Universal Studios Lot | |
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General information | |
Type | Film and television complex |
Location | Universal City, California |
Address | 100 Universal City Plaza |
Inaugurated | 1915 |
Owner | Universal Studios (NBCUniversal/Comcast) |
Website | |
https://www.universalstudioslot.com |
Universal Studios Lot is a television and film studio complex located at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California and is part of the entire Universal Studios complex, which also includes the adjacent Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. It is the production site of Universal Studios and is owned by Comcast through its subsidiary NBCUniversal. [1] The lot officially opened the gates of Universal City on March 15, 1915. [2] The lot began offering its modern studio tour in 1964, which eventually evolved into the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. [3] Today the Universal Studios Lot is made up of 400 acres, which includes more than 30 sound stages, the Brokaw News Center and 165 other separate structures. [4]
On March 15, 1915, Carl Laemmle opened Universal City Studios on a 230-acre ranch in the San Fernando Valley and called it "Universal City". The site later became known as Universal Studios Lot and Universal City was considered the first self-contained community dedicated to making films. [5]
In 1950, Universal Studios Lot increased its overall size to 400 acres after Universal acquired additional land at the southern border of the studio. Music Corporation of America (MCA) bought the Universal Studios Lot in 1958. Universal then leased back its property from MCA until MCA and Universal merged in 1962. [6]
Shortly after the MCA–Universal Pictures merger, accountants suggested that a new tour in the studio commissary would increase profits. On July 15, 1964, the modern Universal Studios tour was established to include a series of dressing room walk-throughs, peeks at actual production, and later, staged events. This grew over the years into a full-blown theme park now known as Universal Studios Hollywood. [3]
Over the next decades, numerous television shows and movies were filmed in Universal Studios Lot, notably at the Courthouse Square and Colonial Street sets. This includes Psycho (Paramount Pictures), Back to the Future (Universal Pictures), The Perfect Storm (Warner Bros.), War of the Worlds (Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks), Desperate Housewives (ABC), and The Good Place (NBC). Today, Universal Studios Lot is one of the largest full-service production facilities. It has continued to modernize and grow with plans to expand by adding additional soundstages and building facilities. [7]
Since 2016, the NBC show American Ninja Warrior has filmed their Los Angeles city qualifiers and finals courses on the lot.
Studio | Production | Notes | Area [8] |
---|---|---|---|
Stage 1 | The Jack Benny Show, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien , Chelsea Lately , The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon LA Shows, Steve, The Kelly Clarkson Show [9] among many others [10] | 10,635 sq ft (988.0 m2) | |
Stage 3 | Desperate Housewives , Heartbeat [11] | 12,237 sq ft (1,136.9 m2) | |
Stage 4 | The Incredible Hulk, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Desperate Housewives [12] | 10,534 sq ft (978.6 m2) | |
Stage 5 | Dragnet, Desperate Housewives, Ghost Whisperer [13] | 8,919 sq ft (828.6 m2) | |
Stage 12 |
| Production stopped in 2020 due to redevelopment of area. [14] | 29,070 sq ft (2,701 m2) |
Stage 16 |
| 11,553 sq ft (1,073.3 m2) | |
Stage 17 | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Leave It To Beaver [16] | 10,090 sq ft (937 m2) | |
Stage 18 | 10,669 sq ft (991.2 m2) | ||
Stage 19 | 10,032 sq ft (932.0 m2) | ||
Stage 20 | 10,640 sq ft (988 m2) | ||
Stage 21 | 19,701 sq ft (1,830.3 m2) | ||
Stage 22 | Hairspray Live! , Will & Grace reboot, | 17,582 sq ft (1,633.4 m2) | |
Stage 23 | Hairspray Live! , America's Got Talent Judge Cuts and 2020 Live Shows, Will & Grace reboot, | 18,170 sq ft (1,688 m2) | |
Stage 24 | 17,452 sq ft (1,621.3 m2) | ||
Stage 25 | Quincy, M.E. | 17,469 sq ft (1,622.9 m2) | |
Stage 26 | 17,523 sq ft (1,627.9 m2) | ||
Stage 27 | Die Hard 2 , Jurassic Park, Apollo 13 [17] | 17,515 sq ft (1,627.2 m2) | |
Stage 30 | 17,452 sq ft (1,621.3 m2) | ||
Stage 31 | 34,921 sq ft (3,244.3 m2) | ||
Stage 32 | 17,523 sq ft (1,627.9 m2) | ||
Stage 33 | 7,200 sq ft (670 m2) | ||
Stage 34 | 7,181 sq ft (667.1 m2) | ||
Stage 35 | 7,208 sq ft (669.6 m2) | ||
Stage 36 | 7,181 sq ft (667.1 m2) | ||
Stage 37 | 13,763 sq ft (1,278.6 m2) | ||
Stage 41 | 14,246 sq ft (1,323.5 m2) | ||
Stage 42 | 14,252 sq ft (1,324.1 m2) | ||
