Brendan Fraser, Habitual Line Cutter

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Film Prints Revealed to be Destroyed as Universal Continues Taking Stock

What started out as a blaze that claimed a misshapen animatronic ape and a city pseudo-block on the Universal backlot is growing almost by the hour into something a lot costlier than the studio originally let on. First there were the Universal Music Group masters lost to fiery eternity (but they were already "transferred digitally," so, you know, whatever), and as alluded to by an astute Defamer commenter earlier today, a whole archive of film prints were rumored to be lost as well. More »

Universal Fire Aftermath: King Kong Slain by Three Men and a Blowtorch

So it looks like we have a couple of "workers" to thank for the sooty, soaring plumes rising from last weekend's Universal Studios fire, which apparently began when said Universal employees got a little careless while "using a blowtorch to heat asphalt roofing shingles" in the wee hours of Sunday morning: More »

Burn, 'Patch Adams,' Burn (and Other Reflections From the Universal Studios Blaze)

The once-in-a-generation inferno that conveniently cleared Universal's backlot on Sunday wasn't without its share of withering casualties; as noted here this morning, the New York street exterior, Back to the Future courthouse and the studio tour's King Kong exhibit were among the most lamentable (and well-insured) studio features to burn to the ground. Potentially worse yet was Universal's "video vault," which was responsible for no small part of the billowing black plumes welcoming movie-loving tourists to Hollywood, and which got us hoping — or praying, rather, on our knees, crying and everything — that maybe The Sting II or Ghost Dad might be lost to the happiest high flames of Hell we'd ever seen. More »

Back to the Future Set Destroyed in Fire

"A fire at Universal Studios has destroyed a set from 'Back to the Future,' the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels. Los Angeles County fire Captain Frank Reynoso says the blaze broke out just before dawn Sunday on a backlot stage at the 400-acre property. The fire has been contained. Officials say the iconic courthouse square from 'Back to the Future,' has been destroyed, and the famous clocktower that enabled star Michael J. Fox's character to time travel has been damaged." [AP] Watch your childhood memories reduced to cinders after the jump. More »

Breaking! Universal Studios On Fire; Will Tonight's MTV Movie Awards Go On?

It's not even 8am and today is already setting up to be a real doozy. Reports are just coming in that the Universal Studios backlot — possibly the Back To The Future set — is on fire right right now. A tipster sent in the above photo and wrote in that he "woke up to loud bangs - almost like tanks were exploding." While there are no reports suggesting that the blaze is anywhere near the Gibson Ampitheater, where the MTV Movie Awards are scheduled to be held later this afternoon, we will certainly keep you posted. Don't forget, so long as the red carpet isn't on fire, we're scheduled to be liveblogging the awards today beginning at 3pm PST. As they say in the business, developing... More »