"Mighty Joe Young"

Joe, a giant gorilla, had been brought to an animal sanctuary in California in "Mighty Joe Young" (Disney, 1998). That didn't work out so he's being taken to a new home but Charlize Theron realizes that the two men in the truck she's entrusted Joe to are the same poachers who years earlier murdered her mother. 

In this shot we're in Studio City and she's jumped from the truck. In the background is the Studio City Theatre, 12136 Ventura Blvd. The film stars Charlize Theron, Bill Paxton, Rade Serbedzija, Peter Firth, David Paymer, Regina King, Robert Wisdom and Naveen Andrews.  Ron Underwood directed. The cinematography was by Donald Peterman and Oliver Wood.

See the page about the Studio City Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more information about the building. It's now a bookstore.

 

 

 

 

Charlize starts shouting at Joe and in the next shot he begins rocking the truck. But somehow we're not in Studio City anymore. It's Hollywood Blvd. with a bit of the Chinese Theatre on the left. 

 

 

 

Thanks to Dave Hunter for spotting the Chinese in the film. In this shot as the truck tips we also get the El Capitan vertical on the right. 

Flipped over on Hollywood Blvd. Joe will punch a hole in the side of the truck to get out. 

 

 

 

Surveying the new territory. 

 

 

 

Taking a look at the Chinese. 

 

 

 

 

Unhappy about a car alarm, he makes a compact care more compact. Kurt Wahlner comments: "Not sure about special effect production methods c.1998, but 'Armageddon' never played the Chinese; so they went through the trouble of making the reverse marquees for the shoot at this point. . ." 

 

 

 

Not stopping to buy a ticket for "Armageddon."

 

 

 

 

Like any tourist, he wants to climb the pagoda.  

 

 

 

The cashier comes out of the boxoffice to watch. 

 

 

 

On top of the world. 

 

 

 

Charlize watching as the LAPD arrives, ready to shoot him down. 

 

 

 

Joe disappears from sight and Charlize, along with new boyfriend Bill Paxton, run to find him before the LAPD does. In the display case it's a poster for the 1950 film "Wagon Master" starring Ben Johnson and Joanne Dru.  

 

See the pages about Grauman's Chinese and the El Capitan on the Los Angeles Theatres site. 

 

 

The next stop is the Hollywood sign. All ends well as Charlize and Bill return Joe to Africa and a home in a new sanctuary.

On IMDb: "Mighty Joe Young" 

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"The Glass House"

Leelee Sobieski is at the movies with her friends near the beginning of "The Glass House" (Columbia Pictures, 2001). The theatre is the General Cinema 3-4-5-6-7, a venue later known as Pacific's Sherman Oaks 5. Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor MrWolf98 for spotting it in the film. 

 

After her parents die in what her character later discovers was an arranged crash, Leelee and her brother go to live with Diane Lane and Stellan Skarsgård in a Malibu house that gives the film its title. Also featured are Bruce Dern, Kathy Baker, Trevor Morgan, Chris Noth and Michael O'Keefe. Daniel Sackheim directed. The cinematography was by Alar Kivilo. 

 

 

 

It's a slasher film called "Prom Nightmare."

 

A bit of the marquee as we pan down the facade. 

 

 

 

 

Leelee and her friends coming out.  

 

 

Discussing plans as they walk across the street.

See the page about the Sherman Oaks 5 on the Los Angeles Theatres site. The theatre was built by General Cinema, later operated by AMC and Pacific. The location is 14424 Milbank St., just east of Van Nuys Blvd. 

 

 

 

Joyriding on Ventura Blvd. with her friends after getting out of the movies. We're looking west. The brightly lit facade on the left just beyond the intersection is what's left of the La Reina Theatre.

The page about the La Reina Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site includes many photos as well as shots from a few other films it has appeared in. The building is at 14626 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. 

On IMDb: "The Glass House"   

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"The Falcon and the Snowman"

We get a look at the Studio City Theatre, 13126 Ventura Blvd., in "The Falcon and the Snowman" (Orion Pictures, 1985). The movie is set in the 1974-77 period. Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel" was a 1962 release. 