Stage 43 | 14,253 sq ft (1,324.1 m2) | ||
Stage 44 | McMillan & Wife (1971-1977) | 14,253 sq ft (1,324.1 m2) | |
Stage 747 | Die Hard 2 [18] | Formerly an interior mockups of a Boeing 707 and a 747 [18] | 8,201 sq ft (761.9 m2) |
1220 Studio | 5,800 sq ft (540 m2) | ||
Studio K Digital Studio | 1,000 sq ft (93 m2) |
Studio | Production | Notes |
---|---|---|
Stage 2 | Studio Tour | |
Stage 6 | ||
Stage 7 | renamed to Stage 747 | |
Stage 8 | renamed to 1220 Studio | |
Stage 9 | renamed to Studio K Digital Studio | |
Stage 10 | dubbing stage; ADR facility [19] | |
Stage 11 | dubbing stage [19] | |
Stage 13 | Universal's House of Horrors | |
Stage 14 | Airwolf [20] | no longer exists |
Stage 15 | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein | no longer exists [21] |
Stage 28 | The Phantom of the Opera | Also known as The Phantom Stage (1925 – 2014); demolished [22] |
Stage 29 | ||
Stage 30 | Now Transformers: The Ride attraction [23] | |
Stage 31 | ||
Stage 32 | Demolished in 2010 to build Transformers: The Ride attraction [24] | |
Stage 50 | ||
Stage 52 | ||
Stage 55 |
The Studio Tour is a public attraction both as a VIP and at the adjacent Universal Studios Hollywood theme park that offers visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the historic studio lot. [25] The tour first opened in 1915 when Carl Laemmle invited visitors to see the studio in action. The Universal Tour was halted in the late 1920s and revived in 1964. [2] Since then, it has evolved through countless iterations, including new tour hosts, movie sets, and experiences. [26]
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship studio of Universal Studios, the film studio arm of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast.
Universal Studios, Inc. is an American media and entertainment conglomerate owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.
Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the major film studios, often known simply as the majors or the Big Five studios, are commonly regarded as the five diversified media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries collectively command approximately 80 to 85% of U.S. box office revenue. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary motion picture business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate.
Carl Laemmle was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films.
Universal City is a neighborhood within the San Fernando Valley of the City of Los Angeles which includes portions of unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Approximately 415 acres (168 ha), within and immediately outside the area is the property of Universal Pictures, one of the five major film studios in the United States: about 70 percent of the studio's property is inside this unincorporated area, while the remaining 30 percent is within the Los Angeles city limits. Universal City is nearly surrounded by Los Angeles, with the area's northeastern corner touching the city of Burbank.
Universal Destinations & Experiences (UDX), formerly Universal Parks & Resorts, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast.
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of LA". It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios sets and is the first of many full-fledged Universal Studios theme park resorts located across the world.
Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and other aspects of the entertainment industry. Universal Studios Florida was the first of two theme parks to open at Universal Orlando Resort, joined later by Universal Islands of Adventure in 1999, and the first water park called Universal Volcano Bay in 2017. In 2019, it ranked eleventh in the world – sixth in North America – for overall attendance among amusement parks with approximately 10.9 million visitors. A third theme park, Universal Epic Universe, is expected to open in 2025.
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The Studio Tour is a ride attraction at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Universal City, California near Los Angeles. Studio Tour is the theme park's signature attraction. It travels through a working film studio, with various film sets on the Universal Studios Lot. Guests sit on multi-car trams for the duration of the ride and looking behind the scenes of Universal Pictures. The tour lasts about 45–60 minutes and is led by an in-person "tram guide", with the aid of pre-recorded videos of Jimmy Fallon. It travels through the Front Lot, Backlot, and various attractions, passing sets and properties from movies along the way. The tour inspired a smaller but similar version at Universal Studios Florida, which was removed in 1995.
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