Movie Magic on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour

When in Hollywood, take a tour to learn the secrets behind the movie-making magic of your favorite movies and television shows filmed at Warner Bros Studios. It’s one of the oldest working film studios in the world.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

There are may photo opportunities while walking through the first phase of the Studio Tour. The Warner Family room displays movie props and posters from some of the top movies made by the studio. Guests who purchase a timed tickets proceed to watch a 5-minute welcome movie in a small screening room, to learn about the studio and the stars that made it so famous.

Visitors learn that the exotic French streets in the movie Casablanca and other scenes in the iconic movie were all filmed entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in 1942, with the exception of one sequence at the nearby Van Nuys Airport. The famous line “Here’s looking at you kid,” was recited here.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

Next a studio expert Tour Guide guided us around the iconic back lot in a custom built 10-seat electric powered golf cart. We visited sets, sound stages, and fronts of Old West movies and many New York buildings. Driving down the popular ‘Tenement Street’, we learned one of the fire escapes in Tenement Alley was the location for the photo shoot cover of Prince’s Purple Rain album. This horseshoe shaped area was renamed Hennesy Street in memory of Dale Hennesy, the production designer who resigned this street for the big-budget musical Annie (1982).

Photo by Jill Weinlein

This area has been used often for its Lower-East-Side alley with fire escapes and storefront windows. All of the Friends episodes were filmed on Hennesy Street to look like they lived in New York. Batman, The Mask and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure were also filmed here.

Fun Fact: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985) was Tim Burton’s first film.

Some other movies filmed at Warner Bros., include The Matrix Trilogy, The Hobbit, Batman (including Dark Knight Trilogy), Harry Potter, Inception, Sherlock Holmes, The Hangover, 300, Twister, The Departed, Mad Max, Oceans 8, 11, 12 & 13 and Spider-Man.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

Warner Bros. is home to 10 back lots and 30 sound stages. We stopped at the alleyway where Tobey Maguire hung upside down to kiss Mary Jane in the movie Spider-Man. Driving on the back lot we learned Friends was filmed at Stage 24, and Big Bang Theory at Stage 25.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

We also drove by the Script to Screen building where the writers’room to post-production is located in a generic office building that was used in the movie Space Jam 2.

Costume Closet at Warner Bros.

Driving by the Costume Department we discovered some fun facts. Since this building doesn’t get a lot of natural sunlight, it preserves the historic and new costumes. Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka costume, and all the Batman costumes are housed here, along with over 850,000 other costumes in a football stadium-size closet.

Fun Fact: The popular 2022 streaming show Winning time: the rise of the Lakers dynasty uses 3,000 costumes here at Warner Bros.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

The last stop is at Studio 48 to get a cup of coffee or dine at Central Perk Cafe and visit the all-new Friends boutique offering a wide variety of themed merchandise including kitchen and dining ware, Friends reunion Spirit Jerseys and coffee mugs.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

Next we allowed about two hours for a fun self-guided tour that includes costumes of some of Warner Bros. most popular and favorite movies.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

We knocked on Sheldon’s apartment door and sat on the couch on the actual The Big Bang Theory set. We also enjoyed exploring the Friends recreated sets including Central Perk, Chandler and Joey’s apartment, Monica’s apartment and the Greenwich Village set.

Photo by Jill Weinlein

The grand finale of the tour allows visitors to step into the DC Universe to see the automobiles, costumes and props of the  super-heroes and super-villains. There were costumes displayed from the movies Wonder Woman and Aquaman and several of Batman’s bat cars on display, including the original Batmobile from the Tim Burton and Michael Keaton film, and the Tumbler from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. 

Photo by Jill Weinlein

Sitting on a stool, I learned which Hogwarts house I belonged in during a sorting ceremony. A Sorting Hat was lowered above my head and a commanding voice above and around the room declared I belonged at Hufflepuff.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter