Museum of the Moving Image

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (or back in high school) I visited The Museum of Moving Image. Back then it had a deep impact (movie reference?) on my love for film, and going here today with my girlfriend reminded me of how it all started. The museum is inconspicuously nestled in Astoria and can be overlooked by the humble entrance. Once inside, you’ll feel like you’ve transported to a futuristic lobby as the walls are white and angled with a tiny café straight ahead and the gift shop to your right. Honestly, what brought me back here (and reminded me of this place) was a Groupon I had purchased earlier in the year for admission. It was greatly worth the price (even regular admission is) as the second and third floors are filled with movie/​tv props and memorabilia, old cameras and sound equipment, photography, concept art and images, original makeup and costumes, and several interactive stations that help in understanding motion, sound, and animation (which were loads of fun to try out). Beyond this, they have several exhibits that change every few months. For us, these exhibits included computer usage with film in the 60s, concept art for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the crown jewel: classic arcade games that were playable (with a couple of quarters of course). We went through a few dollars worth playing Ms. Pac-​Man, Dig Dug, Pole Position, and plenty more. The gift shop was our last stop which was packed with books, films, and other movie and MOMI-​labeled items (I grabbed a couple of magnets). Overall, if you’ve ever loved movie or tv production or anything to do with that realm, I highly recommend coming here. It’s an offer you can’t refuse (Godfather anyone?).

If Tom Hanks’ character in ‘Big’ had a favorite museum, this would be it. Create your own stop motion video, dub over classic movies in a sound studio, play arcade classic games and watch movies in one of their three theaters– this place rocks.

I enjoyed coming here. They had a lot of vintage games in one section, props from movies in another, and just a load of things that were interesting to read about and see.
They had a floor dedicated to how a movie works. From how voice over input works for animated movies (or maybe replacing a bad word), sound selection, music selection, and other stuff. It’s interactive, so you can go inside the voice over input booth and create your own little scene.
They’re clean and it’s not overwhelmingly crowded. When I go there isn’t much people except for the school tours.
I got in for free with my nycid.
But the fee is $ 9 with a student discount and $ 11 regularly.

This museum was fun to visit with my 3 yo. Lots of interesting stuff to see pertaining to TV. It’s clean, modern and interesting. I would go again.

Visited the two story museum. The Jim Henson exhibit was being renovated.
The Jim Henson exhibit should be bigger than their Pinball display.
There were old pinball machines and Atari system.
Lots of exhibits need to be updated.
Younger generations do not know Mork and Mindy, Ms. Doubt Fire, I love Lucy, Fred Astaire, etc.
Suggestion, have a floor dedicated to current movies, characters from tv, books or movies-​stars to appeal to young kids, e. g. Magic School Bus, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Spider-​Man, Dr. Seuss book series, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter, etc.
The Star Wars and Star Trek figurine displays were nice.
There should be displays of what screening was scheduled for the day. First time visitors should look through the booklets before proceeding.
If you were interested in watching a screening, like Peanuts-​3D, look in their booklets.
As of now, Fridays-​free admission from 4pm to 8pm. Please call them to get the latest information.

This museum has become one of my favorite museums to visit. Such interesting exhibits, a quaint gift shop in the lobby and beautiful halls and stairways make up this cute little museum oasis located in Queens. I was just amazed at the lovely exhibits that focused on various topics that make me truly appreciate stuff around moving images (film cameras/​photography, hair + makeup that are used in movies to create characters etc). I could not stop taking pictures around loved the museums surroundings.

This museum was pretty neat!
I enjoyed my visit here and I can’t wait to take a friend.
The parking here is a little stiff but look around and you’ll find something eventually.
The museum is free from 6pm to 8pm which is great.
It’s so beautiful inside and its full of art.
The night I went here there was a screening for a movie and I met a celebrity and was able to take a picture. That was the highlight of my night lol.
The Indian room upstairs was interesting. Also they have an open movie room near the stairs.
There’s a theater but if you go late you won’t catch what’s playing. They won’t let you in.
I recommend

This si a fantastic museum. I came here shortly after it opened on a Thursday and the only other people here were groups of school tours. There is a fee for this museum; I paid $ 11 with a student discount.
There are 3 floors to this museum. Each floor has different types of exhibits that take you through the history of the moving image. You start with still images of actors and from movies, and then move onto costumes and stage make up, then history of cameras and TVs, and then action figures from TV shows, props, explanation of sound, explanation of special effects, and os much more. There are replicas of sets and old movie theaters. I loved the set examples from Anomolisa paired with an explanation of stop motion filming. There are short films scattered throughout the museum.
I was bummed I came too early for the Jim Henson exhibit, but now I have another reason to go back! I would suggested budgeting 2 – 3 hours here to see all the exhibits and watch all the short films.

