# Skyscrapers in movies



## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

Maybe I'm becoming obsessed but just lately I've started taking note of skyscrapers used in movies. I've seen quite a few interesting examples and I'm sure there's many more out there that I havn't seen. So post any examples you know of (from any movies, doesn't have to be a Hollywood flic). I'm not talking about a view of ESB over someones shoulder (ie every second movie), I'm talking about when the skyscraper is somehow used as part of the story line. 


To start of with:

The Solow Building in New York (210m) was used in *Zoolander (2001)* as the headquarters of the evil villian, Mugatu, except it was modified by placing a giant M on top. 

Here's a very poor shot I took of it. 


It usually looks like this


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

In *Johnny English (2003)* Johnny and Bough parachute from a plane onto the top of One Canada Square in London (235m) at night, although in the movie there are actually two of them side by side, one holding a hospital and the other holding the headquaters of the evil villian (just like in Zoolander ) - Pascal Sauvage

Near the beginning of *Armageddon (1988)* Manhattan is hit by a meteor shower and various skyscrapers are damaged, in particular the Chrysler Building, New York (319m). The top of the building brakes off and it falls down on to the street landing spire first.


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

chrysler building in the movie "the wiz"


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

CN tower as the Sears Tower, in Angel Eyes, yep that's right, the movie is awful and it got ripped by chicago film critics as it should


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

US Robotics building in I Robot, oh how it would be cool if it were real


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## Mephisto (Nov 8, 2002)

GPT Sydney in Mission Impossible 2.


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

The Empire State Building in "Sleepless in Seattle" and Sears Tower in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" take the top spots.


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

a good portion of the movie "the in laws" with michael douglas takes place at or in John Hancock


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## CrazyCanuck (Oct 9, 2004)

CN Tower in Canadian Bacon.


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## The Mad Hatter!! (Oct 27, 2004)

bank of america miami in true lies-----true lies starred arnold schweneger(sp?)


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

how could this thread be complete without Entrapment??? The movie with Sean Connery and Catharine Zeta Jones, pracitcally a commercial for the Petronas Towers and made them pretty famous.


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

King Kong standing on top of ESB in the 1933 film:









then on top of WTC in the 1976 version of the film:


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

Fox Plaza, Los Angeles (150m) was the setting for *Die Hard (1988)*, involving a hostage situation in the building, which was called Nakatomi Plaza in the movie. 











Aaron King said:


> how could this thread be complete without Entrapment??? The movie with Sean Connery and Catharine Zeta Jones, pracitcally a commercial for the Petronas Towers and made them pretty famous.


That was a great movie - it invloved a heist from the International Clearance Bank in Petronas Towers. At one point I remember the two stars were actually hanging from the skybridge.


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## evilbu (Oct 3, 2005)

*24*

Not really a movie, but as a die hard 24-fan i must say it

Originally the first shot of 24 was going to be in Europe, Italy, I suppose, and there was going to be an exploding airplane at the end ( over the Mojave desert) of the pilot. However, 9/11 took place before the pilot was aired and the exploding airplane was removed. Also the very first shot was changed : now the alert for the attack came from Kuala Lumpur, and we see an image of (yep!) the Petronas Towers at 4 pm, as a tribute to the lost twins and the many lives at WTC


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## bagel (Mar 24, 2003)

In Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, the United Nations Secretariat in New York was featured prominently. Even though the UN prevented Hitchcock from filming because NxNW's story included a murder inside the UN.

The first film that was allowed to be filmed in the UN headquarters is Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter. The Secretariat was also featured.

Watch the Hitchcock movie-- I highly recommend it. The Interpreter was OK too. Just OK. The Hitchcock was phenomenal.


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## kebabmonster (Jun 29, 2004)

That Governor Phillip Tower in Sydney is a beaut'. 

The Matrix features a few quick shots of various Sydney skyscrapers.

The King Kong/ESB has got to be the most prominent Skyscraper/Film combo.


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## Perth4life3 (Nov 14, 2004)

Vanilla Sky - my fav movie, when he's standing on the roof at the end, you can see all of NY


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## Guest (Oct 9, 2005)

Dont forget Empire State Building in "Day After Tommorow" and some London scrappers in Johnny English


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## DamienK (Sep 11, 2002)

In The Island, set in the year 2019, they added some futuristic towers to downtown Los Angeles. One had the Microsoft logo on it. But for many of the older towers such as the Library Tower, they just stuck a bunch of equipment on it to make it look futuristic. 

The building with the big R sign on it was the Gas Company Tower. In other shots taken from inside the building you could actually see the Gas Company Tower outside, so maybe a twin was built in the future lol.


