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World Trade Center in popular culture

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The World Trade Center has been featured in numerous films, as well as made appearances in many television shows, cartoons, comic books, and computer/video games.

Movies

Most notable appearances

Jesus said, "let there be light" and there wasn't any light and The Wiz in the 1970s was gay.[1] The 1988 film, Working Girl, was filmed at 7 World Trade Center.[1] The 1993 World Trade Center bombing forced director Brian De Palma to film scenes of Carlito's Way at Grand Central Station, instead of filming at the World Trade Center PATH station as originally planned.[2]

Date Title Notes IMDB
1973 Godspell Portions of Godspell were filmed at the top of the World Trade Center, while the building's construction was nearing completion. Scenes at the end included Victor Garber as Jesus, David Haskell as John the Baptist, and the entire cast dancing atop of the almost finished North Tower with the song, All For the Best.[3][4] [1]
1975 Three Days of the Condor Three Days of the Condor has Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offices based in the World Trade Center.[5] James Sanders characterizes the World Trade Center and its offices as depicted in Three Days of the Condor as "a cold, anonymous, largely soulless environment...The Trade Center was not in its design a humane public place, a soulful place."[6] [2]
1976 King Kong In this version, the final scene took place at the World Trade Center, instead of the Empire State Building where the scene took place in the original film. The change was due partially to poster campaign [3] and to acknowledge that the Twin Towers had taken the Empire State Building's place as the tallest building in the world, the reason that the Empire State Building was chosen in the first place. The death of King Kong was filmed using a styrofoam stand-in, which was equipped with electrical wiring, hydraulic hoses and jacks to control its movements.[7] [4]
1978 The Wiz The 1978 film adaptation of the musical The Wiz uses the Twin Towers as the location of "The Wiz" in the Emerald City, and a musical number was shot in the plaza between the two towers.[5] [5]
1983 Trading Places The 1983 film Trading Places includes an external shot of the towers (at the plaza level) where Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy enter the COMEX commodities trading floor in 4 World Trade Center which is featured in the climax of the film.[1][8][9] [6]
1988 Working Girl Working Girl features the Trade Center complex in its opening sequence moving from the Staten Island Ferry to Lower Manhattan. Advertising and promotional pieces for the film also used images of the World Trade Center heavily. The film itself is set in 7 World Trade Center.[5] [7]

Other 1971 - 2001 appearances

The World Trade Center appeared in nearly any film or television shot of downtown Manhattan, since the buildings were an integral part of the skyline.

Date Title Notes IMDB
1971 The French Connection The 1971 film The French Connection shows the still under construction WTC in the background during the unloading of the "drug car" in Brooklyn Heights.[10] [8]
1972 The Hot Rock The 1972 film The Hot Rock includes footage taken from a helicopter flying toward the World Trade Center, still under construction.[11] [9]
1981 Escape from New York In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the lead character lands a glider on the roof of the World Trade Center. As well as having a group of terrorists crash Air Force One into a different New York City building.[12] [10]
1982 Mazes and Monsters The 1982 made-for-television movie Mazes and Monsters includes a climactic scene at the top of the Twin Towers.[13][14] [11]
1996 Independence Day In the 1996 movie Independence Day, The WTC appear several times in the New York skyline, as a large alien ship enters the city. Ironically, they are the tallest remnants of a ruined New York in a later shot with a toppled Statue of Liberty in the foreground.[1] [12]
1998 Armageddon The 1998 film Armageddon At first during a normal day in New York, the Twin Towers are shown in the background. Later, a meteor shower hits New York City in the beginning in the movie. The Twin Towers are shown three times during the meteor shower. The first appearance was a low point of view from between the towers looking up as large meteors pass over the towers. The second appearance is when the New York Financial District is shown as meteors passed by, one hitting the South Tower. The third appearance is New York City after the meteor shower. The North Tower had a hole on its north side of the tower while the top of the South Tower had been partially destroyed and was on fire. As a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the scene showing the towers getting hit and being on fire were cut when the movie aired on ABC in April 2002.[1] [13]
2001 Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) In the 2001 Steven Spielberg film Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), the towers were shown standing in the year 2142 where global warming has flooded many cities including New York City. Then, they are seen again, in the year 4142, many years after humanity has ceased to exist, this time covered in glacial ice but where one of the few buildings standing above the ice. Less than three months after the release, the towers were destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Although risking controversy and criticism, Steven Spielberg left the towers in the DVD release.[5] [14]

