98 Fun Facts About Universal Studios

Who led the founding of Universal Pictures in 1912?

Carl Laemmle, who had run a Chicago nickelodeon since 1906, merged his Independent Moving Pictures company with several rivals to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company in 1912.

Universal holds what distinction among American film studios?

The oldest surviving one: Universal dates from 30 April 1912, days before Paramount's forerunner was founded, and worldwide only Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus and Nordisk are older.

Universal City Studios, opened in 1915 on a converted farm, was billed as what?

Universal City, opened on 15 March 1915 on a former farm, was promoted as the world's largest film production facility, and its founder charged the public to sit in bleachers and watch films being made.

Which Universal film became the studio's first winner of the Best Picture Oscar?

All Quiet on the Western Front won Outstanding Production in 1930; in Berlin, Nazi brownshirts under Goebbels broke up screenings with stink bombs and mice, and Germany banned the film within days.

Which actor played Count Dracula in Universal's 1931 film?

Bela Lugosi, a Hungarian émigré who had played the count on Broadway from 1927, starred in Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula for Universal.

Elsa Lanchester's iconic 1935 role in a Universal horror film was as which character?

Elsa Lanchester played both Mary Shelley and the title role in James Whale's 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein; her hissing, lightning-haired Bride appears only in the final minutes.

The Gill-man, one of Universal's classic monsters, first appeared in which 1954 film?

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), directed by Jack Arnold in 3-D, introduced the Gill-man, played underwater by Ricou Browning and on land by Ben Chapman.

Universal's 2017 'Dark Universe' monster relaunch began and ended with which Tom Cruise film?

The Mummy (2017), with Tom Cruise opposite Sofia Boutella's Ahmanet, underperformed so badly that the planned Dark Universe follow-ups, including Johnny Depp's Invisible Man, were shelved.

Which talent agency and TV producer completed a takeover of Universal Pictures in mid-1962?

MCA, Lew Wasserman's talent agency turned television producer, bought Universal's parent company Decca Records in 1962, shedding its agency business that July to satisfy antitrust regulators.

Universal's 1975 release Jaws became the first film to do what?

Jaws was the first to earn $100 million in US theatrical rentals; its wide opening on 409 screens, backed by national television advertising, became the template for the summer blockbuster.

The mechanical sharks used in Jaws were nicknamed 'Bruce' after whom?

The sharks were named Bruce after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer; the balky machines broke down so often that shooting ran from a planned 55 days to 159.

Which Japanese electronics giant agreed to buy Universal's parent company for $6.6 billion in 1990?

Matsushita Electric, Panasonic's parent, agreed the purchase a year after arch-rival Sony bought Columbia Pictures, then sold 80 percent of the business to Canada's Seagram in 1995.

In 2016 NBCUniversal paid $3.8 billion for which studio, maker of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda?

DreamWorks Animation was bought by NBCUniversal for about $3.8 billion in 2016, joining Illumination, maker of the Minions films, under the Universal umbrella.

What carried the first paying visitors around the backlot when Universal Studios Hollywood's tour opened in 1964?

Pink-and-white trams, billed as Glamor Trams, began the modern tour on 15 July 1964; an earlier tour for silent-era fans had ended around 1930, once sound filming needed quiet stages.

The two levels of Universal Studios Hollywood are connected by a series of escalators known as what?

The Starway is the long chain of escalators linking the park's two levels: the Lower Lot, squeezed in beside working soundstages, sits far below the hilltop Upper Lot.

The 2008 Universal backlot fire destroyed an estimated 118,000 to 175,000 of what?

Music master tapes: the 2008 fire gutted a vault of Universal Music Group recordings, and a 2019 New York Times investigation put the loss at 118,000 to 175,000 masters by artists from Billie Holiday to Nirvana.

Universal Studios Florida's 1990 launch slogan ended with which phrase?

Ride the Movies closed the launch slogan, 'See the Stars. Ride the Movies.', though the June 1990 opening was marred by breakdowns on the Earthquake and Kongfrontation rides.

Which ride inside Hogwarts Castle anchored the Wizarding World of Harry Potter when it opened in 2010?

Forbidden Journey seats riders on benches held by robotic arms that swing them through scenes from the films; Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat greet them in the queue through the castle.

What connects Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure with Diagon Alley in Universal Studios Florida?

A replica Hogwarts Express runs between King's Cross station in Universal Studios Florida and Hogsmeade station in Islands of Adventure, and riding it requires a park-to-park ticket.

