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Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood

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Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Warner Bros. Studio Tour: Know Before You Go

If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes during the making of a television show or major Hollywood movie, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Los Angeles gives visitors an opportunity to find out. For more than 75 years, Warner Bros. has been making movies at their Burbank studios, and they generously share their heritage with visitors on daily tours of the facilities. 

However, unlike the extensive  studio tour at Universal , the Warner Bros. tour is unscripted and changes depending on what's currently in production at the studio. While Universal Studios has many sets from previous films, the only set you'll find at Warner Bros. is from the "Friends" television show, which has been relocated to a small room near the prop department so that visitors can enjoy it.

Tips for Enjoying the Tour

• Some walking is required, and you'll get on and off the tram several times.
• Adults must bring legal photo identification, and you will have to show it at the ticket counter.
• Children under 8 are not allowed. Additionally, children ages 8 through 17 must be accompanied by an adult to take the tour.
• Plan on arriving at least 30 minutes before your scheduled tour departure. Arriving early will allow time for parking and security.
• Leave your video camera in the car as much of the tour doesn't allow photography; however, there are parts of the studio where you can snap a picture on your phone.
• Do not bring large bags like backpacks or suitcases, or anything that might be considered a weapon (including pocket knives, mace, or pepper spray).
• You will be check by a metal detector and have your personal belongings inspected before being allowed to enter the studio.
• If you're visiting several Hollywood attractions on the same day, you can save money on the Paramount Tour with a Go Card.

Tour Options

Besides the basic tour, Warner Bros. offers an expanded tour or two that cover more areas, go into more depth, and may include lunch in the commissary. Visit their website to find out about these options if you're interested. However, keep in mind that the deluxe tour experiences may also have higher age requirements for guests—experiences that feature drinks are often only available to guests over the age of 21.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

The standard Warner Bros. Studio Tour takes guests through a real, working film production area—not a theme park. Every tour is different and depends on the film and television production schedules, but they regularly include a visit to a set or two and a peek at some of the behind-the-scenes productions of Hollywood. Highlights of the tour include:

• The reception center shows a short film highlighting the history of Warner Bros.
• Visitors travel in groups of 12 or less in an open-air tram. The tour varies, but you may see the Costume Department, Scenic Department, sound stages, editing rooms, screening theaters, and the 2-million-gallon tank used for filming water scenes.
• Some parts of the Warner Bros. Studios are off-limits to photography, such as the sound stages where movies and television shows are filmed. The tour guide will stow your cameras when you visit these areas.
• Tours usually visit at least one or two filming sets, which are typically for television series; the sets you visit will depend on the filming schedule for the studio.
• The tour visits some of the studio's twenty acres of exterior sets. It's in this area where most of the picture taking are allowed. This is also where the tour guides shine, showing visitors spots such as the scene of Spiderman and Mary Jane's first kiss. They'll also take you behind the facades, building fronts made just for show and into a "practical" set, which has rooms inside.
• Even though only a small portion of the studio's memorabilia collection is on display in the Studio Museum, you'll probably still be looking around at the costumes, scripts, props, and letters when your tour guide says it's time to leave. Vigilant guards keep itchy hands off the treasures, and very little is behind glass so that you can see it all clearly.

Once you've been on the studio tour, you'll never think of a movie or television program in quite the same way again.

We rate the Warner Bros. Studio Tour 4 stars out of 5. It's an authentic tour of a working studio unfettered by special effects, and the museum is excellent.

What You Need to Know

Tours are available on weekdays year-round (when you'll find more things going on) and weekends during summer vacation time. Check the current schedule before you go (not required but highly recommended). Open spaces are sold on a first-come, first served basis. There is an admission fee charged (expensive) and parking is extra. The basic tour lasts a little more than two hours, the expanded tour options last longer. Any time is a great time to visit.

Getting There

3400 Riverside Drive Burbank, CA

Parking is in a visitor lot near Gate N which is located across from the above address. A parking fee is charged. Driving directions from all the Los Angeles freeways are available at the Warner Bros. website.

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary services for review purposes. While it has not influenced this review, TripSavvy believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our  Ethics Policy .

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Warner Bros Studios Hollywood Tour – tickets, prices, timings, what to expect

Warner Brothers Studio in Hollywood, Los Angeles, has been entertaining the world for almost a century now. 

The studio lot is on 110 acres, and houses sound stages, production offices, post-production facilities, and other film and television production support services.

The Warner Bros Studios Tour hosted by their expert guide is the best way to explore one of the world’s busiest working studios.

The tour includes visiting the Batcave from the Batman films; the Central Perk set from “Friends,” and the streets of the fictional town of Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls,” among other attractions.

This article covers everything you must know before booking tickets for Warner Bros Studios Hollywood tour.

Top Warner Bros. Studios Hollywood Tickets

# Warner Bros Studio tour # The Golden Age of Hollywood Classic Tour # Warner Bros Studios tour discount

Table of contents

Backlots & soundstages, dc universe: the exhibit, wizarding world: harry potter & fantastic beasts, batcave – batmobile collection, script to screen at stage 48, central perk set, the big bang theory set, where to buy warner bros. studio tickets, how do online tickets work, warner bros studio tour ticket prices, warner bros. studios hollywood tour ticket, the golden age of hollywood classic tour, how to reach warner brothers studio, warner bros. studio tour hours, how long does warner bros. studio tour take, best time to go on tour, warner bros studio for free, photo id card, smaller kids are not allowed, taking photos and recording videos, central perk cafe , warner bros. studio plaza cafe , what to expect on the studio tour.

