Actor Helps Launch Ride With a Bang

When Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up at a publicity event, brace yourself for more than press packets and speeches.

On Tuesday, the hulky star hosted one of the loudest, snazziest news conferences in theme park history when he came to Universal Studios Hollywood for a preview of the park’s newest attraction, Terminator 2: 3-D. The event, which began outside the attraction, featured stuntmen jumping from helicopters, actors gunning each other down with rat-a-tat-tat machine guns and a quick burst of fireworks. It was put on for a crowd of 420 guests, including journalists who had come from as far as Finland and Australia to get the first look at the $65-million ride.

One reason the publicity bonanza proved as adrenaline-pumping as the Terminator attraction itself was because it was created by the same people. A team of Universal ride designers spent the past six months planning and rehearsing the publicity event, said Eliot Sekuler, a Universal Studios spokesman.

The excitement peaked when Schwarzenegger materialized from behind a cloud of smoke.

Journalists gobbled it up.

“Look! It’s Arnold!” shouted Emmanuel Itier, a French magazine writer and movie producer. “This is cool.”

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Schwarzenegger, dressed in leather jacket and army pants and looking a little leaner than might be expected, said a few words about the attraction. Then he turned the mike over to George Thorogood who performed his signature song, “Bad to the Bone.” The music ended with a cloud of confetti exploding over the guests. Then they crowded into the theater to preview the attraction.

T-2: 3-D the ride picks up right where “Terminator 2” the film left off. Machines are trying to rule the world and Schwarzenegger destroys them one by one. The 3-D effects are convincing--more than a few guests at the preview ducked in their seats. And the action is heightened by a live-action element in which actors seemingly pop out of the movie screen and battle on stage.

The film component of the attraction features the same cast as the two “Terminator” movies and was directed by James Cameron, who wasn’t at the news conference because he is writing a new script, Universal executives said. The attraction, which officially opens May 6, is based on a similar one built at Universal’s theme park in Orlando, Fla., three years ago.

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In addition to Schwarzenegger, Tuesday’s preview included free T-shirts, sunglasses, key chains, frosted cinnamon rolls and gallons of juice.

Univeral executives would not say how much the event cost them but insisted it was worth it.

“We wanted to communicate to the public the same kind of visual impact that the attraction delivers,” Sekuler said. “And to tell you the truth, we have a tradition of opening things with a big bang.”