It’s a summer of superheroes in several US cities as the major studios’ 2012 release slates shape up. The Dark Knight Rises has been filming fight sequences and scenes involving the so-called Batwing in Pittsburgh, while Marvel has been wreaking havoc in Cleveland, Ohio, for The Avengers.
[slideshow id=132]Animation and live-action blend in Coca-Cola’s new ad for the Euro 2012 football finals in Poland and Ukraine. Cartoon characters cheer around Warsaw and Kiev. Two endings were filmed so that Polish audiences see the final crowd scene in Warsaw and it’ll be Kiev for the Ukrainians.
[slideshow id=131]Jason Statham’s latest action thriller, Killer Elite, is set in places like the UK, Oman, Dubai and Paris, but filmed mostly in the Australian state of Victoria. More extensive shooting was considered in places like the UK, but keeping prices down and getting the most from Victoria won the day.
[slideshow id=130]Scottish warriors have been replaced with suburbanites looking for a break from the norm in a Braveheart pastiche from Swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea. Have a Go shows homeowners charging across a field clutching Ikea furniture as they rebel against the threat of home-furnishing normality.
The latest Superman film is the other comic-book production that Christopher Nolan is helping steer towards the big screen. While Chicago will become Metropolis, the rural town of Plano, also in Illinois, is set to become Clark Kent’s adopted childhood home of Smallville.
Director Todd Phillips took The Hangover 2 to Thailand in 2010 in a bid to perform a one-up on his previous Vegas-based adventure. The Thai Government claims it has had a big impact and reports that around 80 more international projects filmed in the country in 2010 than in 2009.
The long-term success of Massachusetts’ screen industry could get a boost from plans to develop a state-of-the-art studio facility in the north-east part of the state. MJM Development, based in Andover, plans to build over an area of nearly 30 acres, with a phased development period of ten years.
[slideshow id=124]Period cars and decor came to Manchester and Liverpool for the filming of Marvel’s comic book adaptation Captain America: The First Avenger. Much of the film was shot in the UK, with Stanley Dock in Liverpool and Dale Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter doubling for 1940s New York City.