How good is your movie trivia knowledge? Do you know who directed what blockbuster in 1984 and how many awards it scooped at the Oscars? If so, that’s pretty impressive. But if you really want to show off at the next pub quiz, NetCredit.com took a look at the most-filmed locations in every country.
There are no free drinks vouchers for guessing which country came top of the table. As the home of Hollywood, it makes sense that the USA has the most filmed locations in the world. Central Park is the A-lister location for directors shooting in the USA. The New York park has an impressive 532 movie credits. It’s the backdrop for iconic scenes in dozens of our cinematic favorites, including When Harry Met Sally and Elf.
Times Square boasts a list of credits that’s just as impressive. Its towering skyscrapers and neon-lit advertising boards loomed over Travis Bickle as he prowled the streets in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. And they helped Peter Parker chase supervillains across the New York skyline in the 2002 version of Spiderman. And 80s kids will remember the giant Marshmellow Man lumbering through Times Square at the end of the original Ghostbusters movie.
California’s Venice Beach is the setting for over 200 Hollywood movies. They include American History X and Nightmare on Elm Street. Venice’s Muscle Beach is where a young Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed his giant muscles in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron. And it’s where Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes traded hilarious one-liners and hook shots in the basketball comedy White Men Can’t Jump.
And while it’s not as popular as it used to be, Bronson Canyon in LA will always be a part of Hollywood history. The remote wilderness was a prime location for movie directors shooting westerns during the early 20th century. The eerie desert landscape was also the perfect location for cult sci-fi classics like Flash Gordon and Invasion of the BodySnatchers. And this out-there place seemed to attract filmmakers who were never afraid to bend cinematic conventions. Bronson Canyon was the location for dozens of experimental art-house movies with bizarre titles, including Teenagers From Out of Space and They Saved Hitler’s Brain.
The Atacama Desert in Chile is a popular location for more conventional filmmakers. It’s home to the largest radio telescope in the world, which featured in the James Bond movie Skyfall. The Atacama Desert helped Chile become one of the top movie locations in South America. With 50 film credits, it shares the number place with Ecuador. Large parts of the CIA spy thriller Clear and Present Danger were shot in Ecuador.
Over in Europe, London has played a lead role in 135 movies on the IMBD database. Spain made it into the top five European destinations, largely thanks to the Cabo de Gata coastal region in Andalusia. Europe’s only desert is where Clint Eastwood battled gunslinging banditos in Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly.
Now see where the rest of the world’s most popular movie backdrops are located.
