Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

One World Trade Center in popular culture

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Since its construction began, One World Trade Center has been seen in many films, TV series and video games, while under construction. The tower began construction in 2006 and lasted until 2013. Films, TV shows and video games released from 2006 to 2013 will show the tower under construction, unless they were released during this period but set at a later date; e.g. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which shows the tower completed.

Contents

Under construction

  • The tower is seen under construction in the 2014 BBC documentary Genesis: Together and Apart about the English rock band Genesis and its members' solo projects.
  • The tower is seen under construction in the 2012 film The Avengers, the finale of which takes place in New York City. The alternate opening sequence features a prolonged shot of Lower Manhattan with One World Trade Center in view. This footage was shot in the spring of 2011.
  • In the 2009 comedy Julie & Julia, Julie Powell (portrayed by Amy Adams) works for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), where she fields complaints from people who dislike the tower's design. The new construction and the footprints of the old towers are shown.
  • The tower is seen under construction in the 2012 film The Dictator during a helicopter tour of New York City.
  • At the end of the 2012 film Men in Black 3, when main character Agent J (portrayed by Will Smith) stands atop the Chrysler Building, the tower can be seen under construction as the camera pans across the city.
  • The unfinished tower can be seen in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises as part of the Gotham City skyline.
  • The uncompleted tower is seen in the Doctor Who episode "The Angels Take Manhattan", which was released and set in 2012.
  • The unfinished tower is seen in the Transformers: Prime episode "Flying Mind", which was released and set in 2012.
  • The unfinished tower is seen in the scene of The Amazing Race 21, where its final three teams went to New York City and was shown on montage; this was filmed in summer 2012.
  • The uncompleted tower is seen in the opening titles of the second Storage Wars spin-off, Storage Wars: New York, which premiered in 2013.
  • The uncompleted tower is seen in the first scene of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which premiered in 2013.
  • The unfinished tower is featured in the Saturday Night Live 38th season opening sequence.
  • The half completed tower can be seen in the 2013 comedy The Heat.
  • The building is shown being around two-thirds complete two different times in Delivery Man; it was released in 2013, but the film is set in 2011.
  • One World Trade Center (with the unfinished interior) was seen at night in a Blimp flyby of Lower Manhattan during a Monday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants on October 21, 2013.
  • The tower is shown at various stages of completion throughout the TV series Person of Interest. There is an annotation referring to a no-fly zone around the top of the building.
  • Some footage of the tower's construction can be seen in the first promo for the channel Discovery Family.
  • Shots of the tower under construction are seen in the TruTV series Impractical Jokers.
  • The tower is occasionally seen in episodes of the TV Land series Younger.

    • Completed

  • Most recently, the 2015 DreamWorks film Home shows the completed One World Trade Center at the end of the film, along with the Statue of Liberty.
  • Puzz-3D has recently released 3D puzzles of One World Trade Center in 2013 — along with the Metal Earth one before — but in all those 3D puzzles the tower is depicted as complete.
  • The top of the One World Trade Center has also been in Japanese film Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno, with the other skyscrapers in New York City. The introduction of the painting by Van Gogh take place in Times Square.
  • A version of the One World Trade Center, set in 2023, is seen in Crysis 2. The game was released in 2011, when the tower was still under construction.
  • The completed One World Trade Center is seen during the final montage as "America the Beautiful" is performed during the opening of WWE WrestleMania XX, which took place in New York City, albeit the version of the tower seen here is of the original 'shard' design before the current design was chosen.
  • A potential future of the One World Trade Center, set in 2010–11, was seen and talked about in the anime Eden Of The East.
  • The completed tower can be seen, along with the other completed World Trade Center towers, in the 2011 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which is set in 2016.
  • An animation of the Lower Manhattan skyline, including the completed tower and World Trade Center site, is seen when the circus arrives in New York City in the 2012 film Madagascar 3.
  • Two duplicate One World Trade Center towers are seen completed in the future New York skyline in the 2030s in the 2006 film Click.
  • The completed tower can be seen, along with the other completed World Trade Center towers, in the 2008 film Babylon A.D., where the High Priestess has her office in 2 World Trade Center.
  • The completed tower is seen in a war-torn Manhattan in the year 2026 in the Fringe episodes "The Last Sam Weiss" and "The Day We Died". It seems to show that in the series' universe, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was not dedicated until 2021; in reality, the memorial was dedicated in 2011. It is later seen at various points in the fifth season, set in a dystopian 2036. Throughout the season, the tower is depicted without the 408-foot spire.
  • The completed tower is seen in the pilot of Golden Boy, which is probably set in 2020.
  • In the 2013 sci-fi epic Oblivion, the fully completed new tower and World Trade Center in 2017 is shown as viewed from the top of the Empire State Building, in a flashback of New York City prior to a war which ravages the city and entire planet. The scene is prevalent and recurrent throughout the film. The finished building is also seen submerged in giant sand dunes several times throughout the film.
  • The completed One World Trade Center tower is shown in the logo for Super Bowl XLVIII, which was played at the conclusion of the 2013 NFL season on February 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area.
  • The completed tower is shown on the poster for New York Comic Con 2013 with Superman and Wonder Woman. The poster also features the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.
  • The tower appears in the music video of Justin Timberlake's song, "Not a Bad Thing".
  • The tower and 4 World Trade Center are seen in the 2014 comedy film The Other Woman.
  • The tower is featured as a part of the New York skyline in the Spider-Man reboot sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
  • The tower is seen in many shots of The Blacklist.
  • The tower is seen in the 2015 film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water in a parody montage of SpongeBob and Patrick walking across the world, a wide shot then reveals Sandy, who pulls the card with the tower on it to the back of the pile of world cities.
  • The tower and complex appear in the 2014 film Birdman. It also appears in the spoof in-universe trailer for Birdman Returns released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, despite the fact that the fictional movie is set and released in 1992.
  • The tower, along with various other buildings, appears on the album cover of Sonic Highways, the eighth studio album by the Foo Fighters.
  • In the book Everlost, two of the characters note how fuzzy the tower, which is in the living world, looks compared to the Twin Towers, which are in Everlost.
  • The opening sequence for CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert shows the tower in several shots.
  • The tower is seen in the 2015 film Ted 2.
  • The tower can be seen in several episodes of Mozart in the Jungle.
  • In the ABC thriller series Quantico, the tower is seen along with the 4 World Trade Center in the background at the end of the pilot episode, with the chaos ensuing from the Grand Central Terminal bombing along with the FBI manhunt for the suspected terrorist of the attack (Alex Parrish).
  • The tower can be seen in the Manhattan skyline in the 2016 video game Tom Clancy's The Division.
  • The tower appears in the music video of Sigala and John Newman's song Give Me Your Love.
  • A night scene of the Lower Manhattan skyline appears in Bebe Rexha and Nicki Minaj's music video for the song No Broken Hearts, showing Bebe sitting on a swing swinging back and forth, with the tower in the background.
  • An animation of the New York skyline, including the tower appears in a few shots of the 2016 film The Secret Life of Pets.
  • The tower can occasionally be seen in some shots of the Freeform TV series Baby Daddy.
  • One World Trade Center can occasionally be seen in some skyline shots in the NBC drama series Blindspot.
  • The completed tower can be seen in many scenes of the 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange, including in the film's theatrical release poster.
  • A night scene of the tower appears in the beginning and ending of Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello's music video for the song Bad Things.

    • References

    One World Trade Center in popular culture Wikipedia
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