During the Warner Bros Studios Hollywood tour, an expert guide takes you behind the studio’s scenes, entertaining the world for over 95 years.

As a working movie and TV studio, backlot sets and sound stages get occupied due to production requirements, so the tour’s route varies daily to accommodate the shooting schedule.

Visitors walk the backlots as part of the tour, which have been the exterior sets for classic films and TV shows such as  Casablanca ,  Batman ,  Gilmore Girls ,  Friends, etc.  

The tour guide will also take you to one of the soundstages to see where some current hit shows are produced.

In this part of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour of Hollywood, you go through the interactive DC Universe.

Don’t miss out on the latest Aquaman section, which brings to life the visually breathtaking underwater world of Atlantis. 

And the Wonder Woman section, where you see the set design and wardrobe from the movie.

During this part of the studio tour, you enter the wizarding world and see the real costumes and props from the original Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films.

Don’t miss out on the original storyboards and authentic props such as Dobby the House Elf and the Sorting Hat.

The Batcave features the authentic cars Bruce Wayne drove, as seen throughout Batman’s cinematic history of nearly 30 years. 

You will see Bathammer, Batpod, Tumbler, etc., and learn all their design and functional features.

This self-guided part of the Warner Bros Studio Tour happens in Stage 48.

Visitors understand the complete movie-making process by exploring the exhibits and the interactive tools on display. 

Warner Bros Studio’s expert tour guides are always on hand to share the Hollywood production process’s secrets. 

Here are some of the highlights of Stage 48:

• See the capsule used in the Academy Award-winning film Gravity
• Ride Harry Potter’s Firebolt
• Cruise through Gotham on the legendary Batpod
• Find out how the stylish fight sequences in The Matrix were shot
• At ‘Art of Sound,’ learn how sound engineers make a film come to life

Fans of the hit sitcom Friends love this part of the tour because they get to see the studio’s production soundstage featuring the real Central Perk cafe Set.

This is part of the self-guided tour in Stage 48 but is so popular that it finds a special mention. 

The best part is that it is a working replica, which means you can sit down and enjoy a cup of Central Perk coffee.

This latest addition to the Warner Brothers Studio in Los Angeles uses the real set of the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory . 

Here, you can:

• Take a seat in Sheldon’s spot in apartment 4A
• Recreate Sheldon’s signature knock or take a photo in front of the infamous broken elevator
• Look into the Caltech physics department cafeteria where Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj eat together

Back to Top

The Warner Bros. Studio tickets are available at the attraction and online.

Online ticket prices tend to be cheaper than tickets at the venue.

When you buy online, you can avoid the long queues at the attraction’s ticket counters.

When you book early, you also get your preferred time slot.

Because some attractions sell a limited number of tickets, during peak days they may sell out. Booking early helps avoid last-minute disappointments.

Go to the Warner Bros. Studio booking page , select your preferred date, time slot and the number of tickets, and buy the tickets right away.

Once you purchase Warner Bros. Studio tickets, they get delivered to your email address. 

There is no need to get printouts of the ticket. 

You can show the e-ticket on your smartphone when you visit the attraction.

Remember to bring your official IDs.

The tickets for the Warner Bros. Studio are priced at US$70 for all adults aged 11 years and above. 

The cost of tickets for children between five and ten years is US$60. 

Kids under four years old are not permitted on the tour. 

Warner Bros Studio tour Tickets

This section explains the two kinds of experiences Warner Bros. Studio offers – the Hollywood Tour and the Hollywood Classic Tour.

Of the two tours on offer, the Warner Bros. Studios Hollywood Tour is more popular because it focuses on all the movies made at the studios.

The first two hours of the tour are guided, and for the next 60 to 90 minutes, you explore some of the best movie props and movie-making experiences by yourself.

This ticket also gets you a discount on merchandise at the Warner Bros. Studio Retail store.

Ticket Price

Adult Ticket (11+ years): US$70 Child Ticket (5 to 10 years): US$60

Kids aged 4 years and younger are not permitted.

This tour focuses on the Golden Age of Hollywood, featuring award-winning movies and TV Serials stretching from 1900 to the early 1970s. 

The Hollywood Classic Tour is also three hours long, with a 2-hour guided and 1-hour self-guided portion. 

After your tour, you can visit the Warner Bros Studio tour shop and receive a discount on merchandise with your voucher.

Adult Ticket (13+ years): US$70 Child Ticket (8 to 12 years): US$60

Warner Brothers Studio is 3.2 km (2 miles) from Griffith Park and 6.5 km (4 miles) from the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Address: 3400 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505. Get directions

North Hollywood is the closest subway station to Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood.

It is best to board a Red Line train from Downtown Los Angeles’ Union Station . The journey lasts 30 minutes and 13 stops.

From just outside North Hollywood station, take Bus 501 to Warner Bros Studios. 