I love this place! I’ve lived in NYC my entire life and I have been missing out!
Let’s start off by mentioning that admission is free on Fridays between 4−8pm! There is so much to see but you must take your time! It was my first time there so I was sorta all over the place with my daughters. I was so eager to explore and read. I’m sure I missed quite a few things because I didn’t see the area where you get to play old video games (Darn, maybe next time)
This place is for you if you’re interested in short films, knowing how films were recorded and interested in imagining. There’s an assortment of old school TV’s, Cameras and posters of old films. My favorite exhibition was on the second floor where you learn about moving images. You can read on it as I won’t spoil it for anyone but I will post videos as well as photos. I feel like I’ve been living under a rock when I saw that the 1983 film «Scarface» was a remake of an old 1932 Scarface! Lol
We also enjoyed the Cats take over the internet! It was so funny and the seating is very spacious and open. It’s right up the first stairs case, trust me you won’t miss it! Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish the museum the way I would’ve liked because I had hungry nagging teenagers with me. Next time I’ll take this trip alone and educate myself.

I recommend budgeting 2 hours for this museum, more if you plan to see any of the movies that you can pay for with your admission ticket. Student tickets are $ 8, and $ 9 with film. There are two floors of exhibits to see.
I loved the James Henson short film (Timepiece — look it up!) they showed, and all the cool movie pieces they had up on display. I’m not a huge movie buff so I couldn’t place most of the objects… But it was still super cool to see the mask/​makeup worn by Robbie Williams, the godfather mouth piece, special effects props, etc.
My favorite was the room where you get to voiceover a character from a show and hear the movie with your voice. So hilarious. There’s also a room with some old arcade games so bring a few quarters.
The exhibits change out fairly often (pretty bummed I missed the cat on the internet one) so check before you visit!

Oblivious to the fact that Queens even had a museum I had to take a stroll in. Inside of the museum is beautiful and one of the first things I noticed was how clean and quiet it was. I went during the week so there was not too much foot traffic.
The exhibits were very interesting and informative. Most of the exhibits were centered around the history of film and classic movies. I honestly learned lots about the movie industry in my short time here. The few «walk in» exhibits were eye catching and seemingly took you on blast to the past — very awesome!
My personal favorite area was the arcade room where you could play old school video game consoles. Although some of the systems were not working/​buttons broken.
I would definitely return and recommend this place to anyone interested in the film industry/​history fans/​movie lovers or simple enjoy visiting musuems!

It was the best experience coming here, got to see the display Cats and the Internet. Very entertaining, random clIpswich from the Internet staring cats. Some well known like Grumpy Cat and Keyboard Cat. There were plenty other chances to nerd out in the upstairs levels. Top floor did have old school video games like Space Invaders, Pong (not playable) and NES console to see. A replica movie theater in the form of a tiki or Hawaii theme, just nice to see the layout of an old movie house. The top floor also dealt with more of the technical side of this audio recording devices from the 1970’s and 80’s. Old television sets that were from the 1950’s to almost present day.
Musuem of Moving Image is worth a visit to Queens. Not hard to get to honestly, from Brooklyn or Manhattan. The train leads you a few blocks away (Steinway street). There was a Unilocal elite a few years ago here, but I did not get to do some proper exploration of the actual museum. This time 90 minutes of just roaming around got some great photos of set design and props based on many different movies throughout the years. Come here to see The silence of the Lambs set design, The Mask staring Jim Carrey, The Warriors jackets from some of the gang and Miami Vice Don Johnson actual suit.
This place is worth a visit once a year if you ask me. I look forward to going back already. It will be fun to see some of the new design and still hopefully find some items such as Star Wars and Star Trek toys from the 1970’s that I saw this time. I thought I even reviewed the place before last time I came, well now it is official.