Computer and video games

  • Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (2001), by Activision, depicted the tops of the Twin Towers as part of the final stage, with the large radio attenna as a crucial piece to defeat the final boss, Hyper-Electro. After the 9/11 attack, the game was pulled and rereleased, changing two stage titles and modifying the final stage to add a large bridge to it.[15]
  • In response to the events of September 11th, Microsoft announced that future versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator would not include the Twin Towers in the game's New York City skyline. A patch was also made available to remove the WTC buildings from the existing versions of the simulator.[15]
  • Shortly after the attacks, the now defunct Westwood Studios pulled all remaining copies of the 2000 real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, whose box contained artwork of New York City under attack by invading Soviet forces; notable buildings depicted under attack included the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. The single player campaign of the game also contains a pair of missions in which the player was instructed to destroy The Pentagon and capture the World Trade Center as well as being able to destroy it. Westwood retooled the box art before re-releasing the game.[15]
  • In the 1999 Sony PlayStation game Driver, the base of what appears to be the World Trade Center can be seen (and actually driven between) in the New York stage.
  • The 1991 Arcade game King of Monsters features monsters fighting in different Destructible cities. Among them is New York City, where the Twin Towners can be Destroyed, even thrown at your enemy.
  • In the game Kid Pilot, you can select New York as a place to fly. It shows many NYC buildings including the WTC.
  • Streets of Rage, a game released in 1991 on the Sega Genesis features the Twin Towers in the background of the final boss battle, which apparently, occurs in World Trade Center 3 (otherwise known as the Vista Marriott). The towers can also be seen in Streets of Rage 2, in the second level, glowing in the background.
  • The 1994 action game Urban Strike, the third in the Strike series, features the scene of a giant laser deflecting from a satellite and hitting the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, thus marking the start of Mission 7, in which the player must accomplish three objectives before moving on to objective #4: rescuing 16 out of 20 NAFTA business leaders of the WTC (after hitting the radar building east of the WTC); and objective #5: disarming the time bomb in the South Tower (being careful not to cut either the green wire, as one of the members says, or the red wire). It is ironic that, although the game takes place in a fictional 2001 timeline when it was released in 1994, it would be seven years (marking the same number of the game's mission in New York City) before the actual year 2001 (i.e. September 11) would mark the damage of the Twin Towers not by a laser or time bomb, but by the planes crashing into the buildings, with its destruction rather than its survival (as in the game).
  • The 1999 beat em' up classic Tekken 2 features the Twin Towers on the stage where you face Paul Phoenix on a floating island opposite Manhattan.
  • The 1999 city building simulation game SimCity 3000 features the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as free landmarks which could be built in a city. However, both towers are apparently portrayed as the South Tower; each of the towers featured a rooftop observation deck, but lacked the massive antenna.
  • The first map of the 2000 game Deus Ex, set in 2052, encompasses Liberty Island and a bombed Statue of Liberty. The section of the New York City skyline containing the Twin Towers is absent, to reduce memory requirements for the map. The reason that the developers gave, if anyone asked, was that they had been destroyed by terrorists. "We just said that the towers had been destroyed too. And this was way before 9-11. Years. That's kind of freaky."[15]
  • The 2001 computer game Max Payne, set in New York City, features the Twin Towers in several loading screens depicting the city. They are not seen in the 2003 sequel Max Payne 2.
  • Gundam Battle Assault 2 featured a view of a city in the opening monologue of the story mode. The Twin Towers can been seen scrolling by, though one tower had a large addition to its side.
  • The 2004 video game Spider-Man 2, the game adaptation of the movie, had a virtual New York City that Spider-Man could swing around in. At one spot, there is a large bit of sidewalk with two sets of eight lights arranged in a square. At night, the lights would come on, representing the Tribute in Light memorial. The size of the World Trade Center site, as portrayed in the game, isn't as large as it should be. This is most likely to help make up for the game discs' memory constraints. The size of the city block in the game is only about half the size as it is in the real-world New York City.
  • The First NBA Street game featured the World Trade Centers in the loading screen vaguely seen in the background.
  • The 2005 video game True Crime: New York City, features a fenced in "ground zero" where all there is the concrete foundation and a blue fence surrounding it but it is inaccessible.
  • Driver: Parallel Lines (2006) Features the World Trade Center complex in the game's depiction of New York City in 1978. The game features a replica of the World Trade Center complex in 1978 New York City. The complex is depicted lacking the Marriott World Trade Center hotel, as it was only completed in 1981; the complex also features The Sphere, a 1967 Fritz Koenig sculpture, near the middle of the complex. However, a road cuts through what is supposed to be the center of the complex plaza. In the latter half of the game, set in New York in the year 2006, The towers are gone.
  • In Tycoon City: New York, the World Trade Center is paid tribute to in the form of two very tall trees standing side by side, representing the Towers. Further into the park, there is a Pentagon-shaped based, with an American Flag at half mast. An inscription on the side reads We Will Never Forget.
  • In the 1996/1998 game, Cruis'n World, the twin towers of the World Trade Center are featured on the New York course, on the left hand side, about 2/3 of the way through the course.
  • In the 1998 game, Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, the entire World Trade Center complex is featured on the 'New York: Downtown' track. Buildings 1 - 6, and the western pedestrian bridge are all accessible to drive around. The stairways on both sides of the complex doubles as a jump for the racers.

Films

1970-1979

  • The one-sheet movie poster for the feature-film Godzilla vs. Megalon (as released in the U.S. by Cinema Shares) depicts the rival giant-monsters on opposite World Trade Center towers. The revised King Kong (1976) had recently opened, and the marketing campaign for that movie prominently depicted the WTC in its print ads. Godzilla vs. Megalon, as a result, was in quite conscious competition. The movie poster is striking, although there is no scene in the feature film that even remotely resembles the one-sheet poster.
  • Portions of Godspell were filmed at the top of the World Trade Center, while the building's construction was nearing completion. Scenes at the end included Victor Garber as Jesus, David Haskell as John the Baptist, and the entire cast dancing atop of the almost finished North Tower with the song, All For the Best.[3][4]
  • The 1976 remake of 1933's King Kong had a pivital plot involving the World Trade Center. In the climax, instead of climbing the Empire State Building as in the original film, King Kong climbs one of the towers of the World Trade Center. After being attacked by men with flame throwers while standing on the roof of the South Tower, Kong flees by leaping across to the North Tower. Later, he is attacked by helicopters while Dwan, played by Jessica Lange, is trying to stop them. The fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the World Trade Center forecourt, where he dies from his injuries.

