A fast-moving blaze Sunday at the back lot of Universal Studios destroyed several movie sets and the “King Kong” exhibit, and damaged a video vault.
There were no reports of filming at the time the fire broke out early Sunday on the Universal Studios back lot.
3 of 3more photos » Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, fire officials said. No other injuries were reported, and the blaze is reportedly contained.
The fire destroyed an area called New York Street, which includes movie set-style buildings designed to look like the cityscape of New York City.
Between 40,000 and 50,000 videos and reels in vaults were damaged, said Ron Meyer, chief operating officer of Universal Studios, The Associated Press reported.
Duplicates are kept at another location, he told AP.
“Fortunately, nothing irreplaceable was lost,” Meyer told CNN. “The video library was affected and damaged, but our main vault of our motion picture negatives was not.”
Hours after the morning blaze was reported, the roughly two-block area north of Los Angeles appeared charred and resembled a “disaster movie,” Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge said.
He said he could see the smoke from his Silver Lake home Sunday morning. “It looked like a bomb had exploded,” he said.
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The 2008 MTV Movie Awards, which was supposed to be held at the Universal Studios theme park, will go on, officials said.
The awards show was expected to be broadcast live from an amphitheater at the park Sunday afternoon, an MTV representative said.
“The areas we are utilizing for our production were unaffected, and the 2008 MTV Movie Awards will go on as planned. We’re working closely with authorities to make sure everything operates smoothly,” an MTV spokesman said in a statement.
The awards show will bring a parade of A-list stars to the park’s CityWalk area. According to MTV’s Web site, celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker, Justin Timberlake and Robert Downey Jr. probably will attend.
The blaze began around 4:45 a.m. (7:45 a.m. ET) and was contained by 9 a.m. Watch choppers try to douse the fire »
The set of “The Changeling,” a film recently directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie, was “completely destroyed,” Meyer said.
Another area, called “Courthouse Square,” also was destroyed, Meyer said. Numerous movies have been shot in that area, including several scenes of the 1985 hit “Back to the Future,” Meyer said.
And two of the eight locations used by the CBS series “Ghost Whisperer” were affected, he said.
A tour of the back lot area was closed Sunday but was expected to reopen Monday, park officials said.
Fire inspectors had not determined what caused the blaze, said Los Angles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman. There were no reports of filming at the time of the fire.
From CNN.com
