By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A fire that damaged iconic movie sets, a popular "King Kong" attraction and forced Universal Studios film and TV studio on Sunday to shut its popular theme park for the day, was largely under control after 12 hours of burning, fire officials said.


About 500 firefighters from several Los Angeles-area fire departments battled the blaze, which caused no fatalities but left 9 firefighters and a deputy sheriff injured, said L.A. County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson.

He said the backlot fire was now contained to a single structure -- the "King Kong" exhibit -- as firefighters used bulldozers to move burning videotapes and other flaming debris.

The blaze destroyed about five structures within a faux New York exhibit used in various movies and television shows, including one sound stage. Also damaged was the "King Kong" attraction, a famous alley from "The Sting" and a set from "Back to the Future."

Universal, one of the world's six major film studios, is operated by NBC Universal Inc., which is 80-percent owned by General Electric Co. and 20 percent by French communications and utility company Vivendi.

After earlier stating the nearby theme park and popular CityWalk shopping center would open at noon, company officials changed courses by around 2:45 p.m. (5:00 p.m. EDT), saying both would remain shut to give firefighters and maintenance personnel access to fire and clean-up operations.

Universal said it would resume its normal business hours Monday at 10 a.m., when all rides and attractions, including the studio tour, would be operational.

Sunday's taping of the popular MTV Movie Awards at the adjacent Gibson Amphitheater, was not affected.

The fire caused traffic jams for miles in all directions to the studio, where a building housing a video vault had been badly damaged and the vault itself was "compromised."

A Universal spokeswoman said about 40,000 to 50,000 videos had been damaged but the studios either had copies of those films or could easily copy them.

The contents of a second vault holding master copies of older and classic movies were salvaged.

"Nothing irreplaceable was lost," said Ron Meyer, Universal Studios' president and chief operating officer.

The studio said the full damage had not yet been assessed.

1990 FIRE: THE SEQUEL

Sunday's fire burned some of the same back-lot areas destroyed by a blaze in 1990, which whipped through the New York Street and a set used for "Ben Hur." It took years to rebuild at an estimated cost of $50 million.

L.A. County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs said the blaze was first reported around 4:45 a.m., but it was not immediately clear what started it.

Firefighters encountered explosions from propane tanks and called in helicopters at one point to drop water.

Universal Studios is bounded by the City of Los Angeles and communities like Burbank. It is home to the Universal Pictures movie lot and Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.

Several acres on the 230-acre (93-hectare) back-lot area, where films and TV shows are produced, were burned, but the theme park was largely unaffected.

Universal Studios Hollywood houses attractions such as "Revenge of the Mummy - The Ride" and "Shrek 4-D." Its "CityWalk" mall has 65 restaurants, nightclubs and shops.

Universal Pictures, with a history dating back to 1909, has been a major producer of hit films, and tapped a young Steven Spielberg to make 1975's "Jaws." The director still houses his production company, Amblin Entertainment, on the lot.

Other hit Universal titles have included the "Back to the Future" and "Jurassic Park" movies.

(Additional reporting by Bob Tourtellotte, editing by Eric Walsh)

© Copyright 2008 Reuters.

Photo:
Firefighters work amongst the debris after a fire raged out of control at the backlot filled with movie sets at Universal Studios in Universal City, Los Angeles, June 1, 2008. REUTERS/Andrew Gombert/Pool