This is one of the few places where I can unabashedly make cooing noises at cats in public, I’m bumping it up to a 4. The museum is running an exhibition until the end of January for how cats have conquered the Internet, so one of the features was a running loop of cat videos projected onto a wall.
1. The cat exhibition was strangely curated. If I was running the show, I would eliminate any and all Youtube videos that didn’t actually feature cats, such as the bizarre 3-​minute song that mixed dubstep, cats, bees, and beef, and show more videos of kittens slurping up milk or rolling around a giant dog. I realize how that makes me sound like something worse than a cat lady — the Internet cat lady — but just know that I’ve logged several (hundred) hours staring at virtual cats and pawing sadly at the screen.
2. I liked the focus on the various parts of putting together a movie or television show, from script-​writing to costuming to special effects and makeup to set design. I don’t think I’ve ever realized the sheer amount of hard work and talent that goes into creating a film, especially all of the behind-​the-​scenes logistics. You can also create your very own moving image in one of the mini-​labs on the second floor.
3. The section on the evolution of film theaters was really cool. I’m a bit sad that I missed out on drive-​in theaters and the grand old theaters with balconies. They looked like they had a little more soul and character than the corporate-​looking AMCs and Loews of today.
4. However, that row of … old televisions … television after rusty television … my dad would have been a HUGE fan of that. I wanted to go back to the cats.
5. The café is wildly overpriced. If you’re in dire need of caffeine or food, there’s a Panera, Starbucks, and Uno’s down the block. You’re out of luck if your specific craving is a Pac Man cookie, though.

Came here when I was a kid and again just today! Was real nice seeing the permanent exhibits that were still so interesting to me! Best part was the stop moving movies you could make yourself. Hands on activities are great for kids and adults alike.
The café and courtyard are very simple and a great place to chill at before, during, or after your tour around the museum. Would have loved to see the films but couldn’t visit during a viewing. Solid four stars overall!

For anyone that loves film and television this museum is a must see. I really enjoyed the history. They have hundreds of artifacts on display. Before you go check out the web site. This museum has limited days/​hours of operation. The hours are extended on weekends. They are open both Saturday and Sunday.
I’ve watched this museum grow over the years. The history of the studio location that houses the museum is very fascinating. This is another museum I would visit regularly if I lived nearby.
Everyone should go and spend the day at least once! I highly recommend.

The Chewbacca mask used in «Star Wars New Hope» is here. That’s worth the price of admission if you ask me.
This place was pretty interesting. They had some cool displays. I enjoyed the stop frame animation interactive part and the voice over booth where I got to make Eddie Murphy say some inappropriate things, haha.

Very cool and unique museum in Astoria Queens. If you are in the neighborhood, it’s definitely worth a look. This place is a museum of multimedia and features a lot of old equipment (cameras, lights, etc.) and props and collectibles from movies and television shows throughout history. There is also a video game section with a nice collection of old classic arcade machines. I am a fan of all of the above and was very interested in all that is displayed here.

If you love movies, then this museum is for you. The Museum of the Moving Image offers different exhibits from movies. It gives an intimate look at the behind the scenes movie and show productions.
The Museum of the Moving Image allows visitors to become part of the movie. You can go into a recording booth and record voice overs for films such as «The Wizard of Oz». Visitors can edit music and sounds for movies such as Jurassic Park and Twister in another section. People love the video recording session where you can record yourself or others for a few seconds.
The museum displays portraits of past Hollywood legends. They decorate the second floor of the museum.
Other permanent exhibits include costumes, action figures from Star Wars, Star Trek, and vintage magazine covers. The museum does a fine job in preserving the history of the camera. While walking around, you get to study the complexity of movie production: original rendering of movie sets, set models, character masks, and wigs.
The museum contains a theater for screenings. While not in use, go in and marvel at the Egyptian details of this theater.
Come to the Museum of Moving Image. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves movies.

Although this museum has only 2 small floors of exhibits, theres alot of info and many things to interact with. I liked this place the most because it wasnt all just reading — there were games to play, videos to watch, movies to see, things to make you laugh and interact with. Like i said, this place is small, but set up pretty well for you to spend a good 2 to 3 hours in. its $ 12 for adults and parkin doesnt seem so great here. otherwise, i really enjoyed this musuem. theres many real articats, costumes, and masks and other pieces from movies that anyone can recognize. Thered also alot of facts and history on film and cameras on the top floor.

