Universal Hollywood To Open Rebuilt Sets In Summer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Universal Studios Hollywood says that most of the sets destroyed last June when a fire ripped through part of its back lot will reopen this summer.

Production will resume in midsummer on the rebuilt New York streetscape -- featured in "Spider-Man 2" and "Transformers" -- plus Courthouse Square and Brownstone Street, a studio press release said.

Roofers using a blowtorch accidentally started the fire June 1. The blaze also destroyed the King Kong attraction and a video vault.

New sets including a London-based street and a modern urban cityscape will also open.

No announcement has been made on rebuilding King Kong. The vault is under construction.

General Electric Co. said in its fourth-quarter earnings report that media subsidiary NBC Universal Inc.'s film and parks unit reported a $225 million gain from insurance benefits relating to the fire.