Officials Rule Universal Studios Fire an Accident
Accidents do happen, some more destructive than others.
Los Angeles fire officials have determined that the blaze that tore through the Universal Studios backlot yesterday morning was set off accidentally by workers making repairs to one of the sets.
“The investigation has ruled out any deliberate actions on the part of anyone,” L.A. County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said at a news conference Monday.
Two workers and a supervisor were using a blowtorch to apply asphalt shingles to the roof of a building on the New York/New Jersey street set, Freeman said. Following protocol, the men waited about an hour after finishing up and, when they saw no signs of fire, they took a break at 4 a.m.
“At 4:43, a security guard in the vicinity of the backlot…noticed the fire and immediately notified the fire department,” Freeman said. “At approximately the same time, the workers returned to the location and also witnessed the fire and confirmed with the security guard that the fire department had been notified.”
Nine firefighters and a sheriff’s deputy suffered minor injuries. The fire destroyed most of the New York City street, sets used in films such as Back to the Future, Bruce Almighty and To Kill a Mockingbird; a warehouse containing more than 40,000 videos (all of which exist in copies elsewhere, officials said) and the King Kong portion of the Universal Studios tram ride.
Reports have also pegged the rapid spread of the fire, which covered an area the size of two city blocks at one point, on a taxed water-pressue system at the site.
“Obviously it was not effective at preventing the spread of the fire,” Freeman said.
L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said an interdepartmental assessment team has been established to investigate.
“Was there an infrastructure, mechanical or human error problem, or a combination, or none of the above?” Yaroslavsky said. “It has a lot of implications for this fire and other fires.”
Meanwhile, the 2008 MTV Movie Awards and red carpet festivities went on as scheduled yesterday afternoon at the nearby Gibson Amphitheatre, while Universal Studios and the adjacent CityWalk entertainment district reopened today.
Evan Almighty is The Most Expensive Comedy Movie of All Time
Did You Know: Evan Almighty is now the most expensive comedy ever made. The studio initially planned to not cross a $140 million limit. But with the special effects and logistical problems (having real live animals on set can add up), the cost went over $175 million. That means, after press, advertising, prints, and all marketing expenses, Evan Almighty will sport a price tag of over $250 million.
But it’s a smart bet. Bruce Almighty made over $80 million in its opening weekend, and over $484 million worldwide by the end of it’s run. Evan is not only tracking higher than the first film, but is also tracking above huge summer blockbusters such as Transformers and Live Free or Die Hard.
For Evan Almighty, the magic number would be $500 million. That’s how much the film needs to make before it is deemed even. Note: Many people don’t know this but the studio only gets around 50% of the ticket sales (that’s right, those huge box office numbers reported every Monday morning). But that doesn’t take into consideration DVD sales. Bruce made over $77 million in rentals (as of 2/08/04) and over $250 million in home video sales (as of June 2004). So realistically, Evan only needs to earn $250 million at the box office to eventually break even on DVD.
June Tracking Numbers are Shocking
Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has published the late June industry tracking numbers. To make things easier, we have filed the numbers in this neat little table below:
Film
General Awareness
Definite Interest
First Choice
Definately Not Interested
1408
56%
30%
9%
12%
A Mighty Heart
44%
22%
6%
Evan Almighty
89%
40%
15%
Live Free or Die Hard
92%
36%
5%
Ratatouille
78%
36%
7%
Sicko
38%
22%
3%
22%
License to Wed
69%
22%
2%
Transformers
87%
41%
12%
Here are the things that we immediately notice: More people are interested in Pixar’s Ratatouille than we originally thought. It appears that more people have that film listed as their first choice than Live Free or Die Hard, A Mighty Heart, Sicko or License to Wed.
Live Free or Die Hard has the most awareness by far (with 92%), but is not the film people want to see (36% interested, 5% top choice).
What shocks us the most is that Evan Almighty is tracking slightly higher than even Transformers. How can this be? Is it that we are stuck in our online geek web bubble not able to see the outside world’s interest in the Bruce Almighty sequel? Possibly.
People seem to be pretty disinterested in political movies. A Mighty Heart and Michael Moore’s Sicko have a low 22% interested rate. As expected, the conservatives are very uninterested in seeing Moore’s new film, giving the movie a huge 22% definitely not interested number. It doesn’t help that the people who were interested in seeing the movie have probably already illegally downloaded it off the internet.
Of course, all these numbers will change as the marketing picks up on the early July flicks. I would expect Transformers numbers to increase.
Evan Almighty Movie Trailer to Premiere During The Office
The trailer for Universal Pictures’ Bruce Almighty sequel, Evan Almighty, will premiere during NBC’s Night at the Office three hour marathon event.
The Night at the Office event will air on March 29th from 8:00-11:00pm eastern (7:00pm-10:00pm central).
Steve Carell, reprises his role as the polished, preening newscaster Evan Baxter, the next one anointed by God to accomplish a holy mission. Director Tom Shadyac’s (The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty) new film follows Evan, newly elected to Congress, as he shepherds his family to suburban northern Virginia. Once there, his life gets turned upside-down when God (Morgan Freeman) appears and mysteriously commands him to build an ark. But his befuddled family just can’t decide whether Evan is having an extraordinary mid-life crisis or is truly onto something of Biblical proportions.
Evan Almighty also stars Lauren Graham, John Goodman, John Michael Higgins, Jimmy Bennett, Wanda Sykes and Jonah Hill.
The movie will be released on June 22nd 2007.