So, I’ve been to the museum a few times, with each time bing a unique experience.
I went first this summer, and found myself totally enchanted and wowed by the museum. It’s nestled in Astoria next to the Kaufman studios, and it feels like you’re walking into a hip new world. The exhibits were awesome: there was one on Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men (from inception to execution) as well as Interactive Storytelling with VR headsets and I-​pads. I didn’t even get a chance to go through the permanent exhibit on the 3^rd floor because we spent so much time in awe of the museum. SO many awesome things to see there!
The next time, I went to a screening, of which they have plenty. I went with some friends to see a 70 mm version of 2001 Space Odyssey, the Stanley Kubrick movie. Though my verdict is still out on the movie, I found the theater to be great, and the crowd was awesome. The MoMI has a ton of cool screenings with classic movies for people to see, and I definitely recommend going to one.
When I was there for the screening, I went through the permanent exhibit on the 3^rd floor, and was totally wowed again. Seriously, they have SO MANY cool things there for a low-​budget, out of the way museum. They’re really putting on a clinic. That being said, the Interactive Exhibit was replaced with ‘Cats of the Internet’ which was not as cool and nowhere near as engaging.
The last time I went there was last weekend, and I was disappointed to see the Mad Men exhibit is gone and replaced with sort of a weird new exhibition. I’d still recommend going for the permanent stuff, but my experiences were really bolstered by the cool visiting exhibits. I certainly hope they get some more. That being said, it’s still an awesome place and totally worth visiting.

It’s a cool find in Astoria and free on Fridays from 4−8pm, which is when I went. I don’t know if I’d pay $ 12 for entry on any other day but it was fun for being free. They had cool costumes display and some Star Wars figurines. Definitely a cool place to check out in Astoria.

My boyfriend and I came here for the first time on Halloween, to see a 7 PM screening of the Cronenberg horror film «Rabid.» Museum admission is included in movie screening tickets, so we got to walk around the museum for an hour. Not many exhibits were open, but we enjoyed the special LOLCAT exhibit, which had a loop of short LOLcat movies to watch. I was so amused by the little festival and realized that LOLcats are more of a pop culture phenomenon than I had previously realized. The accompanying exhibit was brilliantly displayed, with interesting facts projected onto blank walls. A computer screen even allowed you to create your own LOLcat.
Additionally, the museum’s permanent collection has some great Hollywood costume and set memorabilia. Before the screening, we were able to get some snacks at the snack bar. We loved the movie theatre, which is clean and comfortable. I’d definitely return for other special exhibitions and films!

What a neat little museum nestled between the Astoria movie theater and studios that they record OITNB and Sesame Street in. It was my first time visiting and I already know I need to go back to explore more of it.
I went along with school trip and they did a wonderful job posting and explaining everything to the students with history in mind.
I would definitely recommend this museum if you’re into movies or television.

If you’re looking for a change from the usual art and history museums in the city, step right up because you’ve come to the right place.
While this museum is perfect for cinephiles, tv addicts, animation lovers, etc., it is 100% enjoyable and accessible to the general audience. Relive (or just live) the golden age of Hollywood, look at some of the most recognizable pieces created by makeup artists, step back in time and experience costume design through the ages, play some of your favorite functional retro arcade and video games that’ll bring the nostalgia crushing down so hard and fast you won’t know what hit you — the museum has something for everyone, and it’s such a treat.*
Do yourself a favor and make a trip out here. And please don’t whine about how it’s in Queens. It’s Astoria. It’s only a couple stops outside of Manhattan yet it’s about as far away from Manhattan as most people are willing to travel in my home borough. Stretch those legs!
*Beware the Exorcist replica. It’s less terrifying than what I remember when I was a kid but she hasn’t gotten any prettier with time.

This is a terrific place to spend time if it meets your interests. We saw half of the permanent exhibits, the Mad Men exhibit (now closed), and the cat video exhibit, which was more modest than i was led to believe, but worthwhile for cat fans.
Here’s the deets —
Adult admission, $ 12
Plan to spend 2 – 4 hours
TIP — free on Friday 4 – 8 PM, EXCEPT the movie
TIP — the R/​M station (Steinway) is closer and a nicer walk than the N/​Q (36^th Ave)
BONUS — nice café with pleasant courtyard seating
BONUS — good neighborhood

I absolutely love this museum. It’s definitely worth a trip to Astoria, and plan to leave a lot of time for it, because there’s a lot to see! When I visited I saw the Mad Men exhibit and «Sensory Stories: An Exhibition of New Narrative Experiences,» which explored things like virtual reality tools and digital kids’ stories with smells built into it. Cool stuff! The Mad Men exhibit really blew me away though — an absolute must for any fan of the show. From original costumes to entire sets and even pages of handwritten notes from the writers and a perfect recreation of the writer’s room, no detail is left out.
Aside from the temporary exhibits, the museum hosts cool screening events in their theater year-​round, and they have some pretty awesome permanent collections, including old school arcade games, unique Star Wars merchandise, and costumes from some of your favorite movies (think Eddie Murphy’s outfit in Beverly Hills Cop).
They’re working hard on an expanded Jim Henson exhibit and as a die hard muppets fan I can’t wait. I’m planning on getting a membership there soon (sign up for a NYC ID and you can get a year membership for free!) so I can keep going back and exploring all the museum has to offer.