The bus departs approximately every 15 mins, so you won’t have to wait long. 

For more train options, check out LA Metro’s website .

Many other buses can also get you to Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, and we list some of them.

*Hollywood / Highland, Universal City, and North Hollywood are Red Line subway stations, while Pasadena / Del Mar is a Gold Line subway station. You will find the buses just outside the stations.

All these buses drop off passengers approximately 400 meters (a quarter of a mile) from the Tour Center.

Los Angeles has many cars, and traffic can be messy, so we don’t recommend driving to the Warner Bros Studios tour.

However, if you must, the easiest way to get there is by using Google Maps . 

Enough parking for Studio Tour guests is underground for US$15 per vehicle. 

Follow signs for Tour Parking on the Southside of Warner Blvd.

Click here to know more about the nearby parking lots.

The first Warner Bros Studios Tours starts at 8.30 am, and the last tour leaves at 3.30 pm.

A new tour starts every half hour.

On holidays, the studio tour is available for extended hours. However, the attraction remains closed on Christmas.

The tour stands closed on 13 and 14 June.

Warner Bros. Studios Hollywood Tour is a 3-hour-long experience. 

The Studios Tour’s guided portion lasts 2 hours, and the self-guided walk-through of ‘Stage 48: Script to Screen’ lasts approximately an hour. 

The second (and not so popular) Warner Bros Classics Tour also lasts 3 hours.

Note: It would be best to arrive at the Tour Center at least 20 minutes before the scheduled time because each guest must pass through a metal detector and show legal photo identification before entering the premises.

It is best to choose the first Warner Bros. Studio tour starting at 8.30 am.

In the morning, the crowd is less, and the guides are more energetic, which will help you make the most of the tour. 

Weekdays are better than weekends if you want to avoid crowds. 

Warner Bros Studios tour discount

The best way to get a discount on Warner Bros Studio Tour tickets is by booking them online in advance. 

The ticket prices at the gate are at least a couple of dollars more than what’s available online. 

Kids between 5 to 10 years also get a significant discount – they pay only US$60 as against the adult ticket price of US$70.

If you are in Los Angeles for over a week, Go Los Angeles All-Inclusive Pass is a great way to save money.

When you purchase this Pass, you get free entry to more than 40 top attractions in the city, including the Warner Bros Studio.

The Pass is available for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7 days and when you opt for a 3, 5, or 7-day Pass, you also get a free ticket to Universal Studios Hollywood.

Know before your visit

You must know four critical things before booking your Warner Studios tour. 

All guests 18 years and above must show valid government-issued photo identification for security purposes.  

The three types of photo IDs accepted before visitors are allowed to join the Warner Bros Studios Tour are:

• A valid government-issued driver’s license
• A valid passport
• A valid state-issued identity card (acceptable only for US guests)

Only kids eight years and older are allowed to join the studio tour. 

Yes, that’s right!

Children under eight can’t join the Warner Brothers studio tour. 

An adult must accompany visitors aged eight to 17 years.

Since Warner Bros is a working studio, movie and TV production continue even as you go about your tour. 

And since the production unit doesn’t want their secrets out in the open, recording video is NOT permitted.

Even photography is allowed only during certain parts of the tour. 

The expert guide keeps the tour participants updated on when it is OK to take photographs.

Tip: The studio’s tour happens on a tram-like vehicle, but portions of the 110-acre backlot tour include walking. We recommend walking shoes/sneakers, loose-fitting clothing, and hats for the tour’s outdoor parts.

Food at Warner Bros Studios

During the first two hours of the guided Warner Bros Studios tour, you can’t stop for a bite because you will be part of a group.

But after that, you are on your own and can stop at any of the three dining options.

A full-service Starbucks in the Tour Welcome Center is open from 8.30 am to 5 pm.

It is a great option if you want to re-energize before the start of your tour. 

Approximately two hours after your studio tour starts, you will reach Stage 48: Script to Screen.

Here, you will find a working replica of the Central Perk Cafe, as seen in the famous sitcom Friends. 

Besides excellent coffee, they also offer various Sandwiches, Salads, Pizza, Grilled Cheese, Hot Dogs, etc. 

The Studio Plaza Café is open for breakfast and lunch from Monday through Friday.

It opens at 8 am, closes at 2.30 pm, and remains closed on weekends.

Sources # Wbstudiotour.com # Wikipedia.org # Studiooperations.warnerbros.com # Tripadvisor.com The travel specialists at TheBetterVacation.com use only high-quality sources while researching & writing their articles. We make every attempt to keep our content current, reliable and trustworthy .

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He is an active adventurer who loves to push himself physically and mentally while exploring the world. His travels are usually to natural environments or remote locations which include active physical activities and experiences he has never tried before. He loves backpacking and independent traveling with a low budget. Favorite Cities: Reykjavik, Kathmandu, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Capri

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Love Harry Potter or Wonder Woman? Here’s a sneak peek of Warner Bros.’ revamped studio tour

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Grasp Wonder Woman’s magic lasso during the new Warner Bros. Studio Tour, and it begins to glow.

In the same tour, you can sit under the sorting hat from the “Harry Potter” books and movies, and it will assign you to a house in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Aquaman fans can take a selfie as they hold the superhero’s gold trident.