Diagon Alley was built on the site of which closed Orlando attraction?

Jaws: The Ride, the shark-attack boat trip through Amity, closed for good on 2 January 2012, and Diagon Alley opened on its site in July 2014.

Universal Studios Florida's shark-attack boat ride opened in June 1990 but shut that August until when?

Its elaborate effects kept breaking down; Universal brought in several companies to rebuild it.

Universal Orlando's water park, opened in May 2017, is called what?

Volcano Bay opened on 25 May 2017 around the 200-foot Krakatau volcano, next to Cabana Bay Beach Resort; the old Wet 'n Wild site on International Drive became Endless Summer Resort.

Universal Orlando's second on-site hotel is themed to what?

Hard Rock Hotel keeps the songs playing even in its pool, where underwater speakers let swimmers hear them with their heads under; rock memorabilia lines the lobby.

Universal Studios Florida's Halloween Horror Nights began in 1991 under which name?

Fright Nights ran for just three nights in October 1991 with a single haunted house, The Dungeon of Terror; renamed the next year, the event now also runs at Universal parks in Hollywood, Japan and Singapore.

Universal Studios Japan, the first Universal park outside the United States, opened in 2001 in which city?

Universal Studios Japan opened on 31 March 2001 in Osaka's Konohana ward, on bayfront land, and drew about 16 million visitors in 2023, among the world's most visited parks.

Super Nintendo World's Mario Kart ride sends guests in augmented-reality visors through which character's castle?

Bowser's Castle houses the ride, where the visors overlay rival racers on physical sets; the first Super Nintendo World opened at Universal Studios Japan in March 2021 after pandemic delays.

Which pair of duelling roller coasters is the signature of Universal Studios Singapore's Sci-Fi City?

Battlestar Galactica: Human vs. Cylon pits a seated coaster against an inverted one on intertwined tracks; it stood idle from 2013 to 2015 and returned with redesigned trains.

Who holds the 70 percent majority stake in Universal Beijing Resort?

A Chinese state-owned enterprise, Beijing Shouhuan, holds 70 percent to NBCUniversal's 30; building could go ahead only after China's State Council approved the project in September 2014.

Universal's fourth Orlando theme park, opened in May 2025 around a hub called Celestial Park, has what name?

Epic Universe opened on 22 May 2025 with five lands, among them a Wizarding World that blends 1920s wizarding Paris from Fantastic Beasts with the British Ministry of Magic.

In March 2023 Universal Parks & Resorts, the theme-park division, rebranded under what name?

Destinations & Experiences replaced Parks & Resorts in March 2023 to reflect a business branching out: Universal had just announced a year-round horror venue and a park for young children.

In 2025 Universal confirmed plans for a theme park near which English town?

Bedford: Universal had already bought a 476-acre former brickworks south of the town in 2023, before the plan was public; the government confirmed its backing for the park in April 2025.

Universal announced in 2023 a children's theme park, Universal Kids Resort, for which Texas city?

Frisco, north of Dallas, was chosen for its growing population and its pull on businesses, Universal said when it announced the park for young children in January 2023.

Which law broke up Thomas Edison's film Trust in 1915, freeing independents such as Universal's founder?

The Sherman Antitrust Act: a federal court ruled in October 1915 that the Motion Picture Patents Company had gone far beyond protecting its patents, ending a monopoly the independents had defied for years.

Which 1960 Stanley Kubrick epic starring Kirk Douglas did Universal release?

Spartacus (1960), produced by Kirk Douglas's Bryna Productions and released by Universal-International, won four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Peter Ustinov.

Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood is what kind of ride?

Revenge of the Mummy is a high-speed indoor roller coaster that accelerates to about 45 mph in the dark past warrior mummies and a scarab attack, then runs backwards.

Which company signed a five-year distribution deal with Universal in December 2015?

Amblin Partners, formed by Steven Spielberg that month with Participant Media, Reliance and Entertainment One, took his films from Disney back to Universal, the studio where he made his name.

Which private equity firm sold its half of Universal Orlando to NBCUniversal in 2011?

The Blackstone Group left NBCUniversal a deadline: buy the half it didn't own by 12 June 2011, or see the whole resort shopped to outside bidders.

Which dining and nightlife district opened beside Universal Orlando's theme parks in 1999?

