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View Full Version : Fire at Universal Studios, Film Vault on Fire


Alonzo
06-01-2008, 04:03 PM
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- About 200 county firefighters were helping studio firefighters quench the blaze, which reportedly spread to the New York City streetscape. Some park attractions have reportedly been damaged.

At 6:45 a.m, it was reported that the film vault at Universal Studios was burning. Firefighters reported about a third of the building was in flames as they poured on water.

Firefighters at Universal Studios also reported that the King Kong exhibit was in flames, as well. Several other buildings have been lost since the fire broke out on the back lot

Two helicopters were dropping water, he said, adding that firefighters were attempting to keep the blaze from the film vaults.

http://www.kptv.com/entertainment/16449896/detail.html

I saw this on CNN and I just stared for a couple minutes when it said the film vault was burning. I checked online and some sites mention the film vault burning, others mention frantic attempts to prevent the film vault from burning. I hope there aren't any films where they aren't already preserved digitally or where that vault has the only known copy. I know some very important films, such as the original Cleopatra, have been lost, likely forever, in vault fires previously.

4Reaganomics
06-01-2008, 06:48 PM
Quite the amount of heritage in that vault, I hope there able to contain this and salvage most of it.

Muser
06-01-2008, 06:57 PM
Hollyweird still doesn't know about fire-proof vaults?!?

Alonzo
06-01-2008, 07:05 PM
Muser, I'm not sure how much fire protection is possible. Considering the massive amounts of flames it may be able to overcome most fire proof systems.

Second though, the film used for old films is itself highly flammable. Playing them at improper speeds can even cause a fire.

Alonzo
06-01-2008, 08:16 PM
Roughly 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels were damaged in the video vault, but there are duplicates stored in a different location, said NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer.
“Nothing is lost forever,” Meyer said.

The videos included every film that Universal has produced and footage from television series' like “Miami Vice” and “I Love Lucy.”

Firefighters recovered hundreds of those titles from the vault, Freeman said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080601-1116-ca-studiofire.html

That's better than I thought.

preservanation
06-01-2008, 11:32 PM
How terrible!
I hope not too much was lost.
Wow, a lot of that stuff has never been reproduced.
Damn, that sux.

micfranklin
06-02-2008, 05:08 AM
Yeah it'd be a real shame if all those classics were destroyed.

DamnYankee
06-02-2008, 06:01 AM
Hollyweird hasn't produced much over the last few years but it is a shame to have classics like I Love Lucy go up in smoke.

preservanation
06-02-2008, 01:11 PM
I'm convinced that this fire was set.
Not by anti-western religious extremists, as one might think...but by NASA.
They wanted to destroy all the lunar landing outtakes, once and for all!

micfranklin
06-02-2008, 02:00 PM
The fires were probably started by terrorists.

Like angry movie critics.

preservanation
06-02-2008, 02:10 PM
The fires were probably started by terrorists.

Like angry movie critics.Is Gene Shallot or Rex Reed still alive?
If so......

Easy90
06-02-2008, 03:11 PM
Obviously the work of terrorists. They know that most Americans get their "history" from these Hollywood productions...and this is akin to the destruction of the great library of Alexandria, Egypt....where all the accumulated knowledge of prior civilization was documented. LINK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria)Oh the humanity!