Hollywood Sign - Use in Popular Culture

Use in Popular Culture

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce claims trademark rights over the sign's image and demands license fees for commercial use. In several films and television shows, the Hollywood Sign is seen getting damaged or destroyed from the events of a particular scene. It is an example of national landmarks being destroyed, a common feature seen in many disaster movies to increase the drama and excitement. Examples include:

• On Beverly Hills, 90210, the graduating class of 1993 of West Beverly High, covers the sign with letters to read W BEV HI'93 in the third season finale "Commencement".
• In Superman: The Movie, the sign is seen falling over during an earthquake as a troop of girl scouts are hiking near by.
• In Heroes, Claire Bennett jumps off the famous sign in an attempt to showcase her power to boyfriend West.
• In Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After a parody version of the Hollywood sign is used, which says "Far Far Away" instead.
• In the Nickelodeon TV show Victorious, the Hollywood sign is often featured, as the show is set in Los Angeles.
• In Earthquake, a landslide causes the sign to topple down letter-by-letter during a megathrust earthquake.
• In The Day After Tomorrow film, a tornado is seen destroying the sign
• In 1941, a Japanese submarine attempting to attack Los Angeles after Pearl Harbor spots the sign, to the delight of the crew, who then use it as a navigation aid to target the city.
• In Austin Powers: Goldmember, Dr. Evil's lair is behind the Hollywood Sign.
• In Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the entrance to the underworld is behind the Hollywood sign.
• In Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks talk behind the Hollywoodland sign.
• In The Couch Trip, Walter Matthau, playing a suicidal panhandler, climbs to the top of the Hollywood sign.
• In The Hollywood Sign three men find the corpse of another man who was murdered and hidden in the grass, right next to the Hollywood Sign.
• In The Runaways, Joan and Cherie are seen drinking around the derelict Hollywood sign as it appeared in the mid-1970s.
• In British TV series Hustle, the team of con artists sell the sign to a crooked businessman for half a million dollars by posing as representatives of the "Hollywood Sign Commission", loosely based on the Sign Trust.
• In a special USA-themed episode of Screenwipe in 2006, host Charlie Brooker made a point to obscure the sign with a hand-held approximation rather than pay the fee to show it on television, noting that it cost nothing to call the copyright owners "a bunch of money-grubbing bastards".
• In the film Friends with Benefits, stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis can be seen in and around the sign being chased by police after they break into the area.
• The original sign, with the full "Hollywoodland", can be seen in the 2011 film The Artist.
• Film posters for the film Bean show titular character Mr. Bean carrying an "O" from the Hollywood Sign away from the sign, which now reads "Hollywod". The cover of the first VHS and DVD release of the film, as well as the soundtrack, feature the same image.
• In 90210, Jasper jumps off the sign to attempt suicide.
• In The Rocketeer, the LAND section of the original HOLLYWOODLAND sign is destroyed by the film's villain, Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton), when he crashes into it while trying to escape with the rocket, giving an alternate reason for the sign's change from HOLLYWOODLAND to HOLLYWOOD.
• In one of the trailers for Beavis and Butt-head Do America, Butt-head blocks part of the Hollywood sign from view with his arm, so it says "WOOD", which is slang for erection.
• At the end of the episode of Yakkity Yak, "As the Worm Turns", the Hollywood Sign is being eaten up by the episode’s "talking wood worm".
• The sign is also parodied at least twice in Rocko’s Modern Life; first in the double episode "I Have No Son!", and second in the double episode "Wacky Delly".
• In the Rockstar Games computer game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V, there is a "Vinewood" sign in Mulholland, Los Santos based on the Hollywood sign.
• In the Electronic Arts computer game Need for Speed Underground 2, there is a "Bayview" sign based on the Hollywood sign.
• In The Simpsons, the city of Springfield has a parody Hollywood sign for the city.
• In Hop, the entrance to Hollywood from the rabbit hole is underneath the Hollywood sign.
• In the musical film Rock of Ages, Drew finds Sherrie at the Hollywood sign, and they duet on "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".
• A helicopter flies in front of the Hollywood sign during a car chase in The Italian Job.
• In 2011, Team Bondi's video game LA Noire, an old version of Hollywood sign (Hollywoodland) was used, as the game is set in 1947.
• The sign is shown in its deteriorated state in the movie Argo, set in January 1980, two years after the restoration was completed.