Universal, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros., are pillars of the film industry and the driving force behind a $100 billion tourism industry, according to the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.
“Los Angeles,” says president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism Board Adam Burke, “is the only destination in the world where guests can visit multiple working studio lots located in distinct neighborhoods in our city.”
The Role of Studio Tours
In addition to visiting the Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame, or the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, studio tours give cinema lovers a behind-the-scenes look into how their favorite stories get told.
“Touring the studios, says Robert Thomson, a professor at Syracuse University, “being able to go where this stuff happened, to be in the physical space of all these things that for over 100 years now people have been watching, seems the most natural kind of tourist destination in the world.”
Each of these significant studios has not specified how much revenue studio tours generate but has stated that demand and foot traffic remain consistently strong for their many offerings. What is known is that these paid experiences enable visitors to see the set design, recording processes, props, and costumes from their favorite shows. As paid experiences, they drive revenue and serve as marketing tools for the company.
Universal Studios
Over 60 years ago, Universal Studios Hollywood began as a studio tour featuring special effects. The tour is now a one-hour attraction with admission to the theme park, which generally starts at $109 but fluctuates with the season. A VIP tour costs anywhere from $379 to $499 for extended access, buffet lunch, and front-of-line ride access.
On the studio tour, guests can expect a 10,000-gallon staged flash flood, a simulated earthquake, and Jaws emerging from a lake. Guests can also travel through Psycho’s Bates Motel, the courthouse from Back to the Future and the plane crash from War of the Worlds.
Paramount
Paramount’s studio tour emphasizes showing guests how movies are made. The tour has a range of price options, including a two-hour $65 tour, a three-hour $150 tour that gives access to the archives, and the four-hour $215 VIP tour. Combining walking and carting, the studio lot tour lets guests meet with production operators. The VIP tour introduces guests to various tradespeople and the archivist’s collection of costumes and props.
Sony
Sony offers a two-hour tour for $55. At the studio’s entrance, a 94-foot rainbow by artist Tony Tasset is hard to ignore. It was constructed as an homage to The Wizard of Oz, filmed on the same lot over 85 years ago. The tour begins by walking guests through a recreated Seinfeld set and a prop display room from its most famous films and TV shows.
When shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune aren’t filming, tour guides show guests around their sets. However, because of filming times, the tour locations often change based on which are open to the public and which are being used for production.
Guests are usually allowed into Sony’s Foley studio, where they are greeted with many items used for creating sound effects in films. Outside, vehicles from Ghostbusters and Breaking Bad are on display.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. focuses more on completed movies and shows but has much to offer. Every guided tour comes with two hours of unguided access to Stage 48. The one-hour guided tour is $73, the two-hour guided tour is $160 and includes lunch, and the three-hour tour is $330 and includes a fine-dining lunch.
Guests are brought through numerous filming locations, an expansive prop house, and free and paid photo ops. Stage 48 features a recreation of Central Park from Friends and several displayed costumes.
The studio tour is a wonderful opportunity to look behind the scenes and learn a bit about what it takes to make a movie. “Guests have access to a real movie studio,” says Dennis Satterfield, director of studio tour operations at Universal Studios Hollywood, “have a chance to see production, movie sets, and maybe sometimes movie stars in their environment.”
