Essentially a large outdoor water tank with a blue sky backing, this facility is used for a wide variety of large scale set construction, and for large scale water effects. It was formerly located closer to the current Psycho House location than it is now (see plan below). Falls Lake was first constructed in 1926 for the early Universal classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin and was named after a massive waterfall flowing down fake “cliffs”. The cliffs were made from a plaster-like material called “Hydrocal”, and could be adjusted in height.
Tram On-Board Video about Falls Lake – Whoopi Goldberg (2007)
Photos – Old Falls Lake (1926 – 1986)
The area the waterfall occupied is currently taken up with the set for Site ‘B’ from Jurassic Park 2, adjacent to the War of the Worlds set. The waterfall used to be pumped over the steep hill to the rear of the crashed jet plane set. Between the 1920s and 1980, the cliffs were much taller than they are now. In 1980/81 the ground levels of a large area of the backlot / theme park were changed with a massive construction project. The ground level in this part of the backlot were raised considerably.
The main features of “new” Falls Lake are the log cabin (built for 1988’s The Great Outdoors with John Candy and Dan Ackroyd and used in ABC’s Coach) and the massive (200 feet wide, 50 feet high) blue sky backing which provides a backing to the water tank.
The sky backing was built in 1986 for Jaws: The Revenge. The 2.7 million gallon lake / tank features regularly in movies where close control over a large body of water is required.
Photos – Falls Lake Backdrop Under Construction in 1986
The Falls Lake backdrop was built in 1986 for Jaws The Revenge. These photos are courtesy of Graham Hill.
Shooting at Falls Lake
Old Falls Lake On Screen
- Leave It To Beaver [Friends Lake – Wally as lifeguard]
- Psycho (1960) [Swamp]
- More coming soon!
New Falls Lake On Screen
Because it’s a large open area, with a large water tank and backdrop which can be replaced digitally with anything, Falls Lake is regularly used for large productions.
The effects team for Godzilla (1998) recreated the Hudson River here for the sequence which featured in the trailer.
Falls Lake was recently used for a massive tomb set for National Treasure: Book of Secrets with Nicolas Cage. It’s also recently been used for Evan Almighty (Ark sequence) and Pirates of the Caribbean: World’s End.
Seen on Screen: Universal Studios Hollywood [Falls_Lake]
| Title | Released | Director | IMDB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Davidoff: Cool Water [Commercial] | |||
| Falls Lake | |||
| All That Heaven Allows [Feature Film] | 1955 | Douglas Sirk |  |
| The set for Rock Hudson's character Ron Kirby's home was built on the backlot next to old Falls Lake, and was known as Ron's Barn when it was moved to Colonial Street. It's now known as the Hardy Boys house. The Cleaver house was also featured. | |||
| Emergency! [TV Series] | 1972-1979 | Harold Jack Bloom, Robert A. Cinader | |
| Apartments, Colonial Street (including Cleaver House), Laramie Street, Stage 23, Stage 30, Stage 33, Stage 41, Falls Lake (Season 2 Ep3) | |||
| Jaws: The Revenge [Feature Film] | 1987 | Joseph Sargent | |
| This was the first movie to use the new Falls Lake location on the backlot. | |||
| Tales from the Crypt [TV Series] | 1989-1996 | | |
| The Log Cabin at Falls Lake was featured in Season 2 Episode 5 | |||
| Coach [TV Series] | 1989-1997 | Barry Kemp | |
| Stage 43, Log Cabin at Falls Lake | |||
| True Lies [Feature Film] | 1994 | James Cameron | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Apollo 13 [Feature Film] | 1995 | Ron Howard | |
| Falls Lake - The splashdown at the end of the movie was shot on Falls Lake with the blue sky backdrop. | |||
| Stage 27 - Mission Control | |||
| Stage 36 - Stage kept at a low 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3.5 degrees Celsius) so that actors' breath was visible on camera. | |||
| TLC: Waterfalls [Music Video] | 1995 | F. Gary Gray | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Dante's Peak [Feature Film] | 1997 | Roger Donaldson | |
| Falls Lake, Stage 01, Underwater Tank | |||
| Deep Impact [Feature Film] | 1998 | Mimi Leder | |
| Colonial Street (Hardy House) featured as the residential street where Leo lives. Falls Lake also featured. | |||
| Godzilla [Feature Film] | 1998 | Roland Emmerich | |
| Falls Lake (Hudson River sequence used in the trailer) | |||
| Message in a Bottle [Feature Film] | 1999 | Luis Mandoki | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Charlie's Angels [Feature Film] | 2000 | McG | |
| Falls Lake, Court of Miracles (Damn You Salazar scene) | |||
| O Brother, Where Art Thou [Feature Film] | 2000 | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | |
| Falls Lake (flood sequence featuring CGI cow on cowshed roof) | |||