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## jlshyang (May 22, 2005)

Petronas Twin Towers in 'The Entrapment' starring Catherine Zeta-Jones & Sean Connery.


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## spotila (Oct 29, 2004)

HSBC Building in Hong Kong is the US Embassy in Spygame.


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## ncon (Apr 6, 2005)

2IFC Hongkong in *Tomb raider *


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

Aaron King said:


> US Robotics building in I Robot, oh how it would be cool if it were real


Found some photos of Chicago in 2035 from I,Robot:



















How tall you reckon the USR building is? I'm thinking less than Burj Dubai.


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## gm2263 (Sep 11, 2002)

There is an old French film (1975) titled "Peur Sur la Ville" (Fear over the city) starring Jean Paul Belmonto, directed by Henri Verneuil. There climax scene where Belmonto who is a renegade cop with a special forces background literally lands, while tied to a helicopter on the Tour Avant-Seine to fight the ever-present villain. 

Worth watching, even by today's standards with many jaw dropping stunts performed by Belmonto himself.


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## CULWULLA (Sep 11, 2002)

cant forget Q THE WINGED SERPENT! It had a nest on top floor of Chrysler Bldg. great movie, especially if you like Chyrsler bldg!

The 1982 movie started David caradine


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## gm2263 (Sep 11, 2002)

Also, do not forget the "Entrapment" (1999) starring Sean Connery and Catherine -Zeta Jones where the climax of the action takes place in the Petronas Towers:


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## regio.boy. (Nov 5, 2004)

all the important buildings in the world have been in a movie.


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## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

One of the Tudor City Apts was shown as a residence for Norman and Harry Osborne in both Spiderman movies as well as residence for the criminal in US Marshalls.


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

let's push to have the USR building officially proposed lol, it would be great with that huge atrium. and yeah i think it would be shorter than burj dubai


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

There's another remake of King Kong coming - check out: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/

It's set in the 1930's so King Kong will just have to climb ESB again but even if it was set toady ESB is still the tallest building in NY post 9/11. It's interesting that both previous versions were made soon after ESB and WTC were built - they should have waited 5 years so that he could climb Freedom Tower.


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## Boris550 (Sep 21, 2004)

One of my favs is the fictional skyscraper in San Fransisco in "Towering Inferno" (1974)


































It's supposed to be 138 stories.

EDIT: Damn, this makes me want to find out where I put the movie. Maybe I should take 3 hours out of my weekend and watch it yet again...


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

^^They've even got the building from Towering Inferno on SSP. It's supposed to be 559m to roof. 

In *Independence Day (1996)*, US Bank Tower in LA is the first thing destroyed by the aliens. Here's a poster with ESB about to be destroyed by a 'death ray'. Damn aliens hno:


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## Boris550 (Sep 21, 2004)

^ Haha, I didn't know that SSP had a diagram of that! Awesome!


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## satit28 (Mar 9, 2005)

*Ferris Bueller's Day Off* shown lots of Chicargo's skyline.............


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## evilbu (Oct 3, 2005)

*ID4*

Actually the first thing the aliens destroyed was a satellite orbiting the earth
Then a group of scientists flying towards a descending ship( at that time it was not known yet that it was a ship) crashes into one
Okay : that was just stuff flying at them 
But : they do shoot at a helicopter trying to communicate with them (boy, even if they were friendly, they still would have shot them because if seemed a lot like an attack)


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

In *Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)* Mrs Smith (Angelina Jolie) has her offices in 570 Lexington Avenue, New York (195m) - in the buildings magnificantly intricate crown to be exact - there are lots of great views of the building throughout the movie.


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## Oriolus (Feb 4, 2004)

TalB said:


> One of the Tudor City Apts was shown as a residence for Norman and Harry Osborne in both Spiderman movies


Also in both Spiderman movies (probably the ultimate movies featuring skyscrapers), the Flatiron Building is featured as the the offices of the Daily Bugle.


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## DamienK (Sep 11, 2002)

Oriolus said:


> In *Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)* Mrs Smith (Angelina Jolie) has her offices in 570 Lexington Avenue, New York (195m) - in the buildings magnificantly intricate crown to be exact - there are lots of great views of the building throughout the movie.


I think they also show the Bloomberg tower when Brad Pitt goes plummeting down an elevator.


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## gm2263 (Sep 11, 2002)

Also, watch for glimpses of Chicago skyline in "Batman Begins" presented as part of Gotham city in the latest installment of the "Batman" movie series. ...


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

^^
http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/Features/BatmanBegins/BatmanBegins.php


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