Universal Studios Hollywood CA, USA

 
The 2005 film WAR OF THE WORLDS is the second film adaptation of H.G. Wells' 1898 book "The War of the Worlds". The first version was released in 1953. The book also inspired, among others, Orson Welles' 1938 radio play of the same name and Jeff Wayne's 1978 double album.

War of the Worlds, 0:25:43

After collaborating on the movie Minority Report from 2002, Tom Cruise suggested to Steven Spielberg that they make a contemporary version of the classic story about an invasion by aliens. The director was immediately enthusiastic. After 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1982's E.T., it would be his third film about an alien invasion, but the first in which the aliens are scary and dangerous.

Filming took place from 8 November 2004 to 7 March 2005 in the states of Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, California and New York. The story was moved from nineteenth-century England to modern-day New Jersey, where divorced longshoreman Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) lives. His two children, son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning), happen to visit him when the invasion begins. 

Universal Studios Hollywood, 21 July 2023

When total chaos reigns, Ray takes his children to the suburban home of his ex-wife Mary-Ann (Miranda Otto). However, no one is home and Ray decides they will spend the night in the basement of the house. At night, they wake up to the sound of huge explosions. The next morning, everything seems calm but when Ray steps outside, he discovers that the house has been largely destroyed as a plane crashed into the residential area.

Although Mary-Ann's home is in Bayonne, New Jersey, this scene was shot at Universal Studios Hollywood. The film company bought a retired Boeing 747 from All Nippon Airways and brought it from Japan to the studio backlot where the plane was dismantled to look like as if it had crashed. The damaged houses make the massive outdoor set even more realistic. Shooting the scene during which Ray walks past the plane was filmed from 5 to 7 January 2005. A short 34-second video made during filming is on YouTube. After production completed, the set became part of the Universal Studio Backlot Tour, a guided train tour of the studio.

War of the Worlds, 0:42:17

War of the Worlds set, Universal Studios
Hollywood, 21 July 2023

War of the Worlds, 0:42:56

War of the Worlds set, Universal Studios
Hollywood, 21 July 2023

War of the Worlds, 0:43:02

War of the Worlds set, Universal Studios
Hollywood, 21 July 2023

The studio tour is one of the main attractions of the Universal Studios theme park. We also did the studio tour in 1996 (see Universal Studio’s Hollywood). Today, the tour consists of more than just film sets and studios. It now offers, amongst others, 3D movies of King Kong and The Fast & The Furious that were made especially for this tour.

According to our guide, Steven Spielberg stipulated that the crashed plane could not be used for other film productions for the next 10 years. If this is true, it did not apply to music videos as the plane can be seen in "Never Say Never" by The Fray from 2009 (available on YouTube) and "Fly" by Nicki Minaj featuring Rihanna from 2011 (also available on YouTube).

"Fly" - Nicki Minaj ft. Rihanna, 02:07

War of the Worlds set, Universal Studios
Hollywood, 21 July 2023

Screenshots © Paramount Pictures