Universal Studios Film Vault May be on Fire: This Could be Bad

"Large fire burns at Universal Studios lot"
CNN (June 1, 2008)

The good news is that, as far as I've heard, nobody's been hurt or killed. [UPDATE, later in the day: at least one firefighter was injured.] And, the fire didn't spread to nearby brush.

The bad news is that there's a huge fire at Universal Studios. Two sound stages seem to have already been destroyed. (Universal Studios website)

Universal Studios Burning

As usual with reporting on happening-now events, it's a bit hard for the reporters - and so for everyone else - to figure out exactly what's going on.

The Universal Studios film vault is on fire. Even assuming that Universal invested in fire suppression systems, like halon, or even an old-fashioned water sprinkler network, there's a good chance that the movies archived in there are scorched, even if the fire is contained.

If Universal loses that film vault, we've all lose a lot of America's culture: archived movies from the 1920s on up.

That could mean no more restoration of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923), "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), "Show Boat" (1929), "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" (1931), up to "Dead Silence" (2007).

Besides maybe losing those films, Universal has lost many destinations in their studio tour, including the King Kong exhibit.

Aside from sentimental value, that could be a big hit for Universal's profits. The news says, and I'm inclined to believe, that those tours have been a major source of revenue for the studio.

The Show Must Go On

Universal says that they'll be open for tours this morning. The fires should be out by then.

So Some Old Reels of Film Burned - So What?

That's archival footage, as far as I know, that we've probably lost: original, master copies of films that had a huge impact on American culture - and are still being watched.

Sure, there are digitized, and VHS, copes out there. But those are as good as current technology can make them: no better. New restoration and enhancement technologies, like 'colorizing' recently, work best when they start with the original images.

Now, 'next generation' restoration will probably have to start with copies, or copies of copies, of those classic films.