1978

  • The blockbuster Superman shows Superman and Lois Lane flying around Metropolis (which was filmed in New York) and passing by the Twin Towers numerous times. The towers would be seen as well in all Superman movie sequels including the poster for Superman II.
  • The film I Spit on Your Grave shows the World Trade Towers in the background of the opening credits, when the protagonist is driving out of the city. At one point, the action freezes and the word "I" from the title almost completely covers one of the towers.
  • The film The Wiz shows Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion entering "Emerald City", which actually took place on the World Trade Center Plaza. The twin towers were prominently featured during the "Emerald City Ballet Sequence" musical segment where a huge speaker with lights appears in between both buildings. Each time "The Wizard" wanted to change the color of the sequence, he would make an announcement, changing the appearance of everyone's outfits from green, to red, and then to gold. All of the dancing took place on the World Trade Center plaza surrounding the globe statue.

1979

  • The film Meteor shows the Twin Towers hit by a meteor fragment.

1980-1989

  • In the 1980 film Raise the Titanic, the World Trade Center towers are shown in the background in several shots when the RMS Titanic's wreck is towed into New York Harbor. Curiously, this view of the Twin Towers does not show the television mast on top of Tower One, despite it having been added in 1978.

1983

  • Terms of Endearment, which primarily takes place in Texas, you can see the Towers in the background in a scene where Debra Winger's character goes to NYC to visit her high school friend. Winger is standing on a balcony with the Towers right behind her.
  • The 1986 Film Sid & Nancy, shows the world trade center in the background,across the river. As Sid Vicious dances in the foreground.

1987

  • The 1987 film Wall Street, with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, features the WTC in numerous scenes, especially the opening credits which has a number of sepia shots lingering on the towers and also features the WTC's PATH escalator bank.
  • Coming to America, 1987, features a good night-time sequence of the towers when Akeem gives away a large sum of money to tramps Randolph and Mortimer (now bankrupt since the end of 'Trading Places').
  • The poster for the 1987 Michael Keaton workplace comedy The Squeeze features Keaton sandwiched between the Twin Towers, as a hand squeezes them together.
  • The movie Cocktail shows the towers clearly visible in the New York skyline as the main character is returning to the city
  • The final scene of the 1987 film *batteries not included pans out from the Riley apartment, it is seen to sit between two towers of the proposed office development. These are the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and its surrounding plaza.

1988

  • The 1988 film Big Business as the movie jumps to the present, the slats of the nursery crib dissolve to feature the Twin Towers.

1989

  • The 1989 film The Dream Team features Michael Keaton, playing a pathological liar, pointing out the Trade Center, saying, "You see those two towers? World Trade Center. I was an architect working on them. First they just wanted to build one but I said, 'Hey, fellas, we're here - What the hell, let's throw another one up'. Turned out pretty well, didn't it?"
  • The 1989 film Ghostbusters 2 features many New York cityscapes in which the WTC can be seen, including two very prominent shots. In one scene Dan Aykroyd's character Ray Stantz accidentally causes a blackout and the lights in all of New York City, including the WTC, go out. Another notable shot is when Peter MacNicol's character Janosz Poha takes on the form of an old woman ghost and flies through the New York City skyline to steal a child as part of the chief villain's grand plan. The original Ghostbusters movies also contains a couple of shots with the World Trade Center in the background.
  • The 1989 film Back to the Future II features a view across New York harbour of the WTC towers in 2015 on the cable TV station "The Scenery Channel".

The 1989 film She-Devil briefly features the Twin Towers in the background while Ruth Patchett (Roseanne Barr) is looking for office space in New York City.