This espionage drama, based on a 1979 non-fiction book by Robert Lindsey, is the story of an employee of a military contractor and his drug-pushing friend who became spies for the Soviet Union. The cast includes Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Pat Hingle, Joyce Van Patten and Richard Dysart. John Schlesinger directed. The cinematography was by Allen Daviau.

 

Lori Singer is working the boxoffice. The poster on the right is for "The Exterminating Angel." The center poster is for another Buñuel film, the 1972 release "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie." 

Lori had been Timothy Hutton's girlfriend until he kicked her out when the espionage business got too complicated. Near the end of the movie, as the government was closing in on him, he parks across the street and walks over to see her. He says that he always loved her and warned that the FBI would be coming around to ask lots of questions.

Thanks to Eric Schaeffer for spotting the theatre in the film and getting the screenshots. See the page about the Studio City Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more information about the building. It's now a bookstore.

On IMDb: "The Falcon and the Snowman"

"Searching"

 

John Cho is looking for his missing daughter and accosts a teenager played by Buck Reed in a theatre lobby in "Searching" (Sony Pictures, 2018). The film is set in the San Jose area and John had tracked him down at the "Oaktree Theatres." The location they used was the Regency Valley Plaza Theatres in North Hollywood. 

 

The kid posted an obnoxious remark saying the daughter was with him and he was her pimp. The film, directed by Aneesh Chaganty, also features Debra Messing, Michelle La and Sara Sohn. The cinematography was by Juan Sebastian Baron, Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick. Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Midnight Moon for noting the appearance of the theatre in the film. 

 

 

 The encounter ends up online. Here the guy in blue has also started filming it.

 

We watch with John as he later sees the footage online as "Crazy Dad Theater Attack."

 

 

Other customers flee as the encounter gets violent. The kid ends up in the hospital and the altercation doesn't lead John any closer to finding his daughter.  

For more about this six screen complex see the page about the Valley Plaza Theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1976 on Bellingham Ave. just south of Victory Blvd. The theatres closed for good in 2020.

On IMDb: "Searching"

"Don Jon"

"Do you like movies?" Scarlett Johansson asks Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the romcom "Don Jon" (Relativity Media, 2013). It's set in New Jersey but the location they used for a date was the Valley Plaza Theatres in North Hollywood. He likes seducing many different girls but also has a love of porno. 

 

The film, directed by Gordon-Levitt, also features Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Brie Larson and Glenne Headly. The cinematography was by Thomas Kloss. Thanks to Jared Cowan for identifying the theatre. He included the film in "This Dilapidated Valley Shopping Center Is the Backdrop for Decades of Huge Movies and TV Shows," his fine 2020 article for Los Angeles Magazine. 

 

 

Heading into the lobby. Most people buy tickets at the boxoffice. These two are going to go look at the posters and then decide what to see.   

 

"So Hard So Fast" in 3-D is the movie more to his taste. Yet she's making all the decisions and loves romcoms as well as the two actors in "Special Someone," played by Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway.

 

He goes along with it and they head into auditorium #3.

 

During the movie she's enthralled but he tells us in voiceover what he thinks of the unrealistic plots and sappy characters of the genre. 

 

For the sake of the romance he pretends to have enjoyed it. Nice to see the seat counts for three of the complex's auditoria. 

 

 

The big moment in the middle of the lobby. He leans in for the first kiss.  

 

 

Of course we get the 360 degree pan around to observe. She turns out to be wonderful but he still needs to creep out of bed and watch porno. Julianne Moore is the one who eventually straightens him out.

 

For more about this six screen complex see the page about the Valley Plaza Theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1976 and closed for good in 2020. The building is in NoHo at 6355 Bellingham Ave., just south of Victory Blvd.  

 

 

Later in the film Joseph is out at a joint getting some New Jersey style pizza with his buddies. The location is the 7th St. side of the State Theatre, 7th and Broadway. We see a Metro bus go by. 