The new interactive movie memorabilia, along with film mementos nearly as old as Hollywood itself, are now in a new building that Warner Bros. Studios plans to open June 26 — an investment in the future of Southern California’s once-thriving tourism industry.

It also comes as the 98-year-old film and TV studio enters a new chapter of its own: Warner Bros. learned last month that it would be merged with Discovery , the home of HGTV, Food Network and Animal Planet, after a tumultuous three years of being owned by AT&T.

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The seven-story, 483,000-square-foot building across the street from Warner Bros.’ corporate offices in Burbank had been scheduled to open in May 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tours were previously launched from the first floor of the corporate office building, which offered less than half the display and visitor space of the new venue.

“We felt like we were outgrowing our space,” said Warner Bros. Vice President and General Manager Danny Kahn.

The tour building — whose cost studio representatives declined to disclose — is part of a larger expansion at the studio’s headquarters, which broke ground in January on a pair of Frank Gehry-designed office towers designed to resemble two icebergs.

Pandemic travel restrictions limit visits by international tourists, but Warner Bros. officials say they are hopeful that the new tour building will draw plenty of Californians who have stayed close to home for the last year and are itching to try new experiences.

“We feel there is a lot of pent-up demand,” said Gary Soloff, vice president of marketing at the studios. The company website shows all time slots for English-speaking tours are sold out for the first two weeks.

The building may be opening just in time for a tourism resurgence.

The Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board predicts the number of tourists visiting Los Angeles County will climb to nearly 40 million by the end of this year, up from 27 million in 2020. Before the pandemic, the county welcomed a record 50.7 million visitors in 2019.

The hotel occupancy rate in Los Angeles County reached 62% in April, up from 26% in April 2020, according to the tourism board. Occupancy rates have reached 70% or higher in the last 11 weekends, the board said.

Universal Studios Hollywood is also betting on visits from movie fans. The theme park, which reopened in April after a yearlong pandemic closure, recently announced plans to fill more than 2,000 jobs.

Warner Bros. steps away from $100-million Hollywood sign aerial tramway

The project, proposed in 2018, raised safety concerns and required building into a mountain.

March 18, 2021

The new Warner Bros. tour building, built on the site of a parking lot, includes about 25,000 square feet of exhibit space and a parking structure with nearly 1,000 spots. Instead of one movie theater, the new building has two 70-seat theaters where tour visitors will be shown clips of movies shot at the studio.

The studio bought electric carts to shuttle visitors to film sets and backlot soundstages, including the coffee shop set featured in the sitcom “Friends” and the fountain where the cast members frolic during that show’s opening title sequence.

The new building is home to much of the historic movie memorabilia that had been on display in the previous building, such as the trench coat worn by Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 classic “Casablanca.” The phone of studio co-founder Jack Warner is also in the exhibit, alongside his personal phone book, which shows the numbers and addresses of such Hollywood luminaries as Cecil B. DeMille and Walt Disney.

In hopes of attracting younger visitors, Warner Bros. has added several interactive exhibits meant to encourage movie fans to snap selfies and post photos on social media sites.

The studio has re-created the herbology classroom from the 2001 movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” complete with facsimiles of the magical mandrake plants that scream when they are uprooted. Visitors can also crawl into the cupboard under the stairs, modeled after the makeshift bedroom Harry Potter’s abusive guardians provided to him in the same movie.

In another Harry Potter exhibit, visitors are asked to tap a series of buttons next to several ingredients to create a magic potion. Choose the correct ingredients, and a cauldron spins and glows purple.

Inside an exhibit area that resembles Batman’s cave is a console where visitors can use a touch-screen to research the backstory of DC villains. Costumes worn in recent DC superhero movies, such as “Wonder Woman 1984,” are also on display.

“We want to get more people hands-on and interactive with the exhibits,” Soloff said. “People want to be part of the experience.”

The studio hopes that such interaction also involves buying souvenirs to take home. Adjoining the exhibit area is a Warner Bros. store offering Harry Potter wands and robes and superhero T-shirts, hats and coffee mugs.

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The Ultimate Guide to visiting the Warner bros Studio Tour

The warner bros studio tour ultimate guide.

Warner Bros may be a household name thanks to producing some of the most famous films in history, but the London Warner Bros Studio Tour at Leavesden Studios is famous for one thing and one thing only: The Making of Harry Potter.

Located about 20 miles from central London, Leavesden Studios served as a key filming location for some of the most iconic scenes in all eight of the Harry Potter films. Over a span of ten years, approximately 588 different Harry Potter sets were constructed at the studio, with the most notable being Hogwarts’ Great Hall for Harry Potter And The Philosophers’ Stone (which was one of the first sets to be built at the studio), Dumbledore’s office (as seen in Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets), and the massive Ministry of Magic (which apparently took nearly 22 weeks to build for Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix).

Once filming wrapped for the final Harry Potter film, the studio was left with so many artefacts and studio sets, Warner Bros decided to expand the studio to develop The Making of Harry Potter into a permanent exhibition in 2012. Thanks to the exhibition, nearly 6,000 Harry Potter fans from all over the world visit the studio each day to see some of the many iconic costumes, props and sets that were used in the Harry Potter films over the years.

