The climax of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” led filmmakers to Bowling Green, the historic park in Lower Manhattan, for an ultimate midnight showdown between Merlineans Balthazar Blake and Dave Stutler and Morganian Maxim Horvath, who conjures up the greatest evil of them all from the Grimhold—Morgana herself, possessing the body of Veronica, the sorceress beloved by both Balthazar and Horvath. It’s the ultimate sorcerer’s duel, involving spells, incantations and raging fires, and even the famed Charging Bull statue comes to life. The world is at stake.

“Once again, a truly iconic New York location was selected for the so-called final battle,” says Bruckheimer. “Bowling Green was literally the first park ever created in the United States. It’s where New Yorkers pulled down the statue of King George during the American Revolution. It’s a beautiful circle of greenery in Lower Manhattan surrounded by skyscrapers, and a very dramatic locale for this sorcerer’s battle royale.”

“Morgana, the greatest and most powerful sorceress, was thrust into the Grimhold and imprisoned,” explains Turteltaub. “But in order to get her in there, a Merlinean sorceress named Veronica gave up her own soul, so both Morgana and Veronica are stuck together in this Grimhold. Balthazar has been madly in love with Veronica forever, but to let her out, he has to let Morgana out as well. So the question facing Balthazar is, how can he destroy Morgana and not destroy Veronica?”

The climactic scene called for a bit of magic, much like that used to bring to life the Chrysler Eagle gargoyle. Only this time, the subject was a bull—the famed Charging Bull, a 7,000-pound bronze sculpture by Sicily-born New Yorker Arturo Di Modica, that stands at the tip of Bowling Green. On his own accord, Arturo Di Modica created the sculpture following the 1987 stock market crash. He installed it as his symbol of the enduring spirit of the American people on December 15, 1989, in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a gift to the people of the city, but the police seized and impounded the sculpture. The public outcry led community leader Arthur Piccolo to arrange to move Charging Bull two blocks south to the plaza in front of Bowling Green.