On IMDb: "Don Jon"

"Captain Marvel"

After an interplanetary mishap, Starforce agent Brie Larson falls through space and lands in a Blockbuster video store in North Hollywood's Valley Plaza Shopping Center in "Captain Marvel" (Walt Disney Studios, 2019). Out the window it's the neon of the Valley Plaza Theatres on Bellingham Ave., just south of Victory Blvd.

The planet we call earth is known to Brie as C-53. When one of the characters is asked if she's visited, she responds: "Yes. It's a real shithole." The film, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, also features Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch and Clark Gregg. The cinematography was by Ben Davis. Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Midnight Moon for noting the appearance of the theatres in the film.

 

 

 

Brie approaches mall security officer Barry Curtis and after silence on his part asks "Do you understand me? Is my universal translator not working?" She gives him her name and ID data and asks if he's in charge of security for this district. He says: "Sort of. The movie theatre's got their own guy." She's lost contact with her team and wants to know where there's communications gear. He points to the nearby Radio Shack. 

 

 

 

We have the theatres in the background again the next morning when S.H.I.E.L.D. security agent Clark Gregg approaches the car and asks if he's the guy who called this in. Barry nods and points to the Radio Shack where Brie has been working to try to fix her communicator. 

 

After Brie gets away from the agents and there's a scuffle with another alien, Clark and senior agent Samuel L. Jackson get in the car to give chase. At least Samuel THINKS he's getting in the car with Clark. 

We get our last look at the theatres when Clark phones in to say "I'm still here at Blockbuster. Where is everybody?" It's then that Samuel realizes he's been driving around with a shapeshifting alien in the car. 

For more about this six screen complex see the page about the Valley Plaza Theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1976 and closed for good in 2020.

On IMDb: "Captain Marvel"

"The Cool Ones"

The Valley Music Theatre in Woodland Hills is seen as a music venue about a hour into "The Cool Ones" (Warner Bros., 1967). The marquee is advertising "Cliff and Hallie," the latest pop duo played by Gil Peterson and Debbie Watson.

Also featured in this very dated "uncool" rock and roll rom-com are Roddy McDowall, Phil Harris, Nita Talbot, Robert Coote, George Furth, Mrs. Miller, Glen Campbell, The Leaves and T.J. and The Fourmations. Gene Nelson directed. The cinematography was Floyd Crosby.   

 

 

 

The theatre from across the road. Well, we don't see anything of the auditorium. They cut from this to closeups of Gil and Debbie singing with a montage behind them of shots we've seen earlier.

 

 

 

Some of the entourage coming out the stage door to the limo. The two new stars have had a breakup -- he learns that sleazy music promoter Roddy McDowall had told her to engineer a romance. 

 

 

 

Some of the crowd on the ramp. 

 

 

Gil is spotted by the girls.  

 

Running for it. 

 

Debbie at the top. "Hey, wait for me. It's real -- I really do love you."

 

 

The scene ends with them reconciled in a process shot at the back of a bus. Remind you of another bus shot? This came out eight months before Mike Nichols' "The Graduate."

See the page about the Valley Music Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more information and photos. It opened in 1964 and was demolished in 2006.  

On the plus side, the Sunset Tower is featured. Lots of scenes were shot in the Palm Springs area. And we get some great footage when our two stars go up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway -- and so a musical number en route! 

On IMDb: "The Cool Ones"

 

Katherine Ross and Dustin Hoffman at the back of that other bus in 1967.

"The Family Jewels"

The Jerry Lewis film "The Family Jewels" (Paramount, 1965) starts with an armored car getting loaded up in Van Nuys. When it drives north on Van Nuys Blvd. we get a quick look at the Fox at 6417 Van Nuys Blvd. 

In addition to Jerry in multiple roles, the film features Donna Butterworth, Sebastian Cabot, Neil Hamilton, Jay Adler and Robert Strauss. The cinematography was by W. Wallace Kelley. Thanks to David Aswad for noting the appearance of the theatre in the film. In a post on Cinema Treasures he commented: "I remember what a kick it was watching it at the Fox and seeing the theatre I was in on the screen."

See the page about the Fox Van Nuys on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the venue. It opened in 1924 as a conversion from what had been a furniture store. The building has been demolished.

On IMDb: "The Family Jewels"