Over the past 100 years or so, Warner Bros has released a host of iconic movies. Today, the expansive studios include acres and acres of movie-making magic. One’s located in Hollywood, the other right here in the UK.
Over the years, pretty much every inch of Warner Bros Studios has featured on the big and small screen in bucket loads of iconic and award-winning productions.
Read on for some of the best Warner Bros movies, where the film sets were entirely constructed and shot in the studios.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter was mostly shot on-site at www.wbstudiotour.co.uk, the Great Hall being one of the first sets to be built. This vast and impressive space can seat more than 400 children and has quickly become the key set seen in the seven Harry Potter movies.
On a tour at Warner Bros Studios, located near Watford, you can get up close and personal with the sets, costumes and props used in the films.
Even better, you’ll step inside Dumbledore’s office and meander down Diagon Alley. You’ll even take a look at the famous magical items like Harry’s Nimbus 2000 and Hagrid’s motorcycle.
A Clockwork Orange
Produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange hit our screens in 1971. It was centred on Anthony Burgess’s 1962 narrative and, in a nutshell, focuses on our fundamental right to have free will.
It follows Alex DeLarge, the leader of a band of criminals, in a near-futuristic society. Alex and his ‘droogs’ go on riots at night – stealing, raping and killing. And soon, Alex falls into the hands of the law.
DeLarge finds himself in jail where he must stay for 14 years. However, two years down the line, he volunteers to take part in an innovative experiment known as the ‘Ludovico Technique’ which could cut down his time in prison.
Once Alex is finally freed, he despises violence, but the rest of the gang members are still trying to seek him out. The British media kicked up a real noise about the movie which saw Kubrick remove his work from the public eye until 2000.
Kubrick famously hated travelling, hence why the film was mostly shot around London and the Home Counties.
There’s one custom-built set called ‘Korova Milk Bar’, which was built in an empty factory in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. This stands close to the MGM Studios.
And in the capital, there’s a scene where Alex browses the records in his favourite shop. This was actually shot in the cellar of the Chelsea Drugstore. Erected from aluminium and glass, this avant-garde collection of record shops and bars launched in Chelsea’s King’s Road in 1968. It’s still there (albeit under new ownership).
A Star is Born
The 2018 movie A Star is Born features Bradley Cooper who plays musician veteran Jackson (Jack) Maine and Lady Gaga who plays artist wannabe Ally. Jackson falls head over heels for Ally, meeting her just as she’s about to abandon her hope of becoming a star.
Jackson mentors her, encouraging to pursue her dreams. But as soon as Ally’s singing vocation rockets, their relationship plummets as Jack battles with his own insecurities.
Filming-wise, one of the movie’s first scenes was shot at the world-renowned Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, which is also the venue for the Coachella Festival.
Filming took place in between the two festival weekends in April 2017. Gaga asked festival partygoers to wear country-style clothing in place of their usual garb. Folks were also told they could buy a ticket for $10 to be part of the audience and all proceeds went to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way foundation.
The movie’s opening scene was captured at Stagecoach festival – it was filmed in eight minutes flat. Another scene was shot at the world-famous Glastonbury Festival.
Aquaman
Mostly shot in Australia’s Gold Coast in Queensland, Aquaman made a splash in cinemas across the world. The action blockbuster’s production was based at Village Roadshow Studios, where filming lasted for more than 100 days.
The studios have three custom-made tanks as well as nine sound stages. Even better, they’re 30 minutes away from crystal-clear beaches and headlands not to mention rainforests and cityscapes.
Interestingly, Main Beach on the Gold Coast was even turned into a collection of Canadian fishing villages. On set were piers, trawlers and a bar while North Stradbroke Island was used to provide the background to the mythical islands.
The production team even successfully erected an enormous lighthouse at Hastings Point.
Batman Begins
Gotham City in the 2005 film Batman Begins is presented as a superficial, modern metropolis with a seriously dark side, rife with crime. This city crafts the Batman character, and it’s Gotham that our hero is obsessed with restoring.
The filming of this city mostly took place in Chicago, but to get the filming spot-on throughout the film series, it was also shot in other locations across the globe – including the UK. In 2011, part of Glasgow was converted into Gotham City which helped create the iconic style depicted in the movie.
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Did you know? The scene in the movie where the Griswolds get lost was actually filmed at Warner Bros Studios in California. In the 1983 classic, Clark W Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family set off on a road trip from Chicago to the Golden State so they can get to the well-known Walley World amusement park.
But all doesn’t go to plan. The family gets lost during their first night on the road in a particularly bad section of what is supposed to be St Louis, Missouri.
First shot at the studio’s Brownstone Street, the family is captured at an oft-filmed spot on Hennesy Street, where Clark stops to ask for directions. The locals don’t know the way, and the family ends up leaving without directions (and hub caps!) with some graffiti sprayed across the Wagon Queen Family Truckster.
While CGI technology has come on giant strides, there’s no substitute for using physical scenery on screen.
Why not go and explore the studio’s backlots for yourself and find out about all the TV shows and movies that’ve been filmed there?