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I have seen the below balcony in many movies.

Is it an actual place? Where is it?

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows:

In Men in Black 3:

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1 Answers1

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Whether each of those shots is real or a model on green screen is probably not at issue.

The building itself is real. It's the Chrysler Building, on Manhattan Island, New York City.

I guess the reasons it appears so often in movies are

  1. It could be one of the most photogenic buildings in existence. There aren't too many true art deco skyscrapers around.

  2. It's got gargoyles and a hell of a drop!

Even if they're not on the building itself, they sure do like to show it in the background…

enter image description here

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Just for a bit of added anecdote and because I love this photo, this is Oscar Graubner's picture of the building's official photographer — Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building c. 1934.

This one is definitely not done on green screen!

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After comments:

She's holding her camera — they didn't have iPhones in those days ;)

Here's another pic showing greater detail. For the camera buffs, I think it might be a Graflex*, an early SLR [Single Lens Reflex] camera, which is why she looks into the top of it to see out of the actual lens on the front, but I'm really not certain of the model…

* Link is to Google Images search

enter image description here

Konrad Rudolph
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Tetsujin
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    What is she holding? – Kyslik May 28 '18 at 06:24
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    Her camera - possibly a Graflex - close-up added, source unknown – Tetsujin May 28 '18 at 06:32
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    Great answer, and wow, Margaret Bourke-White is really interesting. "She was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded [in WW2]. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy, she then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera... 'The woman who had been torpedoed in the Mediterranean, strafed by the Luftwaffe, stranded on an Arctic island, bombarded in Moscow... was known to the Life staff as 'Maggie the Indestructible.' " – user56reinstatemonica8 May 28 '18 at 07:59
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    For context, the eagles/gargoyles can be seen in the shot of the Silver Surfer — they're the bits you can see jutting out to the sides of the building about 3/4 of the way down the frame. – Michael Seifert May 28 '18 at 14:16
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    in The Sorcerer's Apprentice it comes alive. In this clip you can see it for example – Ivo May 28 '18 at 14:27
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    @user568458 Thanks for that info about Margaret Bourke-White! Someone needs to make a movie about her! And "Maggie the Indestructible" is a fanstastic title!! – BrettFromLA May 28 '18 at 14:44
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    @BrettFromLA - someone did - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097834/?ref_=nv_sr_5 – Tetsujin May 28 '18 at 15:00
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    Note that the Chrysler Building is easily within eyeshot of the Empire State Building. Depending on the angle of the shot, the absence of the latter may be a dead giveaway that a scene is fake. Or it may just mean that they happen to be shooting northish or eastish. – Kevin May 28 '18 at 15:41
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    That shot of Bourke-White gives me vertigo -- but I wonder -- where was Graubner standing when he took it? – A. I. Breveleri May 29 '18 at 01:52
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    I know she built a 120m scaffold for part of the photography... but as that's only half the height of the building, maybe it was built out from the building rather than from the ground. The 2nd pic still looks pretty high up to me. It could be from that. – Tetsujin May 29 '18 at 06:16
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    @A.I.Breveleri: There are actually two eagles on each corner of the building; see this picture. So I suspect that Graubner was simply at the base of the neck of the other eagle on that corner of the building. – Michael Seifert May 29 '18 at 14:12
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    And if anyone is wondering, Bourke-White is facing southwest, and the shot is taken facing northwest. The building in the background is 30 Rockefeller Plaza (then known as the RCA Building.) Nowadays, that view would be blocked by the MetLife Building. – Michael Seifert May 29 '18 at 14:19
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    And, as one would expect, Peter Parker is on the gargoyle in Sam Raimi's Spiderman: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/guide/spider-mans-movie-guide-to-the-real-new-york-city/ – Taladris May 29 '18 at 14:42
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    @MichaelSeifert - Ahaah! That simple. Never realised they were in pairs. – Tetsujin May 29 '18 at 15:09
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    That first photo of Bourke-White is ... WOW! I'm not particularly fond of urban landscapes, and neither of huge cities, but that photo is breathtaking and immersive (and it doesn't need 3D technology :-). A true work of art! – LorenzoDonati4Ukraine-OnStrike May 29 '18 at 19:42
  • If you're a bit generous with the term "skyscraper", Tulsa has several Art Deco buildings in the teens-20's of stories (instead of 77). 167ft, 225ft, 320ft. Art Deco was the going style when the oil money first started pouring into the city. – T.E.D. May 30 '18 at 14:22
  • I was gonna say, as soon as I saw the first couple of pictures..........that's definitely the Chrysler Building. Repeating what most other comments/answers say. – MissouriSpartan May 31 '18 at 18:46