Highlights The Warner Bros Studio Tour

From taking a stroll along Diagon Alley, to going aboard the Hogwarts Express, the Warner Bros Studio Tour will make Harry Potter fans feel more spellbound than Neville Longbottom being cast with the Full Body-Bind curse after catching Harry, Hermione and Ron sneaking out of their dormitories.

Visitors will get the chance to glance over portraits in Dumbledore’s office, stare at boxes upon boxes of wands in Ollivanders’ Wand Shop, and even get up close and personal with some horrifying deatheaters and Aragog, Hagrid’s beloved massive, hairy spider. You can also see Harry Potter’s bedroom under the stairs at Privet Drive, Hogwarts school uniforms, and even bump shoulders with Dumbledore, Mad Eye Moody, Dobby and Harry Potter himself.

Not just limited to the tour, visitors can also try out some delicious Butterbeer at the backlot area, buy some chocolate frogs at the Studio Shop, and even take a ride on a broomstick in a green screen technology room so you can take a photo home with you as a souvenir.

Special Tips

Getting There

Visiting the warner bros studio tour.

Recommended visiting time is around three hours, but if you’re a hardcore Harry Potter fan, you might find yourself spending as long as five hours strolling around the entire studio. During the busier periods, be prepared to wait in a queue around 15 minutes to 30 minutes before entering the venue.

All tickets for the studio tour must be purchased beforehand, and you can collect your tickets at one of the ticket windows outside the studio before entering. You can receive your ticket confirmation either by post or by e-mail, and must show your confirmation to the Car Park Team upon your arrival.

It is highly recommended that you arrive at the studio 20 minutes before your reserved time slot, and be aware that your bags will be searched upon entry by security personnel. If you arrive extra early for your tour, you can access the Studio Cafe or the Studio Shop before you begin your tour.

There are storage facilities for coats, bags, pushchairs and small suitcases that are free of charge in the studio’s lobby cloakroom, and toilet facilities located throughout the studio.

In the studio’s backlot area, visitors can purchase a cup of Butterbeer (a non-alcoholic beverage), and munch on shortbread and butterscotch. You can even take home your Butterbeer stein as a souvenir for £6.95.

There are digital guides available in nine different languages, as well as souvenir guidebooks and activity passports for children which can be picked up at the lobby.

Ticket prices and Opening hours

Tour times vary depending on what time of the year you visit, however you can expect the first tour to start between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and the last tour to start anywhere between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Tickets for the Warner Bros Studio Tour cost:

• £35 for adults (aged 16 years and over).
• £27 for children between the ages of five and 15.
• Free for children under the ages of four
• £36.95 for complete studio packages for children
• £44.95 for complete studio packages for adults
• £33 per adult or £25.50 per child for groups of ten to 24 people

Digital guides are available for £4.95, and can be pre-booked with your tickets so you can pick them up once you arrive at the lobby. If you are travelling in a group of three or four people, there are discounted group packages of Digital Guides available for £12.95.

Souvenir Guidebooks are also available for purchase and cost £9.95.

If you are checking out the Warner Bros Studio Circus you might also want to join any of the  free London tours  that are available on offer.

Free Tours in Your Language

Movie lovers, a new TCM Classic Films Tour is rolling at the Warner Bros. Studio backlot

Call it a fresh way to time travel: the lot look-around will include deep peeks at the golden age of hollywood., by alysia gray painter • published april 19, 2024 • updated on april 19, 2024 at 5:13 pm, what to know.

• TCM Classic Films Tour at Warner Bros. Studio
• The new tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of Turner Classic Movies with lot stops spotlighting treasures of Hollywood's Golden Age
• Tickets start at $95; find yours on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood site

Time travel machines, at least in the movies, often boast blinking knobs and glowing wheels and the truth is this: You're never sure where they'll take you, once they're off and flying.

But what if you could board an open-air vehicle that also services as a time-traveling device, the sort of airy auto that takes you to stops and spots where some of Tinseltown's titans once worked, created, dreamed, and occasionally lived?

Such a wondrous mode of transportation exists, and you won't need to pass through a silver screen to reach it: It's located at Warner Bros. Studio, where the brand-new TCM Classic Films Tour is now on the movie-loving move.

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The tour was unveiled just ahead of the TCM Classic Film Festival , which is shimmering in Hollywood through April 21.

Launched to honor the 30th anniversary of Turner Classic Movies, the tour is putting "a focus on the studio's early days, delving into the timeless allure of classic cinema and feeling the magic of Hollywood’s rich history firsthand."

Television will also receive its due, as well as the many films that famously found their first footing at the Burbank studio.

The Eastwood Scoring Stage, which will celebrate its centennial in just five years, is on the tour, as is a look at the exterior of an apartment that James Dean once lived in, a nearby abode he could retreat to while putting in the hours on a film shoot.

‘Crime and Justice' is the theme for TCM's Classic Film Festival; get passes now

Street Food Cinema's new season is in the pink with a colorful ‘Barbie' kick-off

And a rose garden isn't just about the flowers but also love, in the tennis sense: A court once stood there, and none other than Jack Warner, one of the studio's founders, enjoyed some time at the net.