1990-1999

  • In the 1993 film Super Mario Bros., the Twin Towers become the "Koopa Towers" in the film's parallel dimension, which is a dinosaur-laden Manhattan run by antagonist King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). The North Tower features a sharpened top while the South Tower is unfinished with a jagged top. Both are adorned with Koopa's signature "K" symbol . Both have rather demonic looks to them. The towers briefly replace the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan when the two worlds are merged for a short time.
  • In the 1995 film Die Hard: With a Vengeance, the towers can be seen behind behind McClane and Zeus as they are jogging away from Wall Street and later when Zeus looks up at the 1 World Trade Center and 2 World Trade Center, they are clearly zoomed in on.
  • In the 1995 film The Indian in the Cupboard, the twin towers appear twice. One of the scenes is a filler shot directed at the Twin Towers and Lower Manhattan's skyline. The other shot shows a little boy walking on a New York street with the World Trade Center in the background.
  • In the 1996 movie Independence Day, The WTC appear several times in the New York skyline, as a large alien ship enters the city. Ironically, they are the tallest remnants of a ruined New York in a later shot with a toppled Statue of Liberty in the foreground.
  • In the 1997 movie Antz, the opening shot shows what appears the New York skyline including the World Trade Center, but what turns out to actually be grass. At the ending shot of the movie, the camera pans out of the anthill, which is located in Central Park. The real New York City skyline appears in the background including the Twin Towers, appearing closer than they actually are (In real life you can't see the Twin Towers from Central Park unless you are high above it). The Twin Towers (a real picture of them) appear on the movie poster, along with the Empire State Building.
  • In the 1997 science fiction film Men in Black, the Twin Towers are in the background of the scene on the turnpike where the agents intercept the fleeing extraterrestrial family (one of whom gives birth). The finale of its 2002 sequel, Men in Black II, was set to take place atop one of the WTC buildings. Due to the fate of the towers, however, this was modified prior to release.
  • In the 1997 action film, Daylight, the towers are seen several times in establishing shots and the theatrical trailer as well.
  • In the 1997 made-for-television film Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing chronicled the events leading up to and shortly after the 1993 attack.
  • In the 1998 film Godzilla The World Trade Center appears 15 times in the background and shots of the city, including one where lightning hits the antenna of the North Tower.
  • In the 1998 TV movie Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, the Twin Towers are shown numerous times in the opening credits. After the earthquake, a TV Reporter from a news chopper is reporting the damage, the Two Towers had a few small fires on them, and the TV Reporter said "They look good. They're both still standing." They also appear in the ending behind the Statue of Liberty which was under reconstruction.
  • In the 1998 disaster film Armageddon, the World Trade Center is seen several times when a meteor shower causing widespread chaos in New York City. From a ground view, the World Trade Center is seen as flaming meteors fly over the rooftops. In another shot, when meteors fly over South Manhattan, a small meteor slams into one of the towers. When the carnage ends, a large shot shows the World Trade Center one more time. The South Tower's top ten or so floors are on fire, and a gaping hole can be seen in the North Tower's mid-section as several buildings and several of New York City's boroughs are seen blazing. Fire sirens are heard in the background.
  • The 1998 film The Siege features the WTC in the background.
  • The 1998 disaster film Deep Impact A comet hits the earth, causing a huge tsunami that hits the east coast. The Twin Towers appeared four times in this scene. The first appearance is when they show the New York City skyline with the Twin Towers before the wave hits Liberty Island. Right after the wave hits Liberty Island, the wave hits the New York Financial District, knocking over several highrises. The Twin Towers appear on the top right corner of the screen. Right after this scene, the camera points to the Twin Towers from street level as the wave engulfs them. At the end of the tsunami scene the water recedes, and the Twin Towers can be seen poking out of the water, with one collapsed against the other.
  • According to his Oscar speech, Alan Ball was sitting at the World Trade Center plaza when he saw a paper bag floating in the wind and was inspired by it to write the film American Beauty (1999).
  • The 1999 film The Matrix, Morpheus describes where Neo has gone by entering him into the Matrix system. He shows a scene from NY in a Matrix TV including the WTC before the 200 years prior to Neo's coming, to what the towers looked like 200 years later. The towers lost a heavy amount of concrete like most NYC buildings, but they were still both standing.
  • The 1999 film Bicentennial Man, the future New York showed the WTC three times its height.
  • The 1999 film Stuart Little, showed the Twin Towers several times at night.

2000-present

  • The 2000 film Little Nicky's poster and VHS/DVD covers show the World Trade Center in the background of Adam Sandler and Mr. Beefy (a Bulldog) sitting on a bench in Central Park.
  • The Twins are seen in the opening of the TV-mini series the 10th Kingdom, (2000). The opening shows New York City crumbleing into mountains, waterfalls and castles. The Empire State Building crumbles and turns into a mountain, the Plaza Hotel teraforms into a majestic Castle, and the Twin Towers, seen 4 times, in the opening, an aerial, from the Brookyln Bridge, and finally from the east river, where a Giant jumps over the Brooklyn Bridge, 7 World Trade Center crumbles to the ground, while the Twin Towers shrink down.
  • In the 2000 film X-Men, the Twin Towers can briefly be seen at nighttime during the final fight between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants at the Statue of Liberty. It was more prominently featured on one the posters that were released for the film.
  • The 2001 documentary Startup.com features a shot of the Twin Towers as a scene concludes.
  • The 2001 movie The Family Man, takes place in the New York, and shows the Lower Manhattan skyline a few times, which included the Twin Tower since the movie was released six months before their destruction on September 11.
  • In the 2001 Steven Spielberg film Artificial Intelligence: A.I., the towers were shown standing in the year 2142 where global warming has flooded many cities including New York City. Then, they are seen again, in the year 4142, many years after humanity has ceased to exist, this time covered in glacial ice but where one of the few buildings standing above the ice. Less than three months after the release, the towers were destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Although risking controversy and criticism, Steven Spielberg left the towers in the DVD release.
  • The 2001 film American Pie 2 features Shannon Elizabeth's character, Nadia, calling Jason Biggs' character, Jim, from a payphone in New York City, with the towers in the background. In reality, the scene was shot in Los Angeles and the towers were digitally inserted in post-production. The film was released in August 2001, making it possibly the last major film showing the towers to be released prior to their destruction on September 11, 2001.

