Have you ever watched one of your favorite movies and wondered why some of the settings look incredibly familiar?
That’s because many movies are filmed in popular locations all around the world.
In this article, we have collected a number of these famous film locations that you can visit. We’re pretty sure that you didn’t know some of these!
1. Petra – Jordan
One of the most iconic film locations in the world has to be Petra, the archaeological city that was cut out of the rocks thousands of years ago. The city was originally known as “Raqmu” and is believed to have been established around 7000 B.C. It has been chosen as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007.
It’s featured in multiple movies, including Arabian Nights, Passion in the Desert, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Mummy Returns, Krrish 3, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Samsara and Kajraare.
Its most famous appearance is in Indian Jones and The Last Crusade as the location of the Holy Grail. At the end of the movie, we can see Indiana and his father Henry Jones take off on their horses through a steep canyon.
2. Ohio State Reformatory – United States
The Ohio State Reformatory is a closed prison and one of the most famous film locations in history because it was the setting of the top-rated movie of all time (according to IMDB), The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
This movie was based on a novella by Stephen King called “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” and features Tim Robbins as a man wrongly convicted and Morgan Freeman as “Red,” an inmate at the prison in one of his best roles.
Remarkably, one of the officers’ quarters was used to shoot a scene that was set in an apartment as well (you know which one).
3. Tabernas Desert – Spain
The Tabernas Desert is a semi-arid region in the southeast of Spain situated within the province of Almeria. This nature reserve is semi-arid and covers a total area of 280 square kilometers (110 square miles).
This desolate landscape served as the filming location of another top-rated movie and evergreen classic called “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” It’s one of the so-called Spaghetti Westerns that was shot cheaply in Spain and which catapulted Clint Eastwood’s career to new heights.
Today, the movie set has been transformed into a popular tourist attraction called “Mini-Hollywood” and features exhibits used during the filming of one of Clint Eastwood’s best movies.
4. Namib Desert – Namibia
The Namib Desert is a desert in southern Africa that features a fascinating landscape that is perfectly suited to serve as a movie set. This is especially true for movies that depict a desolate landscape.
Because of this, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), an Australian post-apocalyptic action film was filmed here. It was the fourth movie in the franchise and is considered to be one of the best movies in its genre of the 2010s.
Most of the filming took place in the Dorob National Park, a protected area extending about 1,600 kilometers (990 miles) along the central Namibian coast.
5. Tennessee State Prison – United States
Tennessee State Prison is another former correctional facility that was turned into a movie set and which has been featured in several films, including Framed, Nashville, Marie, Ernest Goes to Jail, Against the Wall, Last Dance, The Last Castle, and Walk the Line.
The most famous movie filmed here is another Stephen King novel turned into a screenplay called “The Green Mile.” It features Tom Hanks as the prison guard on death row and the late Michael Clarke Duncan as the intriguing new inmate.
Even though several scenes were filmed on location, many scenes inside the prison were shot in specially built movie sets as well.
6. Alcatraz Island – United States
Alcatraz Island is one of the most famous islands in the United States and is located just near San Francisco. Even though it’s pretty close to the city, escaping the prison on the island was deemed impossible in the 20th century.
The island has been featured in multiple movies, including The Book of Eli (2010), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Rock (1996), Murder in the First (1995), The Enforcer (1976), Point Blank (1967), and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).
Clint Eastwood portrayed Frank Morris in “Escape from Alcatraz” (1979), a movie depicting the 1962 prisoner escape from a maximum-security prison. Nobody knows exactly what happened to the convicts who left the island.
7. Del Amo Fashion Center – United States
Jackie Brown is one of Quentin Tarantino’s movies and is basically a slow-paced crime drama in which multiple intriguing stories unfold. The main plot unfolds inside a huge shopping mall and was shot on location.
This shopping mall is referred to as the Del Amo Fashion Center and is located in the city of Torrance, California. This is a 3-level commercial complex that has 2.5 million square feet (230,000 square meters) of shopping space, making it the 7th-largest in the United States.
Many scenes were shot inside the mall but some of the most important scenes were shot in a fake department store that was set up right next to Macy’s. The store in the movie is named “Billingsley” and its sign was put on top of one of Macy’s.
8. Peddocks Island – United States
Shutter Island is one of the most intense movies featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. The story unfolds on an island that houses an institution for the criminally insane, and Leo and his colleague Mark Ruffalo are there to investigate a disappearance.
Most of the scenes were shot in Massachusetts and the city of Taunton was the location for WWII flashback scenes. The Medfield State Hospital was used as the mental hospital and the lighthouse scenes were shot at East Point, in Nahant.
The two main characters get caught up in a storm and these scenes were shot at the Wilson Mountain Reservation in Dedham. Some of the most fascinating scenes were shot on Peddocks Island which is dubbed as the island in the movie.