CityWalk rose on the site of Universal Studios Florida's original parking lot, which gave way to giant garages; guests now walk through its restaurants and clubs to reach the parks.

Lon Chaney, 'the Man of a Thousand Faces', devised his own skull-like make-up for which Universal silent hit?

The Phantom of the Opera (1925) kept Chaney's self-devised make-up a studio secret until the premiere, and the unmasking scene was said to make audiences scream and faint.

Which company took control of Universal's parent, NBCUniversal, in 2011?

Comcast took a 51 percent controlling stake in NBCUniversal from General Electric in January 2011 and bought the remaining 49 percent in 2013.

In Universal's 1916 three-tier branding system, what were its prestige, high-budget films called?

Jewel was the prestige tier above Red Feather (cheap programmers) and Bluebird (mainstream releases); a 'Super-Jewel' label followed for the costliest films, such as Erich von Stroheim's Foolish Wives (1922).

Which future MGM production chief ran Universal in the early 1920s after being the founder's secretary?

Irving Thalberg, made Universal's head of production at 20, famously fired Erich von Stroheim from Merry-Go-Round in 1922 before leaving for Louis B. Mayer's studio in 1923.

Which Disney-created cartoon character did Universal distribute from 1927 and return to Disney in 2006?

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal in 1927, went back to Disney in 2006 when NBCUniversal traded the rights for sportscaster Al Michaels' release from ABC.

What 21st-birthday present did Universal's founder famously give his son?

Control of Universal Pictures: 'Junior', the founder's son, was put in charge of production as a 21st-birthday gift, then converted the studio to sound and launched its horror cycle in 1931.

Which lavish 1936 musical remake cost the founding family its grip on Universal?

Show Boat, James Whale's 1936 version of the Kern-Hammerstein musical, ran so far over budget that Standard Capital called in its $750,000 loan and J. Cheever Cowdin's group took over the studio that April.

Which teenage soprano's 1936 debut Three Smart Girls reputedly solved Universal's money troubles?

Deanna Durbin, a teenage soprano, made Three Smart Girls (1936) for producer Joe Pasternak; its success and her follow-ups were credited with pulling Universal back from bankruptcy.

Which 1942 Jon Hall and Maria Montez film was Universal's first in three-strip Technicolor?

Arabian Nights (1942), pairing Jon Hall with Maria Montez as Scheherazade, was Universal's first feature in three-strip Technicolor and spawned a run of escapist Hall-Montez adventures.

Whose 1950 Universal deal, brokered by Lew Wasserman, swapped a salary for a share of profits?

James Stewart took a percentage of the profits rather than a fee for Winchester '73 (1950); the hit reportedly earned him about $600,000 and made star profit-participation standard.

Which comic-book brand kept its heroes at Universal's Islands of Adventure after Disney bought it?

Marvel signed its theme-park deal with Universal in 1994 and the contract runs indefinitely, so Walt Disney World cannot use the heroes who appear at its Orlando rival.

Which space epic did Universal refuse to fund after backing its director's American Graffiti?

Star Wars went to 20th Century Fox instead, because Universal doubted George Lucas could execute his vision even though it thought the idea could succeed.

Universal's 1931 Dracula sets were reused every night to shoot a second version in which language?

Spanish-speaking actors took over the sets after dark, and director George Melford studied the day's English footage before composing his own shots.

Which Kevin Costner box-office letdown became a prize-winning stunt show at several Universal parks?

Waterworld opened as a live stunt show alongside the 1995 film and won a Thea Award a year later, then spread from Hollywood to Japan, Singapore and Beijing.

Which Universal stage-musical film was re-sent to cinemas with improved effects days after opening?

Cats opened to poor reviews in 2019, and on opening day Universal told cinemas to download an updated version with improved visual effects.

The hilltop house from which Alfred Hitchcock thriller is a famous stop on Universal's tram tour?

Psycho's Bates house has been a tram-tour draw since 1964, and an actor playing Norman Bates often strides towards the passing trams with a knife.

Which wizarding drink is sold regular, frozen and as ice cream at Universal's Harry Potter lands?

Butterbeer is poured non-alcoholic from a cart in Hogsmeade, and Florean Fortescue's parlour in Diagon Alley turns the flavour into ice cream.

Which children's TV network ran a studio inside Universal Studios Florida from 1990 until 2005?

Nickelodeon billed its studio as the First World Headquarters for Kids, and the deal obliged the network to promote the Florida park on air 1,000 times a year.