Post-9/11

  • In the 2001 comedy Zoolander, the Twin Towers were digitally removed from one shot and obscured in another shot. Zoolander was released on September 28th, 2001, a mere 17 days after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
  • In Spider-Man (2002), the towers receive a few discreet cameos throughout the movie. The film's original trailer showed a web spun by Spider-Man between the two towers and was withdrawn after the attacks, although the towers did appear briefly in Spider-man's eyes, and towards the end of the movie when he climbed up the American International Building.
  • The 2002 Spike Lee film 25th Hour directly incorporates the ruins of the Twin Towers. The opening credits are shown over views of the Tribute in Light, and one scene takes place at the apartment of Frank Slaughtery, which overlooks the site.
  • The end segments of the movie Vanilla Sky feature the Twin Towers still standing in the panoramic city background. This is plausible as the ending scene to this movie, it is revealed, is created from the lead character's memory. If he remembers the Twin Towers to still be standing, then they would still appear in the skyline.
  • The camera lingers on the Twin Towers at the beginning of a scene in 2002's "City by the Sea."
  • The first 9/11 dramatization, 2002's Stairwell: Trapped In The World Trade Center, showed a number of different shots of the towers. The footage was shot in 1999 and was originally going to be used in a movie about the 1993 bombing. The movie, entitled Hellevator, was shelved after the September 11 attacks.
  • The 2004 film Miracle, set in 1979 and 1980, features a digitally re-inserted shot of the towers just prior to the USA hockey team's exhibition game against the USSR at Madison Square Garden. Ironically, the buildings of the World Financial Center, which would not be build for several years, are also included in the shot.
  • The towers are the focus of the last shot of Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich. A period film ending in 1973, the towers' presence served as a reminder that the troubles in the Middle East depicted in the film had not ended by 2001, when the Word Trade Center was destroyed, or by 2005, when the movie was released.
  • In the poster for the 2006 film United 93, the Twin Towers can be seen just under the Statue of Liberty's crown. As they were on 9/11, the North Tower was on fire and a plane, United Airlines Flight 175, is heading towards the South Tower. In the film itself, the towers are the last glimpse of Manhattan caught by the passengers (most notably the lead hijacker, played by Lewis Alsamari), through a plane window as the flight departs Newark International Airport. While the intact complex was digitally re-inserted into the skyline, its destruction was shown through actual news footage.
  • The 2006 movie Click, starring Adam Sandler, features a futuristic wedding scene with a futuristic version of the Twin Towers in the background, which was actually two Freedom Tower's, the final design for the main tower of the new World Trade Center.
  • Oliver Stone directed World Trade Center (released on August 9, 2006), the first feature-length film about the attacks on the Twin Towers themselves. It stars Nicolas Cage as Port Authority police officer John McLoughlin, one of the first men called to the scene of the 9/11 attacks. This movie has received much controversy, just like United 93. Although it's the second film about the September 11th attacks to be released to theaters (following United 93), it is the first dramatic non-documentary film based on 9/11.
  • Pakistani director Shoaib Mansoor directed the movie Khuda Ke Liye (In the name of God) released on July 20, 2007. The movie revolves around a Pakistani young man who goes to the US for higher education. During his study years, the event of 9/11 takes place where the World Trade Center is turned into dust. In a long array of investigations and arrests, the young man gets arrested by the American authorities. The film is about the difficult situation in which the Pakistanis in particular and the Muslims in general are caught up since 9/11. There is a war going on between the Fundamentalists and the Liberal Muslims. This situation is creating a drift not only between the Western world and the Muslims, but also within the Muslims. The educated and modern Muslims are in a difficult situation because of their approach towards life and their western attire. They are criticized and harassed by the fundamentalists and on the other hand the Western world sees them as potential suspects of terrorism just because of their Muslim names.
  • The 2007 movie The Kingdom, the opening sequnce revolves around the history of U.S. involvement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including Terrorist Attacks during the 90's. A map is shown during the sequence showing America as the #1 Oil consumer in 2000, America Rises like a bar graph and soon turns into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, with United Airlines Flight 175 heading torwards it. The screen blanks and quickly shows the Island of Manhattan with the World Trade Center site on fire.