The Property House — the name reveals the structure's purpose — will also be visited, and prop mavens will get to check out artifacts seen in some of the cinema and television's best-known works.

"For 100 years, Warner Bros. has stood for the very best in moviemaking and TCM has continued to spotlight the legacy of the studio with incredible program offerings throughout its 30 years," shared Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. 

"We are thrilled movie lovers from around the world can visit the iconic Burbank lot to experience the TCM Classic Films Tour and celebrate the rich history of the studio's contributions to cinema."

The tour begins with a welcome video from the TCM hosts; look also for historical snapshots, iconic costumes — including outfits seen in "The Music Man," a beloved musical that is synonymous with the lot's charming Midwest Street — and other treats for those who regularly revisit some of the starriest cinematic offerings of the past.

Tickets start at $95 and are available on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour site.

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15 people injured in Universal Studios Hollywood tour tram crash

At least one person reportedly sustained critical injuries.

Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly , where he covers breaking news, all things Real Housewives , and a rich cornucopia of popular culture. Formerly a senior editor at Out magazine, his work has appeared on NewNowNext , Queerty , Rolling Stone , and The New Yorker . He was also the first author signed to Phoebe Robinson's Tiny Reparations imprint. He met Oprah once.

15 people were injured in a tram crash at Universal Studios Hollywood Saturday evening.

According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the victims were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries. KTLA, however, reported at least one person sustained critical injuries.

According to a statement from the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, "deputies responded to the lower parking lot of Universal Studios Hollywood regarding a tour tram collision. The collision caused several passengers to fall out of the vehicle."

The trams are used in the theme park's signature Studio Tour, transporting guests through iconic Hollywood film sets. It's unclear what caused the crash, or if any other vehicles were involved but LASD tells Entertainment Weekly that the "cause of the accident is still under investigation and there is no further information at this time."

The LACFD Public Information Office confirmed the incident in a tweet , writing "at 9:05 units were dispatched to a tram accident where 15 patients were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries. CHP will be the lead investigatory agency for all further inquiries."

“Saturday night on the Studio Tour, a tram collided with a guard rail while making a left turn," a spokesperson for Universal Studios said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly . "Our thoughts continue to be with the guests who were involved, and we are thankful that based on agency reports, the injuries sustained were minor."

The statement continued, "We are working closely with public agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, as we continue our review of the incident and safety remains a top priority. We have resumed Studio Tour operations with a modified route and are reinforcing our operational and safety protocols."

Earlier this month, Universal Studios Hollywood was hit with a lawsuit stemming from a 2022 incident in which passengers claim they were stranded while riding Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, an attraction that takes guests through notable locations in  J.K. Rowling 's Wizarding World, including the Great Hall, the grounds of Hogwarts, and the Quidditch pitch.

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Warner bros. reveals $115 million investment in harry potter attraction.

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Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo - The Making of Harry Potter is the latest attraction themed to the ... [+] boy wizard (Photo by Zhong Ya/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Warner Bros. Discovery has revealed that it spent more than $114.9 million (£92.9 million) on its latest attraction themed to the boy wizard Harry Potter.

Called the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo - The Making of Harry Potter, the 30,000 square meter venue opened in June last year and follows a similar format to its counterpart at Leavesden Studios in the United Kingdom where all eight Potter movies were made along with the three Fantastic Beasts spinoffs.

Although the main series of Potter movies came to a climax in 2011, they are still casting a powerful spell on Warner's bottom line. More than 18 million people have streamed through the turnstiles of the UK tour since the doors to its two cream-coloured soundstages swung open in 2012. Its success led to the development of the tour in Japan where Potter is wildly-popular.

Before the Tokyo tour had even welcomed its first guest, adult tickets, which cost $45 each, had sold out for the following two months. According to its general manager Torben Jensen, by the end of last year the tour had become the leading inbound tourist destination in Tokyo.

Built on the former site of the Toshimaen amusement park, the tour features some of the most memorable sets from the Potter films as well as interactive displays which lift the lid on the techniques used to bring them to the silver screen.

Theme park design wizards Thinkwell Group handled everything from concept development and master planning right down to in-field art direction, installation supervision and training. Thanks to its involvement with projects such as Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, comfortably the most immersive theme park outside Disney and Universal, Thinkwell has built a reputation for its astounding attention to detail. The Potter tour in Tokyo is no exception.

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All of the exhibits are either original or built from the original blueprints to give guests the same breathtaking experience that the actors had on the sets.

The tour sets off inside a soaring stone replica of the Great Hall in Hogwarts Castle where Harry and his chums tuck into feasts in the films. It is identical to it right down to the design of the crockery sitting on the gnarled banqueting tables. All that's missing is the candles floating above which were digitally added to the films in post-production.

Instead, spotlights hang from the rafters on the tour as they do on the actual set making the experience seem even more authentic.

Guests get to tour Hogwarts' Great Hall (Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)

Guests then get to peer inside Harry’s dormitory in Hogwarts Castle and walk the corridors of the Hogwarts Express steam train. There's even a full-size recreation of the Dickensian Diagon Alley with models of towering colorful characters embedded in the wonky buildings. Just like on an actual movie set, instructions are scrawled on the reverse of the façades showing how they fit together.

