BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Crews have set up lights along the eastbound lanes of Route 33, including along the section outside of the Science Museum. It's all part of those rehearsals meant to perfect lighting ahead of the start of filming Monday, as the lights are about to come on over one of the biggest productions Buffalo's seen yet.
"It's safe to say that there probably will be a lot of unusual activity down on the highway over the next couple weeks," said WNY Regional Film Commissioner Tim Clark.
Forget the pizza-chomping, martial arts-fighting, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The real star here - at least for one night - is the 33.
"Really, what this is is a rehearsal for the movie crew so that they can tweak any lighting concerns that they might have and sort of see what it's going to look like next week," said Clark.
The 33 East will be closed sometime after 11 p.m. and reopen around 4 a.m. Saturday.
Clark says Buffalo police will be on hand to make sure the road stays closed from downtown to the Scajaquada.
"They're experts at this type of thing," he said. "They do it all the time with snow storms and accidents."
Clark says plot details aren't being revealed, but low-flying helicopters could be involved in the second week of filming.
"This is the biggest stunt sequence that we've seen here - it certainly has a really good, positive economic impact," said Clark.
The more than 200 members of the traveling crew, 150 local crew, and 150 vendors are expected to generate about $7 million. While that may be exciting, Clark urges would-be onlookers to avoid the area, since shooting likely won't be.
"It's also like watching paint dry," he said. "When you see the movie in movie theaters, you see two minutes of solid action, but it's really going to take them pretty much all of the two weeks to get it down to the two minutes."
Road closures don't end after Friday. Filming starts at 7 p.m. on Monday. From then until May 17, the 33 will be closed in both directions each night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.