Movie Posters

Television

  • A daytime shot of the New York City skyline, including the Twin Towers, opens every episode of the 1970s-80s sitcom Barney Miller.
  • A nighttime shot of the Twin Towers (and the Lower Manhattan skyline) is used in the opening credits of Night Court (1984-1992).
  • In an episode of the sitcom Full House, (1987 – 1995) Stephanie is at home waiting for her date for a school dance to pick her up. She suddenly starts playing with some building blocks and eventually makes the Manhattan skyline. When Danny (Bob Saget) enters and sees what she's made, he comments' "The New York skyline. Wow, the World Trade Center looks as tall as ever."
  • The Twin Towers and the skyline of Lower Manhattan are seen in the opening credits of Mad About You (1992 - 1999). The entire series was filmed long before the 2001 terrorist attacks.
  • The Twin Towers are seen in the opening credits of NewsRadio (1995 - 1999). They first appear behind Dave Foley's name, and appear again in the distance behind Phil Hartman's name.
  • In some episodes of Iron Chef (1993 – 1999) where Masaharu Morimoto is chosen to battle, a brief shot of the World Trade Center is in the montage that accompanies him.
  • In the 1994 animated series Gargoyles the Twin Towers are seen in a few episodes as well as the 3rd Season Opening of The Goliath Chronicles.
  • The Twin Towers made one very brief appearance in the Family Matters (1989 – 1998) episode "Fa La La La Laagghh!" After Carl turned on the Christmas light decoration on the Winslow's house, a malfunction (thanks to Steve?) results in a power outage. First, the Winslow's home goes out, then a row of family homes, then Lower Manhattan, and finally, the entire world. Steve then says "Look what you did."
  • The Twin Towers appear briefly in the opening Sequence for Sister, Sister (1994-1999) for the earlier seasons.
  • In the United States version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, (1999 – present) the Twin Towers were shown twice in the opening credits (from 1999 until after 9/11).
  • The ABC series SportsNight (1998 – 2000) often used an establishing shot of the New York skyline in which the Twin Towers were the focal point, implying that the studios were in the Towers.
  • In the UK comedy series "My Hero", (2000 – 2005) George Sunday (Thermoman) flies in between the World Trade Center on several occasions to visit his cousin Arnie.
  • The Twin Towers were seen in the opening credits for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999 - present) for the first two seasons. After the attacks, they were replaced with generic shots of New York skyscrapers at the request of NBC.
  • The pilot of the TV series The Lone Gunmen, first aired March 4, 2001, had the gunmen thwarting a plot to fly a jet into the World Trade Center. In the episode, a faction of the U.S. government is behind the plot; they hope to blame the attack on another country's dictator and use it as an excuse to start a war with him. Transcript of pilot episode
  • The episode of Matlock entitled The Game Show features a shot of the Twin Towers at night towards the end of the opening credits.
  • In the Northern Exposure episode The Quest, Dr Joel Fleischman returns to New York. He's standing at the rail of the Statten Island Ferry which is covered in fog. As the fog clears, the Twin Towers become visible in the distance. Cable channel A&E aired this episode (the second last NX episode A&E aired) on Thursday, September 13, 2001.
  • The opening credits of the first three seasons of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos (1999 – 2007) featured a shot of the World Trade Center as seen from the rear view mirror of Tony Soprano's SUV, as he enters the New Jersey Turnpike. In later seasons, after 9/11, the sequence was replaced with a new view of the Manhattan skyline in which the Word Trade Center is absent. Among the things Tony later discloses to his psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi as contributing to his depression is "this whole 9/11 thing."
  • The TV series Third Watch, (1999 – 2005) set in New York, featured many shots of the Towers during the show's first 2 seasons. One final shot appeared in the episode September 10th, set the day before the attacks.
  • Several shots of the Twin Towers appear in the introduction and several establishing shots of New York City, some episodes, all including the Twin Towers, for Friends (1994 - 2004) over the first seven seasons (1994 - 2001). Pictures of the Manhattan Skyline featuring the WTC also feature on many DVD cases, and DVD Box Set cases. [4] As every season the Opening sequence slightly changes with a new shot of the skyline with the title card, some seasons showed the Twin Towers, other the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. Yet, as of 2007 the Twin Towers are still shown in establishing shots throughout the show and have not been edited out.
  • In Eurosport`s Olympic Magazine commercial, few seconds of beginning of north tower collapse are shown.
  • In Star Trek: Enterprise, (2001 – 2005) an image of the Twin Towers burning was visible in a panorama of historical images present in the timestream, when Daniels informed Jonathan Archer that time had been altered and set back on course. (ENT: "Storm Front, Part II")
  • The 2004 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) PPV, Wrestlemania XX had a model version of the future of New York City in the early going of the PPV, in which included the currently under construction Freedom Tower for what it may look like when it's complete, sending out a message to the Spirit of New York.
  • In Rescue Me's (2004 – present) first season, the main character of Tommy Gavin has several flashbacks to 9/11, both before and after the towers fall. In addition, 9/11 is mentioned through the entire season as four firefighters were lost on that day. One of them appears in almost every episode as a vision to Tommy. Also, Rescue Me takes credit as the first and (as of July 2006), the only TV show to show a dramatized depiction of the events of 9/11.
  • In a 2005 episode of Lost the Twin Towers are seen out of the window of a New York solicitor's office. They were digitally inserted to show the time frame of then and the present day.

