These days, most of what we watch on the big screen or our televisions may be digitally composed or filmed on studio sets. But even the biggest movies also shoot on location, taking advantage of beautiful natural surroundings to create the perfect movie atmosphere.
Over the past year, some of the biggest movies and TV shows have taken advantage of natural locations that you can visit across the world. Some are close to home in North America, while others are located in some of the world’s most exciting far-flung destinations. If you love movies and TV, and you love to travel, it’s exciting to watch something and realize you can visit some of its filming locations for yourself.
To satisfy your curiosity and maybe inspire a future vacation, we’ve listed some of the filming locations of some of the most popular movies and TV shows of 2022. So continue reading to learn where the biggest movies and TV shows were filmed.
Where were the biggest movies of 2022 filmed?
The Gray Man was filmed in Czechia and France
The popular Netflix action film directed by the Russo Brothers and starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans takes place in several locations throughout Europe, as Gosling’s assassin Six has to outrun agents on his trail. The film’s big middle-of-the-film shootout aboard a tram in Prague, Czechia was actually filmed in Prague, with the crew taking over a central city square for filming. Scenes were also shot around Milovice and Ústí nad Labem in the rest of the country. Other key sequences in the film take place in Croatia, such as the climactic palace infiltration and shootout, but the Chateau de Chantilly just outside Paris, France stood in for a Croatian palace in the film. Most of the studio work for the film was shot at Long Beach in California.
Jurassic World Dominion was filmed in Canada and Malta
The final film in the Jurassic World trilogy, which brings together the cast of the new series with Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern from the original Jurassic Park, was shot largely in studio. However, it did take advantage of real locations for key sequences, namely the scenes on the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. The crew shot in the capital Valletta as well as other parts of the country for the scenes where Chris Pratt’s Owen and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire follow smugglers to an illegal dinosaur trading market. The ensuing fights and chase sequences were shot throughout the city at sites such as St. George’s Square. Earlier scenes in the film, where Owen and Claire are living in a wintry countryside, were shot in Canada in the interior of British Columbia around Kamloops and Merritt. If only you could spot herds of parasaurolophuses roaming the shrubbed mountain sides in real life. A sequence where Owen and DeWanda Wise’s Kayla Watts hide from a therizinosaurus, a terrifying dinosaur with the longest claws of any animal to ever live, was shot in an old-growth forest of Douglas fir trees at Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. Outside of Malta and Canada, some key exteriors for the villain’s Biosyn Valley were shot in the Swiss Alps, even though the valley is meant to be in the Italian Dolomites.
Top Gun: Maverick was filmed in the Southwestern United States
The biggest movie of the year, and proof that Tom Cruise doesn’t age, Top Gun: Maverick was filmed entirely within the United States, so its shooting locations are easy to visit (although you might need military clearance to access some). Much of the test flights and training were shot in the Mojave Desert, which stretches across Southern California and Nevada, with a few bits poking into Utah and Arizona. If you head west to the coastline, you’ll hit San Diego, where the North Island Naval Air Station is located. The station stood in for the Top Gun academy in the film. The film’s opening Mach-10 test sequence was also shot in California, at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, although you may have trouble accessing it if you aren’t a high-ranking military official. Beyond California, some of the salt flats of Utah’s western desert were used for the low-altitude flight test scenes, while the climactic confrontation in a snowy mountain region were shot in parts of Washington state’s Cascade Mountains, near Rimrock Lake.
Uncharted was filmed in Germany and Spain
The adaptation of the popular video game series starring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan is a globe-hopping action adventure, but the majority of the scenes were shot in Spain and studios in Germany. Barcelona was a primary shooting location for the film, with the National Palace and the Sagrada Familia backdrops to key confrontations and chases. As well, in Spain, the coastal region of Costa Brava stood in for sequences set in the Philippines. In Germany, filming took place in Berlin studios, while a key auction sequence with Holland and Antonio Banderas’s villain was also filmed at the Deutsche Telekom Hauptstadtrepräsentanz building.
