Michael Jackson - Thriller (1983) - Music Video Filming Locations (Part 1 of 4)
Watch the Quick Preview Video below, and scroll down for information about the filming locations.
Historical Production & Location Reference
| Music Video: | Thriller (1983) - Part 1 |
| Artist: | Michael Jackson |
| Album Origin: | Thriller (Epic Records) |
| Director: | John Landis |
- The Palace theater (630 S. Broadway): The landmark 1911 Beaux-Arts theater facade serves as the backdrop where Michael and Ola Ray exit the theater's interior screening of the movie within a movie.
- Union Pacific Avenue at South Calzona Street: Our first look at this industrial section of the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Production & Preservation Note: Filmed on location in October 1983, this monumental short film directed by John Landis stands as the gold standard of music video history. The opening theater sequence anchors the short film's transition into the physical world, utilizing the classic architectural grandeur of the Palace theater—originally designed by legendary architect G. Albert Lansburgh. Fortunately, unlike many historic inner-city entertainment hubs, the Palace theater and the surrounding Broadway corridor have been highly protected through strict adaptive reuse and architectural preservation initiatives, ensuring this legendary pop-culture landmark looks nearly identical to its 1983 screen appearance.
The Plot
Michael Jackson's masterpiece of a song and music video where he and his girlfriend attend a scary movie, run into ghouls on the dark city streets, and end up in a haunted house!
Thriller - A Groundbreaking Music Video
The song Thriller is the title track from Michael Jackson's 1982 album, which has the distinction of being the best-selling album of all time. The music video for this song is more a short film than a typical music video - it cost half a million dollars to make, which was unheard of at the time. But the money was well spent and over 40 years later, it isn't showing its age at all.
There was quite a bit of outdoor filming on location in and around Los Angeles and because of this, there are four Quick Preview video excerpts for Thriller, each focusing on a particular filming location. This first Quick Preview video focuses on the Downtown Los Angeles movie theater location.
See More Of The Filming Locations
See the next of the four Quick Preview Filming Locations Videos here:
Michael Jackson - Thriller - Quick Preview Video #2
More Music Video Filming Locations Here!
Browse through all of the other Music Videos filming locations on the site here:
Music Videos Filming Locations Listings
Member Exclusive - Full "Then and Now" Documentary Video and Photo Gallery
If you've made a small donation to the site and are a current member, you can view the COMPLETE filming locations video in the Music Video Filming Locations Videos section of the site by clicking here to Login and then clicking here:
Michael Jackson - Thriller - Filming Locations Then and Now - Complete Documentary Video
And don't miss the complete photo gallery of filming locations then and now here:
Michael Jackson - Thriller - Complete Filming Locations Photo Gallery