a pretty unique museum. if you are interested in TV and Films, this is the place for you. We were here for a show about cats on the internet and also the mad men show. both were interesting and educational. I did not know the internet is made of cats. Museum isn’t huge — it took us about 90 mins to do the whole thing (we didnt do a lot of the hands on educational programs). they also have screenings of classic movies (and some are 70 mm prints)

$ 12 is totally reasonable for what you get to see here.
The main reason for my visit was the Mad Men exhibit. Tons of props and costumes, including the Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo dress, Joan’s dress with the blood stains from the John Deere incident and Peggy’s skirt that ripped because of her pregnancy. The downside is that you’re not allowed to take pictures. You can stand in the Draper kitchen and Don Draper’s office… and you can’t take pictures???
Thankfully, security is pretty lax, and if you’ve got some passive guards, you can sneak a shot every now and then.
Note: The Mad Men exhibit is only there temporarily. Check the website to make sure it’s still there.
I also appreciated the exhibits featuring the work of legendary makeup artist Dick Smith. Lots of cool costume pieces like Travis Bickle’s mohawk and the device they shoved in Brando’s mouth to make his jowls pop out in The Godfather. That same area also has some costumes from the movie «Chicago,» as well as an actual Cosby sweater and Robin Williams’ Mork costume. There’s also lots of production drawings from «Silence of the Lambs.»
When I was there, the Jim Henson exhibit wasn’t open yet, but I bet that will be great when it arrives.
They also have some old school video games you can play. Kids love that.

One of my favorite museums! It’s definitely a bit out of the way if you’re just visiting Manhattan, but so worth it. There’s a student discount on admission, so bring your ID! Otherwise, I think they offer free admissions on Friday evenings, but I wanted to check out MoMa at the same time, so I missed out on that.
I loved the exhibits here! They were super interesting and a lot were about the entertainment industry, which I’m personally interested in. They also had the Mad Men exhibit, which is really cool if you’re a fan of the show or just interested in the process a show goes from creation to execution. There were also other exhibits, one involving wearing a headset to be immersed in a virtual reality world, one where you watched a video of a couple breaking up and could choose from various outcomes as the scene played out (a lot more interesting than I’m making it sound!), and one where you could play a historically based video game.
Honestly, this was such a great museum, you’ve got to check it out!

We went here for the first time for the Mad Men exhibit and we were pleasantly surprised how big it was inside and the different features of the museum! It took us a good 3 – 5 hours to thoroughly enjoy the entire museum and we were happy to spend that Saturday there.
The line for the tickets was long but went very fast, only a 5 – 10 minute wait; the staff at the front desk who sold the tickets were very professional and nice. We saw the main lobby area where they have a café and sit-​down area; it was classy, modern and chic.
Overall our favorite parts of the museum other than the Mad Men exhibit were: the section that showed makeup and clothing from television shows such as Sex and the City, a room where you are able to record your voice to scenes in a movie, the Simpsons game where you are able to change the sounds/​noises during part of an episode, and all of the history and fun facts we learned about some of our favorite television shows and movies.
We hope to come again once there’s new exhibits!

EL MEJOR MUSEO DEL MUNDO.
Sí, el Museum of the Moving Image es lo máximo que existe en el mundo, un lugar dónde están concentradas cientos de maravillas que te hacen llorar de la emoción y sentir la alegría máxima de estar vivo para poder apreciarlas.
Este no será el más grande de todos los museos, pero sigue siendo lo máximo porque tiene todo, cada metro cuadrado es sinónimo de magia. Un sitio dónde el cine, la televisión, los video juegos y toda la cultura pop tienen su trono. Un tesoro tras otro, realmente no se puede creer. Máscaras, fotos, vestuarios, maquetas: Desde los Hermanos Marx hasta Star Wars, Star Trek, Freddy Krueger, Nintendo, Woody Allen y más que nada todo lo lindo y nostálgico del buen CINE. ¡Qué bello estar en este lugar!
Además siempre hay muestras especiales y una programación excelente de clásicos y otras interesantísimas películas en sus salas. Realmente es un lugar encantador, arquitectónicamente hermoso, moderno y alucinante. También tiene una muy linda tienda de libros. Ah, los viernes de 16 a 20 la entrada es gratuita. Realmente un lujo. Es apenas unas pocas estaciones de subte desde Manhattan, vayan una y otra vez que no se van a arrepentir.