A visit to Southern California wouldn’t be complete without a glimpse at the magic of moviemaking. The Warner Brothers Studio Tour takes us behind the scenes — literally — of the sets where movies are made, shows us the props, and teaches some of the techniques of filming and editing. As my favorite among the big three movie studio tours (the others being Paramount and Universal, of course), I typically bring visitors to Warner Brothers Studios when they visit us in Los Angeles. The tour changes over time, so it’s definitely worth visiting more than once.
Tip: You’d think that visiting on a weekday is better because it would be less crowded. However, if you want to get into a sound stage and actually see the sets of a current TV show, you’ll have to take the tour on a weekend because that’s when they’re not filming
Han JiHye and Hansol Park, both from South Korea, by the entrance to Warner Brothers Studios during their visit in 2015.
Bugs Bunny greets visitors to Warner Brothers Studios. His original name was “Happy Rabbit.”
In the 1960s “Batman” TV series, Batman and Robin frequently run up these courthouse steps to visit Commissioner Gordon. If you ever get to see the series in reruns somewhere, you’ll see a woman in a red coat climbing the steps every time. The same scene was used 72 times over the run of the series.
This was Cafe Pierre in “Casablanca”. It is the only Casablanca set left.
This church was seen in “The Waltons”, among many other movie and TV scenes.
This house was used in “Gremlins”. There’s a scene where the mean lady comes bursting out of the window.
Bo Duke’s General Lee car from “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Since they crashed a car in nearly every episode, they used something like 172 cars over the course of the series. There are many of these cars out at car shows. Each one claims to be the “original General Lee car”, and each one is being truthful.
The car Ron Weasley flew to Hogwarts at the beginning of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabahn, and which he crashed into the Whomping Tree
This set is still the same as it was on the last episode of “Friends.”
Big Bang Theory fans will recognize this barn as the location of the paintball fight. During our 2015 tour, we got to see the sets inside the sound stage for “The Big Bang Theory”. When it was still an unknown TV series, WB had to pay audience members to watch the show being filmed. As of 2015, there was an 18-month waiting list for tickets to the tapings.
Why are wires sticking out of the walls? Because the studio will change the light fixtures to fit the time period of the movie/TV show being filmed. This house was used on “Friends” as Monica and Ross’ childhood home.
The front of a building, complete with fake elevated tracks and added newspaper stands and messy trash cans, stands in for Chicago.
A residential street in New York — or is it Chicago? Note that you never see the end of the street in movies.
You’ll see plaques like this on each of the sound stages. They let visitors know which movies and TV shows have been filmed there. This sound stage reaches back to the beginnings of the film industry, as it was the setting for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Casablanca (1943), Bonnie & Clyde (1967), Blade Runner (1982), multiple Batman movies, and The Big Bang Theory TV series (2007-2019).
James Dean was still a relative unknown when he died in a car crash in 1955. “Rebel Without a Cause” was still a new release, and “Giant” wouldn’t come out until after his death.
The basic beats of the story to be filmed are outlined with simple index cards on a bulleting board.
Piles of screenplays. Is one of your favorite scripts in this stack? Thousands of potential screenplays get narrowed down to a handful of movies that are actually put into production.
Warner Brothers is famous for its animation. These characters all populated my childhood. I can still hear that Looney Tunes theme song.
Original concept art for Yogi Bear from 1960.
The actors get top billing, but all of the various aspects of production are vitally necessary to the success of a movie, including costume design.
Living room stage set from “Two and a Half Men”. Alas, that Malibu ocean scene in the window is merely a backdrop.
A special light box was used for those scenes in “Gravity” showing Earth in the background.
How the “Harry Potter” actors really filmed those scenes on the Quidditch pitch.
Scenes shot against a “green screen” have marks inserted to aid in the placement of the background and special effects.
Crucifix from “The Exorcist” (1973), which scared the c*** out of me and several of my high school friends
Microphone from “The Jazz Singer” (1927), the first “talkie” with dialogue.
We learned how to make motion shots with the green screen behind us, which are then matched up with the proper background. Here, Jihye riding the BatCycle with her cape flowing out behind her.
I was in awe when I saw “Gravity”. How did they make those astronauts tumble through outer space? Here, it’s my turn to give it a try.
Hansol rides his broomstick around Hogwarts.
August 17, 2015
My uncle Brent with the giant spider that scared Ron Weasley in one of the Harry Potter movies.
A full-size replica of the sorting hat from Harry Potter was in the WB Museum. Watch out for Hansol, he’s a Slytherin!
This was one of the most instructive parts of the tour about how movies are made, especially in post-production. The Foley Stage is where special sound effects are added. The tour included a session where we saw the layered efforts involved in creating the final version of a film. First, we saw an early scene from “Gravity” with just the dialogue, then just the sound effects to make it sound like they were in outer space, then just the music soundtrack, then the complete version.
Warner Brothers Studios is located at 3400 Warner Boulevard in Burbank. The standard studio tour is $79 and is offered in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish (plus ASL if given 72 hours notice). There are also a number of specialty tours, such as Gilmore Girls, classic movies, and Superman. Parking is an additional $20. Warner Brothers Studio Tours are open from 8:30am to 3:30pm daily. Note that all visitors age 18 and up must show a valid government-issued photo ID for entry.