Which 1995 talking-animal film released by Universal was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar?

Babe earned seven Oscar nominations and won for its visual effects; the sheep-herding piglet was played by 48 real piglets and an animatronic double.

Colonial Street on the Universal backlot spent eight years as which Desperate Housewives street?

Wisteria Lane was Colonial Street in disguise from 2004 to 2012; when the series ended, most of the white fencing and wisteria came down so other productions could move in.

Which Universal blockbuster became a water ride at Universal Studios Hollywood in June 1996?

Jurassic Park: The Ride ran until 2018 and returned a year later rethemed to Jurassic World, while sister versions opened in Orlando and Japan.

Courthouse Square on the Universal backlot played downtown Hill Valley in which film trilogy?

Back to the Future made the square's clock tower famous, but the set dates from 1948 and also played the town of Kingston Falls in Gremlins.

Which Christopher Nolan film, made after he left Warner Bros., won Universal a Best Picture Oscar?

Oppenheimer won seven Oscars; Nolan had ended a partnership dating back to Insomnia in 2002 over a plan to stream new releases on the day they reached cinemas.

For which Universal drama did Steven Spielberg refuse a salary, calling any payment blood money?

Schindler's List was a film Spielberg expected to fail, and he tried to hand it to several other directors before deciding to make it himself.

Which caper reuniting Paul Newman and Robert Redford won Universal a Best Picture Oscar?

The Sting won seven Oscars, and its ragtime soundtrack revived interest in Scott Joplin, sending his piano tune The Entertainer into the top 10.

Which Universal space drama shot its weightless scenes for real aboard a NASA reduced-gravity plane?

Apollo 13 built its spacecraft sets inside a Boeing KC-135, so the cast floated for seconds at a time while the plane flew steep arcs.

Which Universal fraternity film, co-written by Harold Ramis, was the top-grossing comedy of its day?

Animal House cost only $3 million to make, and its writers drew on their own fraternity days at Dartmouth and other colleges.

Which Universal action franchise grew out of a 1998 magazine article about illegal street racing?

Fast & Furious began in 2001 with an undercover cop infiltrating Los Angeles street racers, and only later swerved into heists and spies.

Which horror label behind Split and Happy Death Day signed a ten-year first-look deal with Universal?

Blumhouse built its low-budget model on Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and grossed more than $193 million worldwide.

Which Universal film inspired the ride that carries guests on flying bicycles to the Green Planet?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became a ride designed with Steven Spielberg, pairing the famous bicycle chase with a homeworld borrowed from a 1985 sequel novel.

Which Canadian drinks company sold its DuPont shares to buy 80% of Universal's parent in 1995?

Seagram paid $5.7 billion, then found Hollywood's fluctuating profits no substitute for the reliable income its DuPont shares had provided.

Which industrial giant, then owner of the NBC network, took an 80% stake in Universal in 2004?

General Electric bought the stake from a debt-laden French owner and merged the film studio and theme parks with its television network to form NBC Universal.

Which animation studio behind Despicable Me and Sing makes its films exclusively for Universal?

Illumination was founded in 2007 by Chris Meledandri after he left the top job at 20th Century Fox Animation, and Universal finances and releases everything it makes.

Which British company behind Four Weddings and a Funeral belongs to Universal's film group?

Working Title began with My Beautiful Laundrette for Channel 4 and went on to make Notting Hill and the Coen brothers' Fargo.

Which former burlesque duo became Universal stars with the 1941 army comedy Buck Privates?

Abbott and Costello stayed among the studio's top earners for years, and in 1948 Universal even pitted them against its famous monsters in a horror spoof.

Which laughing cartoon bird, co-created by Walter Lantz in 1940, is Universal's official mascot?

Woody Woodpecker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and his look is thought to be modelled on the pileated woodpecker, with its prominent red crest.

Which toy-based film franchise became a 3D ride that opened first at Universal Studios Singapore?

Transformers: The Ride 3D reached Singapore in 2011 before Hollywood and Florida, and Industrial Light & Magic helped Universal design it.

Which animated TV family got a Universal simulator ride in 2008, voiced by the original cast?

The Simpsons Ride sends guests through Krustyland, a theme park where Sideshow Bob tries to take revenge on Krusty the Clown and the whole family.

Which Tonight Show host got a Universal Orlando ride whose queue copies 30 Rockefeller Plaza?

Jimmy Fallon announced the ride on air in 2015, and it opened two years later on the site of the retired Twister attraction.

