‘Hollywood Dream Machines' to Star at the Petersen

"Vehicles of Science Fiction and Fantasy" will dazzle the Miracle Mile car museum, beginning in early May.

What to Know

  • Petersen Automotive Museum
  • May 4, 2019 through March 15, 2020
  • With paid admission; opening events additional

There are classic movie cars, the sort of automobiles that may be accurately labeled as "extra," if the term "extra" even goes far enough.

These are the wheels that grandly whisk the main characters around, be they royalty, rich, or somehow super-starry, as movie characters often are.

But then?

There are those movie cars with a side of quirk, the modes of transportation that spring from a wholly imagined universe.

The Petersen Automotive Museum has an appreciation for such otherworldly autos, and will put several of them on display, in May, when "Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science Fiction and Fantasy" opens.

While the car-packed show won't hold as many vehicles as a galaxy holds planets, there will be over 40 to admire, including cars from "Back to the Future" and "Blade Runner."

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"Transformers," "I, Robot," and "Ghost in the Shell" will also be represented at the exhibit, which will be on view in the Miracle Mile museum's Mullin Family Grand Salon.

So exquisite engine-rocking works of art to watch for? A 2008 Audi R8 seen in "Iron Man" will be part of the glam group, as will an eye-popping conveyance from "Prometheus" (the Weyland Industries RT01 Group Transport, if you're curious).

Look also for a Microsoft HoloLens mixed-reality experience, one that will involve the DeLorean from "Back to the Future" as well as the Warthog from "Halo."

The museum's executive director, Terry L. Karges, calls the show "the biggest exhibit of our 25th anniversary."

"With more than 40 vehicles from the silver screen spread across the museum, the exhibit is an ode to the industry that Los Angeles was built upon," says the director. "We can't wait to explore the fantasy and fictional concepts behind these extraordinary vehicles with the world."

The Comic-Con Museum, Audi, and Microsoft are all on the team for this bigger-than-big car-vention.

Want to be at the opening? Or even slip into a hard-hat tour? Oh yeah. There are tickets available now.

You'll have a good long time to enjoy this straight-from-the-screen show: It closes on March 15, 2020.

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