As you’ve likely heard by now, there’s ash and soot around the Universal Studios backlot as shit went up in flames yesterday. A fire erupted on Sunday morning burning tons of archived films, sets and even musical archives from the Universal music label. At this point it’s probably too early to quantify the damage, but for fans of cinema, there’s probably many a classic film that is now lost and will never be remastered.
Despite many reports to the contrary, the beloved clock tower from “Back To the Future” was apparently saved, but the “New York City” set was apparently destroyed. The blaze however didn’t stop the MTV Movie awards, which barely acknowledged the fire in their show.
The backlot is extremely historical and the L.A. Times has an interesting article noting the many classic films that were shot there including seminal scenes from “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and “Dirty Harry,” among many others. All the burned lots are scheduled to be rebuilt.
Official cause of the conflagration has not been determined as of yet and damages are expected to be in the millions of dollars. “It looked like a disaster film,” Los Angeles City Councilor Tom LaBonge told the L.A. Times. Update: They’re blaming the low water pressure in the area for the extent of the damage.
At one point, the fire was two city blocks wide, and low water pressure forced firefighters to get reserves from lakes and ponds on the property. The blaze was contained to the lot, but burned for more than 12 hours before the final flames were extinguished.
Update: Actually it looks like the music section of Universal turned out to be ok. Nikki Finke fucked that one up for the record.