Which King Kong director helped create the 3D Skull Island scene on Universal's Hollywood tram tour?

Peter Jackson worked with Weta Digital on the scene after a 2008 backlot fire burned down the tour's earlier animatronic Kong.

Which children's author inspired a Universal Orlando land built with almost no straight lines?

Dr. Seuss drew a world of wobbly curves, so Seuss Landing copies it, right down to a Green Eggs and Ham Cafe and a Circus McGurkus restaurant.

Universal Orlando's first on-site hotel recreates which Italian seaside town around its own harbour?

Portofino is rebuilt with cobblestone streets, cypress trees and a harbour piazza dotted with Italian cars and scooters, plus a pool with a Roman aqueduct slide.

Which 1941 Universal horror film cast Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, bitten on his return to Wales?

The Wolf Man was written by Curt Siodmak, and Chaney went on to play the doomed Talbot in four sequels.

Which 1933 Universal film wrapped its star Claude Rains in bandages and dark glasses?

The Invisible Man was first developed as a vehicle for Boris Karloff, before director James Whale signed on to adapt the Victorian science-fiction novel.

Which Universal TV movie about a motorist hunted by a truck was Steven Spielberg's feature debut?

Duel first aired as an ABC Movie of the Week, and Universal then shot additional scenes so that a longer version could play in cinemas abroad.

Which Broadway musical did Universal produce on stage in 2003, long before filming it in two parts?

Wicked was first planned by Universal as a straight film, until composer Stephen Schwartz pleaded with producer Marc Platt to let him make it a stage musical.

Which city was first to get Universal Horror Unleashed, a haunted attraction open all year?

Las Vegas got a permanent spin-off of Universal's seasonal Halloween events, a 110,000-square-foot haunt inside the Area15 entertainment complex.

Which specialty label behind Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain is a unit of Universal?

Focus Features was formed in 2002 by merging USA Films, Universal Focus and Good Machine, and its later releases include Milk and The Kids Are All Right.

Which rumbling sound process did Universal create for its 1974 disaster film Earthquake?

Sensurround was modelled on recordings of a real Californian tremor from 1971, and audiences felt its rumble as much as they heard it.

Universal's forerunner IMP made films in which New Jersey town, an early American film capital?

Fort Lee was home to the Independent Moving Pictures Company, which merged with rival firms in 1912 to create Universal.

Which European theme park took on Universal's name after the studio bought a stake in 1998?

PortAventura took the Universal name after the studio bought most of the Tussauds Group's shares, and its resort was called Universal Mediterranea until the branding was dropped by 2005.

Which Orson Welles film did Universal re-cut against his wishes, prompting his 58-page memo?

Touch of Evil was finally re-edited in 1998, when Walter Murch followed the memo's instructions four decades after Welles wrote them.

Which director, later winner of four Best Director Oscars, made his debut at Universal in 1917?

John Ford, then billed as Jack, had been acting for his older brother Francis, and his first films were quickies, each shot in just two or three days.

Which director of Universal's 1931 Dracula had run away from home at 16 to join a travelling circus?

Tod Browning worked as a sideshow barker, a contortionist and a Ringling Brothers clown, and performed a live burial act, before he ever made films.

Which 1970 Universal hit, based on an Arthur Hailey novel, began the decade's disaster-film craze?

Airport put an all-star cast led by Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin through a snowstorm and a bomb aboard a Boeing 707, and it spawned three sequels.

Which record company, led by Milton Rackmil, took full control of Universal in 1952?

Decca stepped in after the British film magnate Rank lost interest and sold his Universal shares to Rackmil.

Which Universal make-up artist created the flat-headed, neck-bolted look Boris Karloff wore in 1931?

Jack Pierce designed the famous neck bolts as electrodes, the terminals for the electricity that revives the stitched-together body.

Which pioneering woman director was elected Universal City's first mayor in 1913, after a recount?

Lois Weber won a contest so close it needed a recount, and the following year she became the first American woman to direct a full-length feature film.

Which director made Foolish Wives, billed by Universal in 1922 as the first million-dollar movie?

Erich von Stroheim wanted the film to run six to ten hours across two evenings, an idea Universal's executives refused.

Which Universal baseball film, a Best Picture nominee, was shot on a farm near Dyersville, Iowa?

Field of Dreams earned three Oscar nominations, and Universal hired a University of Southern California baseball coach to advise the production.