Cartoons and anime

  • In the 1985 cartoon M.A.S.K., an episode entitled "Attack on Liberty" leads Matt Trakker to Miles Mayhem's current hideout - 3/4 of the way up the side of the North Tower. Hovering the Thunderhawk outside the window, Matt leaps through the window and confronts Miles, who later escapes and is pursued by Matt around the Statue of Liberty. Mayhem's plot circulated around destroying the Statue and creating a 9/11--style incident
  • The 1985 series Blue Comet SPT Layzner had its second "Season" set in a post-apocalyptic New York, with landmarks such as the WTC, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty being featured in brief glimpses.
  • The 1985 animated series Transformers has a shot of the WTC in the second season episode "City of Steel" when four autobots are crossing near the Statue of Liberty on their way to help the others.
  • In the same series, during the finale of season three, The Big Blow Out, as The Technodrome rampages through New York, Krang uses the Trade Center Towers as the basis of a conduit that will transmit enough energy to propel the Earth itself into Dimension X, where a fleet of war ships were waiting to destroy it.
  • In a 1994 episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show entitled Powdered Toastman vs. Waffle Woman, there is a scene where Powdered Toastman and his enemy Waffle Woman engage in a big fight. At one point, Waffle Woman gets out her Radioactive Poly-Therdal Syrup Launcher and fires it at PTM, who dodges the attack. The syrup lands on New York City, complete with the Twin Towers. After covering the city with goop for a few seconds, New York (and the Twin Towers) blows up.
  • The New York City skyline, prominently featuring the World Trade Center is seen in the opening title shot for The Critic, (1994 - 1995) but both of the towers feature an aerial, in real life only the North Tower featured an aerial. The Twin Towers where seen several times later in the show.
  • In the 1997 episode of The Simpsons (season 9) entitled The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, Homer is forced to deal with a mountain of parking tickets issued while his car sat illegally for months in the plaza of the WTC. Particular comic relief is provided when Homer, desperately needing to use the restroom, pushes people out of his way to get a ticket to the elevator into the towers and after pushing other people out of the elevator line to get to the elevator to ride to top of the South Tower only to discover the only working bathroom is in the North Tower, which he took the elevator for. You can see this because when Homer is going up the towers you can clearly hear the elevator rising and dinging at the top of both towers. Also in the episode, two men in opposite towers begin arguing with each other, which was tipped off after one proclaimed, "Sorry, they put all the jerks in Tower One." A man apparently residing a few floors above the brawling men (as evidenced by a clothesline strung across the towers) finally yells at them to shut up. This episode has been banned from showing in many countries, but is included in the season 9 boxset. However, some FOX affiliates continued to show the episode in syndication, including New York City's own WNYW Fox 5 airing the unaltered episode less than two weeks after the towers' collapses.
  • In the first episode of the 2001 fantasy anime OVA Read or Die, an aerial battle in Lower Manhattan which climaxes around the Statue of Liberty begins with a helicopter crash on the roof of one of the WTC towers. They are also prominent in the establishing and background shots.
  • In the 2001 anime Haré+Guu, the towers appear in Guu's "stomach".
  • In the (1999 - 2003) animated series Futurama the setting takes place in the year 3000 in New New York City. In first episode, Fry, Leela and Bender adventured to the forgotten and decaying ruins of Old New York (which was under now located under the sewers of New New York) The destroyed towers appeared in the background several times. In New New York City, A future version of the Twin Towers appear in the futuristic skyline, similar to the originals but with skybridges. After 9/11 the Towers remained.
  • In the special episode "The Tower Country" of Kino no Tabi (2005) the plot revolves around a tower which collapses in a similar way as the first of the Twin Towers.
  • The Animated Sitcom Family Guy episode entitled A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Bucks, Peter does a musical number with Meg across NYC, which had the Twin Towers. During the musical, Peter jumps off one of the towers and goes into match cut.
  • In the 2002 Family Guy episode Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows Brian performs a musical number to Pearl on how America has changed since the 1950s. Many cut scenes show places around the U.S., including a shot of the Twin Towers. When the episode Aired in 2002 on FOX the two towers were digitally erased, or technically, shortened. Other airings of this episode elsewhere show the Twin Towers intact.

Music

  • The song by The Notorious B.I.G., "Juicy" released in 1994 features the lyrics "blow up like the World Trade" in a reference to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. When the verse was sampled for the Jay-Z song, "A Dream" in 2002, the words "World Trade" were omitted.
  • The group Limp Bizkit feature the World Trade Center in their music video for the song "Rollin'" (2000). The band is shown on the South Tower, staging portions of the music video on its rooftop observation deck. The end of the video features a gradually distancing helicopter shot of the towers.
  • The video for the Spice Girls song "2 Become 1", released in 1997, features numerous night-time shots of the World Trade Center, from differing angles, throughout the duration of the clip.
  • The back cover for the album "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by the Bouncing Souls shows the Twin Towers, among other buildings, burning and being destroyed.[17] This album was released in May of 2001.
  • Rap group The Coup released an album in late 2001 called Party Music, whose original depicts explosions in the towers set off by a detonator. The cover was changed after the 9/11 attacks.
  • The cover of the Beastie Boys' sixth studio album, To the 5 Boroughs, is a drawing featuring the Twin Towers in a compressed New York skyline. [18] This album was released in 2004.
  • Dave Matthews Band was set to film a music video for their song "When the World Ends" from the album Everyday. The music video was supposed to feature lead singer Dave Matthews climbing a ladder to the top of a giant tower. The video idea and single were shelved after the 9/11 attacks and replaced by the more uplifting song "Everyday".
  • In Madonna's 1998 hit, Ray of Light, The Twin Towers where shown, briefly, 4 times in the Koyaanisqatsi inspired music video, two from street level and two aerial dusk shots.
  • A promotional video for Depeche Mode's video "Enjoy the Silence," features the band performing the song on the observation deck of the South Tower. This video is not, however, the official music video for the song.
  • The song "United Stand" on the Impelliterri album system X is about the two towers.
  • Rapper Jay-Z pays tribute to the dead of 9/11 attack in album Blueprint 2. He was also one of the first entertainers to also help out after the disaster, using his tour money as part of the donation.[citation needed]
  • Will Smith wrote a song titled "Why", which in the first verse of the song mentions him and his son watching the attacks on TV. He pressumably based it on what he and his son referenced on that day, with his son asking him "Why" and how could he explain it to him.
  • Rapper Pete Miser wrote a song titled "Might Be" which mentions the events of September 11, 2001. The song is featured on Pete Miser's album "Radio Free Brooklyn" which was released in 2002.
  • There are multiple shots of the twin towers in the music video 'to the moon and back' by savage garden.
  • The bottom of the twin towers appear in the music video for the gomez' song 'we haven't turned around.'
  • In Linkin Park's new 2007 single, What I've Done the video features many clips of Global Issues, a brief shot of the Lower Manhattan Skyline is shown with the Twin Towers, also scenes of 9/11 are shown later in the video.
  • In Bruce Springsteen's Song "Darlington County" (Born in the U.S.A. - Released 1984) a lyrical reference to the trade centers is made: "...Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers For a kiss and a smile I'll give mine all to you..."
  • The music video for "Worst Comes To Worst" by Dilated Peoples contains a shot with the Twin Towers in the background. The video was filmed before the attacks, but was released afterwards with a disclaimer stating that the artists meant no disrespect by including the image of the World Trade Center.
  • The Twin Towers were shown in the music video "Last Exit To Brooklyn" by very popular band Modern Talking. This music video was released in May of 2001.
  • I Am The World Trade Center, a music group active since 1999. After the September 11 attacks, the group briefly went by the name "I Am The World".

