In popular culture
An immediately recognizable location, Times Square has been featured countless times in literature, on television, in films, in video games, and in music videos.
The seediness of the area was featured prominently in such films as Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Taxi Driver (1976). The area was shown in the 1980 film Times Square, which featured a punk rock/new wave soundtrack. It was also depicted in the 2011 movie New Year's Eve. The area also appeared on The Amazing Race as one of the locations in a race around the world.
Times Square has been fictionally attacked and destroyed in a number of movies, including Knowing, when a solar flare destroys New York City, Deep Impact, when a tsunamicreated from a meteor impact destroys New York City; the 1998 film Godzilla, where Godzilla is chased through the square; the Ghostbusters movies; Stephen King's The Stand, where the intersection is overcome by total anarchy; the ending of Captain America: The First Avenger; and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It was also seen in the festival battle scene in the 2002 film Spider-Man, and a stand-off in the later film The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Films and TV shows have also employed the opposite tactic, depicting the typically bustling area as eerily still, such as in Vanilla Sky, as well as the post-apocalyptic I Am Legend, in which Will Smith and his dog go hunting for deer in the deserted urban canyon. In the pilot episode of the TV series Blindspot, Times Square is completely emptied due to an abandoned bag being suspected to be a bomb.
Times Square also has featured prominently in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto IV, in which a recreation of the Times Square area is included in the game's fictional "Liberty City" setting; Battlefield 3, where the final fight with the main antagonist takes place, where the player must stop him from detonating a nuclear bomb in the square; andCrysis 2, in which player must fight off attacking alien forces in order to assist U.S. Marines in evacuating the area.