| The Perfect Storm [Feature Film] | 2000 | Wolfgang Petersen | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Jurassic Park III [Feature Film] | 2001 | Joe Johnston | |
| Falls Lake, Stage 01, Stage 12 [jungle rain forest set - plane crashes into tree, Tyrannosaurus vs Spinosaurus battle], Stage 18 [plane in flight - interior, dinosaur kennel set], Stage 27 [A pteranodon grabs Eric. The groups watches helplessly as Eric is carried away. Everyone scrambles to get Eric. Grant and Amanda are separated from Paul by a Pteranodon], Stage 28 [Pteranodon drops Eric into the Nest area. Eric hits hatchlings with his knapsack. Paul, in pursuit, slips and slides, lands down to nest. Paul grabs Eric, they fight their way out of the nest.], Stage 29 [rock wall observatory], Stage 44 [rock wall canyon, flooded], Stage 25, Stage 747 | |||
| The Majestic [Feature Film] | 2001 | Frank Darabont | |
| Falls Lake on the backlot for the bridge / car crash sequence | |||
| Crossing Jordan [TV Series] | 2001-2007 | Tim Kring | |
| Elm Street, Square of Warriors, Falls Lake (Season 6 Finale), Stage 27, Stage 33, Stage 36, Stage 37, Stage 41, Stage 42, Stage 43, Stage 44 | |||
| Bruce Almighty [Feature Film] | 2003 | Tom Shadyac | |
| Brownstone Street, Courthouse Square, Falls Lake, New York Street on the backlot and Stage 01, Stage 19, Stage 29, Stage 41. | |||
| Hulk [Feature Film] | 2003 | Ang Lee | |
| A new set of houses was built on Elm Street on the backlot for this movie. Banner's childhood home was built on the Falls Lake tank. These stages were used for interior scenes: Stage 01, Stage 12 [underground lab], Stage 22, Stage 23 [father's house interior], Stage 27, Stage 28 [the first floor of Bruce Banner's house], Stage 35. | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl [Feature Film] | 2003 | Gore Verbinski | |
| Old Mexico (as Tortuga, shot during December 2002), Falls Lake, Little Europe (as Port Royal), including the exterior of Will's workshop. | |||
| The Italian Job [Feature Film] | 2003 | F. Gary Gray | |
| Falls Lake (Venice palace boathouse canal sequence) | |||
| Van Helsing [Feature Film] | 2004 | Stephen Sommers | |
| Falls Lake and stages. | |||
| Evan Almighty [Feature Film] | 2007 | Tom Shadyac | |
| Ark flood sequence shot on Falls Lake. Stage 12 (top section of the ark) and Stage 27 (entrance and lower section of the ark) were also used. | |||
| National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets [Feature Film] | 2007 | Jon Turteltaub | |
| Stage 12 (treasure room), Stage 41, New York Street (opening scenes set in 1865), Falls Lake | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: At World [Feature Film] | 2007 | Gore Verbinski | |
| Falls Lake, Stage 12 (tropical island village / Singapore), Stage 23, Stage 24, Stage 28, Stage 31. | |||
| Shooter [Feature Film] | 2007 | Antoine Fuqua | |
| Falls Lake log cabin was blown up in a major stunt sequence. | |||
| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [Feature Film] | 2008 | Steven Spielberg | |
| Falls Lake, Old Mexico (as Peru), Freeway Park, Stage 27 [Cemetary where Indy and Mutt find the Crystal Skull], Stage 29 [Indy's house] | |||
| Inception [Feature Film] | 2010 | Christopher Nolan | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [Feature Film] | 2011 | Rob Marshall | |
| Shooting on Falls Lake in August 2010 - Bell tower stunt sequence in front of the bluescreen backdrop. | |||
| Wanderlust [Feature Film] | 2011 | David Wain | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Battleship [Feature Film] | 2012 | Peter Berg | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| The Amazing Spider-Man [Feature Film] | 2012 | Marc Webb | |
| A number of the buildings on Universal's New York Street area were temporarily replaced with new facades for this production, which was filming during January 2011. The sequence where Captain Stacy and Spider-Man meet was shot on New York Street. | |||
| Falls Lake - bridge was set up in front of the bluescreen backing for the Williamsburg Bridge stunt sequence. | |||
| The Hangover Part III [Feature Film] | 2013 | Todd Phillips | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| The Hunger Games: Catching Fire [Feature Film] | 2013 | Francis Lawrence | |
| Falls Lake (the clock face stunt sequence was shot at this backlot location in March 2013) | |||
| Beyonce: Formation [Music Video] | 2016 | Beyonce | |
| The sequences featuring the sinking police car carrying Beyonce were shot on Falls Lake on the backlot. | |||
| Sully: Miracle on the Hudson [Feature Film] | 2016 | Clint Eastwood | |
| Falls Lake - full size rear-half of the plane in the water tank | |||
| Dunkirk [Feature Film] | 2017 | Christopher Nolan | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Harry Styles: Falling [Music Video] | 2020 | Dave Meyers | |
| Falls Lake was used to film the submerging set, which was suspended by a crane from above the water tank. The sequence was shot in a single take. | |||