The Batmobile here comes in classic Tim-Burton-films or 1966 TV show and a Bat-Pod Motorcycle from the Nolan era. Batmobiles of different times are just some of the iconic collection on view spanning multiple studios and decades or maybe 100's of year as sizable chunk of the collection is from future dystopias.
They have two cars from Mad Max: Fury Road, not far from a motorcycle only a T-1000 could ride. Along the wall in the back, you'll spot countless cars from Blade Runner: 2049.
What was fun was reading how many cars for sci-fi films were concept cars that never made it to market, but directors or someone else on the crew loved them so much that they were made for the movie. And these are cars designed by the real car makers, so some may seem way more authentic than others, because they really were dreams for some companies to be models that should be on our roads now.
Gimmicky and a little bit silly is the Microsoft HoloLens portion of the exhibit. Now, it's not the HoloLens 2, but it is a fun little time-waster. Called Hollywood Dream Machines: Worlds Reimagined it has you going over the Warthog from Halo and the time-traveling DeLorean from Back to The Future. You put on a visor, stand in designated spots and overlay in a square spot in your vision will give you info on the cars. A voice coming out of your visor also gives you details as you see them. It's all pre-recorded and there isn't much interaction other than moving your head. At this point a tour guide who knows their stuff is better.
It is nice to just look at memorable cars like the DeLorean that got Doc and Marty through their timelese adventures and right near it is a Tron cycle, from the sequel. Close-by is Luke's Landspeeder from the original Star Wars and a number of other cars from films and television that'll make you really still drive Night Rider. Let's go Kitt!
The silliest thing was the section of anime related toys next to the bike from Ghost in the Shell. We're not sure if they didn't put the sign up just yet, but it's pretty random without one. For someone who doesn't know anime, it makes very little sense why it's there. You can see the motorcycle from Akira with what we could only identify as Cloud Strife on some sort of motorcycle and a character from Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal. The bottom two were not identifiable with or general anime knowledge. Hopefully, a sign goes up explaining where the bikes are from and maybe a little note on the love of motorcycles and cars in anime and manga. * It's kind of funny that the Akira bike is here with no info as the movie Akira is named in the opening signage of the exhibit "...to manga adaptions like Akira and Ghost in the Shell illustrate..."
You have a full year to look over these marvelous cars in the collection. Please don't do the LA thing we do so often at the nearby LACMA and somehow go the last day of the exhibit. It's kind of a flood of memories coming back and maybe a talk with a friend over the films you saw or should see.Hollywood Dream Machines
End March 2020
Petersen Automotive Museum
6060 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
$16 for adults
General Admission Child (age 4-17)
$ 11.00
