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Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire
Griffith Park Tunnel, Los Angeles
Appearances: Back To The Future 2, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, War Games, Nancy Drew
Article continues belowWhy It's So Popular: We guess that, if a script calls for a scene in a tunnel, this one, located in the popular filming location of Griffith Park, is convenient. At least, that's what Robert Zemeckis thinks, having given us two scenes that, when put together, amount to Marty McFly trying to escape from Biff by riding his hoverboard to Toontown.
Gastown, Vancouver
Appearances: Catwoman, I, Robot, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, 21 Jump Street, Romeo Must Die, The NeverEnding Story, Legends Of The Fall, Good Luck Chuck
Why It’s So Popular: It's a town area that's a national historical site and is steeped in period features and memorable little landmarks. Oh yes, and it's cheaper to film movies in Canada.
Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada
Appearances: X-Men, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Chicago, The Tuxedo, The Pacifier, Strange Brew, Darkman, Maximum Risk, Robocop
Why It's So Popular: It's a majestic gothic castle that sits isolated atop a tall hill. In the right light, it can pass itself off as the home of a rich recluse, or a Transylvanian-style supervillain's lair.
650 South Spring Street, Los Angeles
Appearances: The Prestige, Se7en, The Wedding Singer, 13 Going On 30, Spider-Man 2, Ghost, The Mask
Why It's So Popular: A former Bank Of America building in LA's Financial District, this easily recognisable site (thanks to striped interior balconies) is the go-to for Hollywood bank scenes as well as other officious settings, like the courtroom scene in The Prestige . For all you fan fiction fanatics, have fun thinking about Doc Ock robbing the bank where Stanley Ipkiss works.
Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles
Appearances: Jurassic Park, The Terminator, Rebel Without A Cause, GoldenEye, The Rocketeer, Transformers, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Bowfinger, Yes Man, Terminator Salvation
Why It's So Popular: It may have been erected with one eye looking up at the stars, but it also has great views down below at the rest of LA, with both Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles visible from the top. Plus, thanks to being featured prominently in Rebel Without A Cause , a bust of James Dean now sits on the grounds, perhaps serving as inspiration for future filmmakers (that is until they have to work around it to get the shot they want).
Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Appearances: Iron Man 2, Serenity, Charlie’s Angels, Anger Management, Mystery Men, American Wedding, The Holiday, Starsky & Hutch, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Intolerable Cruelty, The Nutty Professor, Indecent Proposal, The Wedding Planner
Why It’s So Popular: They're stunning gardens that provide a serene contrast to day-to-day grind of city life. Or, y'know, you could just lure a bunch of robots there and shoot them to bits, eh Tony?
Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada
Appearances: First Blood, X-Men: The Last Stand, Twilight
Why It's So Popular: It's a forest area that suggests wilderness and seclusion from the rest of the world. It's where Rambo roamed in his first cinematic outing, where Magneto gathered his mutant brotherhood and... um... where Edward ran around a few trees with Bella in his back.
Torrance High School, Torrance
Appearances: She’s All That, Bruce Almighty, Not Another Teen Movie, Bring It On, Cursed, Less Than Zero, Whatever It Takes, Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series, Beverly Hills 90210
Why It's So Popular: Because high school stories need to be filmed somewhere and this grandiose school building is as convenient as any. Also, Beverly Hills 90210 really set the precedent for a high school should look, so it's a no-brainer for other projects to return to the same location.
Old Royal Naval College, London
Appearances: Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The King's Speech, The Dark Knight Rises, Les Misrrables, Thor: The Dark World, Four Weddings And A Funeral, The Madness of King George, The Mummy Returns, The Avengers (1998), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Why It's So Popular: It's a huge grandiose site that blends together old architecture with modern sensibilities. It's perfect for period-set blockbusters as well as any film wanting to convey England's high society (it even doubled for Buckingham Palace in The King's Speech ). And, there's also a food court, which came in handy for that final cafe scene in The Dark Knight Rises .