Where were the biggest TV shows of 2022 filmed?
Andor was filmed across the United Kingdom
Most of Andor, the well-received prequel series to Rogue One about Diego Luna’s Rebel fighter Cassian Andor, was shot in studios in London. However, despite being a show set in a galaxy far, far away, several key sequences were filmed across the United Kingdom. For instance, Black Park in Wexham, Buckinghamshire was used as the forestry Outer Rim planet Fest, where Kassian grows up in the series’ flashback sequences. The crew used the windswept Scottish highlands as the valleys of Aldhani, the remote Imperial planet where the central heist takes place mid-way through the series. Glen Tilt in Perthshire, Scotland was a key site for the Aldhani scenes. And closer to the studios, the Brunswick Centre in London, England was used for a Coruscant apartment complex. The Brutalist architecture from the mid-20th century was a perfect fit for a building on the Imperial capital.
Bridgerton was filmed throughout England
The thing with Bridgerton is that basically any old manor house, castle, or state room across England seems like it could be a potential setting for its lavish 19th-century romantic storytelling. The popular Netflix series filmed everywhere in England! And we mean everywhere! There are exhaustive breakdowns of every mansion or state room or facade used and digitally-augmented for the series, so in the interests of time and space, we’re only going to list a few and let you roam the internet searching for more information if you’re a diehard fan. Suffice to say, London has several key locations. Ranger’s House in Greenwich, London supplies the exterior of the Bridgerton family home, while Syon House just to the west of London plays George III’s Buckingham House in the series. Castle Howard outside of York is Clyvedon Castle on the show. You can easily tour the castle if you visit York. No. 1 Royal Crescent in Bath is the exterior of the Featheringtons’ house. Hampton Court Palace (which was home to King Henry VIII in real life) stands in for Queen Charlotte’s St. James’s Palace in the show. Windsor Great Park, the green space just outside the king’s official residence, Windsor Castle, is the setting for the opening scene of season 2, where Anthony Bridgerton chases a mysterious woman on horseback.
House of the Dragon was filmed in England, Portugal & Spain
The successful prequel series to Game of Thrones takes viewers back to Westeros, a fantastic version of medieval Europe. Some of the filming locations were also used in Game of Thrones. For instance, Castleton in Derbyshire, England was used as the Vale, home of House Arryn. The castle of St. Michael’s Mount in Mount’s Bay, Cornwall was used as Castle Driftmark in Blackwater Bay, seat of House Velaryon in the series. Other popular settings were shot in new locations. For instance, the walled city of Plasencia in Spain was used as King’s Landing, which was filmed in Dubrovnik, Croatia during much of the run of Game of Thrones. Head west 50km or so and you’ll cross the border into Portugal and eventually hit Monsanto, which was used as Dragonstone, the traditional home of House Targaryen in the series.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was filmed in New Zealand
The decision to shoot the popular prequel series to The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand was a no-brainer. In fact, New Zealand has become so synonymous with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films that it’s known as Middle-earth. The prequel series, The Rings of Power, was filmed across the country, from the Hauraki Gulf outside Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island to Fiordland National Park on the South Island. It’s hard to avoid filming locations no matter where you are in the country, but key spots include the black sands and green cliffs of the Piha beaches on the North Island, where Galadriel and Halbrand are stranded early in the series. As well, Mount Kidd in Fiordland National Park stood in for the Misty Mountains.
You might say that Aren was destined to become a globetrotter after his family took him to Germany two times before he was four. If that wasn’t enough, a term spent in Sweden as a young teenager and a trek across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand confirmed that destiny. An independent writer, director, and film critic, Aren has travelled across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. His favourite travel experience was visiting the major cities of Japan’s largest island, Honshu, but his love for food, drink, and film will take him anywhere that boasts great art and culture.
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