Comic books

  • Adventures of Superman #596 was released one day after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It depicted Metropolis after an alien attack, including Lex Luthor's twin LexTowers heavily damaged. The artist, Mike Wieringo remarked, "The book was completed months ago. The ironic thing is that the damage done by the terrorists is far greater than I could ever portray visually."[16] The book's writer, Joe Casey, could not have intentionally referenced the attacks on the World Trade Center, but DC acknowledged that it mirrored the devastation so vividly that they made the books returnable without penalty to retailers. Many retailers took DC up on this offer, causing the issue to become sought after on the secondary market due to its rarity and general curiosity towards the real-life synchronicity with the 9-11 attacks.
  • In 1982 Fantastic Four #242-243, the Fantastic Four fight Terrax in a battle atop the World Trade Center.
  • In 1985 The Uncanny X-Men #189 continued the alternate vision of the future first seen in the Days of Future Past storyline. Rachel Summers (who came from the future), while describing the dire future of the early 21st century, says "The twin towers of World Trade Center lie in ruins. Thousands are dead, many more injured". The accompanying image is of a somewhat futurized Twin Towers smouldering, after having been hit by an unknown attack.
  • In the 1989 Damage Control, the Twin Towers were damaged when a giant robot fell on them. Damage Control, a construction company that specialized in repairing superhero-related damage, had the towers repaired (although visibly crooked) by the end of the issue.
  • In the Mortadelo y Filemon comic "El 35 Aniversario" (The 35th Anniversary) appears an image of a plane that cracks in the WTC.
  • The 2004 comic Ex Machina detailed the life of Mitchell Hundred, formerly the world's first and only superhero, who was elected mayor of New York City in the wake of his saving hundreds of lives during the collapse of the North Tower, and in preventing the collapse of the South Tower.
  • Most of the Marvel Comics heroes reside in New York City, so views of the towers was not uncommon. Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) issue 36 showed the aftermath of the Tower's collapse through the eyes of the heroes, more specifically, Spider-Man's. Captain America (vol. 4) issue 1 had Steve Rogers arguing with Nick Fury when the former decided to stay and find survivors than head for Afghanistan.
  • Issues 1 and 2 of Valiant Comics's Game Boy comic series had two teenagers going through Manhattan Island, aiding Mario in rescuing Princess Daisy from the villainous Tatanga, the story concluding at the Windows of the World restaurant.
  • In the Aliens: Outbreak graphic novel, Hicks and Newt escape from a mental hospital using "Jet Rescue technology". It was "developed after the World Trade Center Smoked in '24".
  • "New York, New York" is a song composed and performed by American alt-country musician Ryan Adams. It appeared on his 2001 album Gold. The song's music video, showing Adams performing in front of the city's skyline, was filmed just four days before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Because of this, profits of the video went to a 9/11 charity.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Boxer, Sarah (February 4, 2002). "In Films, Twin Towers Had No Star Power". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Interview with Bill Pankow". Brian de Palma. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  3. ^ Padget, Jonathan (September 3, 2006). "When 'Godspell' Was on Top of the World". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ a b c Wells, Jeffrey (September 28, 2001). "Hollywood Confidential".
  5. ^ a b c d Mandell, Jonathan. "New York and Films". Gotham Gazette. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  6. ^ Wartofsky, Alona (January 27, 2002). "On-Screen, a City of Towering Achievement; Architect Explores New York's Stirring Roles". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "The King Leaks". Time Magazine. August 30, 1976.
  8. ^ Gordon, William A. (1995). Shot on This Site: A Travelers Guide to the Places and Locations Used to Film Famous Movies. Citadel Press. pp. p. 207. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  9. ^ Roeper, Richard (September 23, 2001). "When trading movies' places falls". Chicago Sun Times.
  10. ^ Kraft, Randy (September 3, 1995). "Circling Manhattan by Boat Offers Classic View of City". Chicago Sun-Times.
  11. ^ "The Hot Rock". DVD Verdict Review. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  12. ^ Berardinelli, James. "Review: Escape from New York". Reelviews. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  13. ^ O'Connor, John J. (December 28, 1982). "TV: 'Mazes and Monsters'". The New York Times.
  14. ^ Jaffe, Rona. "Mazes & Monsters". RPGnet.
  15. ^ a b c d "Game makers blot out signs of WTC tragedy". The Hollywood Reporter. September 19, 2001.
  16. ^ Watson, Donna (September 14, 2001). "Superman Comic Showed Attack". Scottish Daily Record.

Further reading

  • Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2004). Film and Television After 9/11. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 080932556X.
  • Sanders, James (2001). Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies. Knopf. ISBN 0394570626.
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