All of these sets can also be found in the tour's UK counterpart but the most spellbinding ones are unique to Tokyo. They kick off straight after the Great Hall and there's a great sense of reveal. As guests round a corner they are suddenly met with a full-size recreation of the famous Hogwarts' staircase which magically moves on screen when students climb its steps to get to the right doorway.

The version on the tour in Tokyo also moves although it isn't the full staircase so it looks more like a scene from an M.C. Escher drawing. The area is also home to an equally magical feature which fans have been crying out for since it first appeared on the silver screen in 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone . In an iconic scene, characters in oil paintings beside the stairway begin talking to each other and a photo opp on the Tokyo tour allows guests to appear in one of them. It isn't the only interactive attraction on the tour.

The Marble Staircase and talking portraits at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo - The Making of ... [+] Harry Potter (Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)

There are no rides on the tour but some of the exhibits are almost as exhilarating. One digitally inserts guests onto the back of a broomstick and another makes it seem like they are in the crowd at a Quidditch match. First they decide whether to root for the heroic Gryffindor team or support their evil rivals Slytherin. Then a director tells them to duck, gossip, cheer or boo as they would if they were actually sitting in the bleachers. After that the cameras start rolling and the footage is edited into a sequence from the Potter films.

Visitors get to watch it on a big screen and even get to take the footage away as a digital souvenir thanks to the tour's partnership with Nasdaq-listed specialist theme park photography provider Pomvom. That's not all.

As anyone who has seen the Potter movies will know, wizards are governed by the Ministry of Magic and are teleported there in what is known as the floo network. They arrive in fireplaces engulfed in harmless green flames and in Tokyo, visitors can mimic this magical effect by posing for photos surrounded by smoke and strobe lighting. Although the journey to the Ministry of Magic is artificial, the spectacle is anything but.

Covering more than 900 square meters, the Ministry of Magic set was one of the biggest and most intricate ever created for the Potter film franchise and it has been rebuilt in Tokyo. The soaring set looks like one of London's historic underground metro stations as the walls are covered with thousands of green and red tiles made from lacquered wood. It has a Victorian air as oil lamps sit on desks in circular offices set inside tiled turrets on the upper floors. At ground level, the walls are lined with golden fleurs-de-lis flanking the fireplaces where visitors arrive in the films.

Another interactive exhibit enables visitors to design their own digital mask like those worn by the villainous Death Eaters. Anyone who fancies their chances against them can train in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Just like in the movies, it is set in a stone-walled room with stained glass windows and a sweeping stone staircase. An iron chandelier hangs above and ancient artefacts, like a skull in a glass dome sit on a wooden desk. As a teacher tells visitors to call out spells the lights flicker, the skull sways, lightning flashes from behind the window and smoke sees off a Death Eater who appears on the staircase.

Throughout the tour, the original movie props are within touching distance including costumes, wigs and, of course, wands. Rows and rows of them. Every item is meticulously tagged with details of the film it was used in, the character it was used by and even the fictional materials it is meant to be made of.

Perhaps the only aspect of the UK tour which isn't as enchanting as the rest of it is the dining on the way. There's no problem with the food or drink, which of course includes Potter's favorite tipple of Butterbeer, a non-alcoholic beverage flavored like cream soda and butterscotch. However, the setting seems jarring as the dining area is designed like a studio backlot cafe which, ironically, fits the theme too well.

Butterbeer is served in the tour's cafe (Photo by Jun Sato/WireImage)

After being immersed in immensely detailed sets for hours, the backlot cafe seems spartan in comparison. Tokyo has taken this to heart as its dining area is themed to the frilly and flowery home of Hogwarts teacher Professor Umbridge. It serves afternoon tea in a pink and leathery central circular seating area surrounded by saucers on the walls which seem to show moving cats just as they do on the silver screen. Sparing no expense, Warner hired specialist restaurant developers Lumsden which worked with MinaLima, the graphic design firm behind the iconic art in the Potter movies.

It all comes at quite a cost. The Tokyo tour is run by Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden which also operates its UK counterpart. The company's latest filings are for the year to December 31, 2022 and show that Warner spent $66.3 million (£53.6 million) on the construction of the Tokyo tour during that time bringing the total to $114.9 million. It opened just over five months later so the spending didn't stop there and there may be more to come.

Many of the sets on the UK tour were bolted on after it opened to cater for its surging popularity. In Japan they were planned in from the beginning so accessibility and guest flow have been optimised. What's more, expansion spaces have already been allocated which will minimise disruption when they are developed.

Getting the attraction to opening day took much more than money and the wave of a magic wand. As Jensen points out, construction and training for the tour took place during the pandemic.

The Japanese-speaking Dane was educated at INSEAD and has a Diploma in Business administration from Copenhagen Business School. He has been working with Japanese corporations for more than 20 years and in late 1990s was Denmark's Trade Commissioner for Sapporo which involved him consulting with Danish companies to improve their results in the Japanese market. It worked as he increased the revenue of the Trade Commission by a staggering 250%.

Jensen went on to become project director of Merlin Entertainments' $300 million LEGOLAND Japan which opened in 2017. He didn't just run the operation but also managed the negotiations with the City of Nagoya to complete of the Master Development Agreement and the Land Lease Agreement. He even co-ordinated negotiations to complete the loan facility agreement between the main investor and a major Japanese bank.

