have burned down. Officials say low water pressure contributed to the difficulties in fighting the flames, as they quickly consumed the mostly wooden structures. It started at 4:30am and raged for 12 long hours, as crews did their best to simply contain it.

“This fire moved extremely fast,” confirms Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman.

It’s believed the blaze was one of the biggest commercial fires in Los Angeles County history. “It is one of the longest fires to extinguish because of its complexity and size,” explains county Fire Capt. Mike Brown.

Workers using a blowtorch on asphalt shingles are to blame for starting the huge inferno.

And while a large number of films left in a storage area were also destroyed, there is some good news – because of digital copying, nothing significant was lost. “We have duplicates of everything,” affirms NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer. “Nothing is lost forever.”

All such destructive fires are terrible, of course, but there is a special sadness about losing backdrops that have left such a huge mark on the memory of filmgoers around the world. New York Street, for example, is the place where Dirty Harry first told a bank robber to ask himself, “do I feel lucky?”

The Brownstone facade was where Seinfeld’s gang made much ado about nothing.

And Courthouse Square was the spot where Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly used the clock tower to return to his own time in “Back To The Future.”

Here’s a list of the movies and shows that called those sets home, now enshrined only on the images of film – until they’re rebuilt one more time.

Courthouse Square

Built for An Act of Murder (1948)
Ma and Pa Kettle (1949 – 1954)
It Came From Outer Space (1953)
Tarantula (1955)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Bye Bye Birdie [Conrad Birdie sang good-bye to his fans] (Warner Bros. 1963)
The Music Man [76 trombone parade] (1962)
Village of the Giants (1965)
Simon and Simon (TV, 1981 – 1988)
Knight Rider (TV, 1982 – 1986)
Psycho II [Fairvale] (1983)
The New Leave it to Beaver (TV, 1984 – 1988)
Gremlins [as Kingston Falls] (1984)
Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 89, 90)
Sneakers (1992)
Weird Science (TV, 1993)
Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman (TV, CBS, 1994)
Three Wishes (1995)
The Nutty Professor (1996)
Jingle all the Way (20th Century Fox, 1996)
Escape from LA [rundown amusement park] (1996)
Batman and Robin (Warner Bros. 1997)
Amistad (DreamWorks, 1997)
The Offspring: Why Don’t You Get A Job (1999)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
The Cat in the Hat (2003)
Scream Play
Ghost Whisperer (TV)

New York Street

Dirty Harry (1971) [as San Francisco]
The Sting (1973) [as Chicago]
Kojak (TV) (1973 – 1978)
Earthquake (1974) [as Los Angeles]
The Blues Brothers (1980) [as Chicago]
Topaz
Torn Curtain (1966)
Ironside [as San Francisco]
Simon and Simon [as San Diego]
City Heat [Kansas City]
Airwolf (1983)
Streets of Fire (1984)
Murder She Wrote
Harry and the Hendersons [as Seattle]
Legal Eagles (1986)
Newsies (1992)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Batman and Robin
America’s Sweethearts (2001)
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Down with Love (2003) [Buildings inserted into digital model of New York]
Spider-Man 2 (2004) [Theatre where MJ performed in The Importance of Being Earnest]
The Prestige (2006)
Déjà Vu (2007)
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) [opening sequence set in 1865]
Transformers (2007)
Starship Dave (2008)
Superhero Movie (2008)
House (2008) [coach crash episode]
Changeling (2008) [Dirty Harry bank has steps added to the front of it]
Ally McBeal
The X-Files

Brownstone Street

Abbot and Costello
Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
The Sting (1973)
The Six Million Dollar Man “Big Brother” (1976)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Annie (1982)
Seinfeld (TV – 1990 – 1998)
Ally McBeal (TV – 1997 – 2002)
Moonwalker – Michael Jackson (1988)
Cast Away (2000)
The District (TV – 2000-2004)
The Time Machine (2002)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
NYPD Blue (TV – 1993-2005)
Nintendo DS advert (2005)
Canon magazine advert (2007)
Superhero Movie (2008)

Source: Universal Studios Hollywood

Photo credit: David McNew/Getty Images