It paid off as LEGOLAND Japan made an operating profit from its first year leading to a $100 million investment plan featuring a 252 room LEGOLAND Hotel and a SEALIFE attraction. Jensen also oversaw a sponsor program delivering $37.5 million of revenue over five years and helped to boost annual pass membership base to more than 100,000. It gave the resort firm financial foundations and put Jensen on Warner's radar. That really is a magic touch.

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The Charge of the Light Brigade

Tribute Film Classics (TFC1005)

Release Date: January 20, 2009

Conducted by William T. Stromberg

Performed by The Moscow Symphony Orchestra

• The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1936)
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A History of The Actors Studio

Written by Andreas Manolikakis

The Actors Studio was founded in New York by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis in 1947. For seven decades it has been devoted to the service and development of theatre artists –actors, directors and playwrights. To our members, who are primarily actors, The Actors Studio offers free lifetime membership, with no fee or tuition required, which entitles them to a unique opportunity to explore and improve their craft in a safe, laboratory environment with colleagues with whom they share the same process of work.

The roots of The Actors Studio go back to the Group Theatre (1931-1941) whose work was inspired by the discoveries of the great Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski and his best student Eugene Vakhtangov as revealed in the legendary productions that the Moscow Art Theatre toured in America in 1923. In fact Stanislavski’s dedication to his book, ‘My Life in Art,’ (1924) reads: “I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN GRATITUDE TO HOSPITABLE AMERICA AS A TOKEN AND A REMEMBRANCE FROM THE MOSCOW ART THEATRE WHICH SHE TOOK SO KINDLY TO HER HEART.”

When the Moscow Art Theatre ended its American tour, several members of the theatre stayed behind and trained artists, including Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Stella Adler, who would go on to form the Group Theatre along with other artists such as Elia Kazan, Sanford Meisner and Robert Lewis. These artists studied, explored, developed and improved the work of the Russian masters with extraordinary results that were unique in the history of the American theatre and a new kind of acting was born.

After the Group Theatre closed, in 1941, many of its members went their separate ways. Elia Kazan has stated that one of the principal reasons he created The Actors Studio, in 1947, was in order to preserve and develop this new American acting. He wanted to create a not-for-profit organization that would provide a laboratory, a private workshop in which the professional actor could work on his or her craft, far away from the commercial pressures of casting, rehearsal and performance. It was to be a place that would offer its member-artists an ongoing training, a continuity of work and the feeling of an artistic home like they had at the Group Theatre.

At the Studio, it was eventually decided that membership should be achieved through an audition process of preliminary and then final auditions where the only requirements are talent and the possibility of improvement.

In 1948, Lee Strasberg was asked by Elia Kazan to join the Studio as one of its teachers and in 1951 he became its Artistic Director, a position he maintained until his death in 1982. Strasberg’s deep understanding of the Stanislavski System and the reformulations of Vakhtangov, together with his own personal discoveries and improvements on the acting process, provided the foundation on which The Actors Studio based its work.

At the same time, the work of Elia Kazan as a theatre and film director demonstrated in the most powerful way the extraordinary results of the deep and personal process of acting espoused by The Actors Studio.

For seven decades, the very existence of The Actors Studio, the principles and values that it represents, the methodology of its work process, its consistency and long life have established the Studio as a unique theatre organization and a guiding light for actors, directors and playwrights around the world. For many it is considered the temple of the acting process.

Today the work that is done at The Actors Studio continues the Stanislavski-Vakhtangov-American approach, and most of the leading members of the Studio today have studied with more than one of these great American teachers: Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Robert Lewis.

Currently, Ellen Burstyn, Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino serve as co-Presidents of the Studio. Beau Gravitte serves as Artistic Director in New York and Salome Jens and Lou Antonio serve as interim co-Associate Artistic Directors in West Hollywood at our Actors Studio West branch, which opened in 1966. The Actors Studio is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of members from both coasts.

After 70 years, The Actors Studio continues to thrive because it is needed. Goethe has said that, “The actor’s career develops in public, but his art develops in private.” The Studio provides its members with this special kind of privacy, along with a group of colleagues who share the same passion for what Studio members refer to as “The Work.”

In spite of the presence of The Actors Studio over many years and its extensive influence in America and worldwide, there still persist many misunderstandings of the Studio, its mentors, its philosophy and its process. These errors most often arise from discussions by some academics, theoreticians, historians and even by some theatre professionals who attempt to analyze and interpret a process of work that they have never learned through serious practice. The work of Stanislavski, Vakhtangov and The Actors Studio was arrived at through deep and lengthy practical experiments that elude rational analysis by non-practitioners.

In 1994 The Actors Studio entered a major new phase with the creation of The Actors Studio Drama School MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Program in acting, directing and playwriting, in order to bring the Studio’s method into a university setting. In September 2006, the Actors Studio Drama School moved to Pace University in downtown New York City, which also is the home of one of the program’s most visible teaching platforms, INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO, hosted by James Lipton.

Andreas Manolikakis is a Board Member of The Actors Studio and Chair of The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City.