An eye-catching new commercial from BMW has caused a stir because of its unusual filming location. Ultimate Racetrack promotes the BMW M4 by showing the car skidding around a racetrack. Midway through the spot, the racetrack is ‘revealed’ to be the deck of an aircraft carrier.
Authorities in the Californian city of Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, have reported a location filming surge for the past year and the best June in the region’s history. According to the Santa Clarita Film Office, the city saw a 44% increase in film permits compared to the previous year.
Hotels and casinos in Las Vegas are making Nevada filming more viable for Hollywood productions through the use of dedicated film units. Productions like the comedies Last Vegas and the upcoming Think Like A Man Too have made special deals to use hotels as filming locations.
The Pittsburgh Film Office has renewed calls for an uncapped filming incentive ahead of expected shoots involving Will Smith and Vin Diesel. Pennsylvania offers a 25% tax credit that has helped attract shoots like Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher, but it is capped at USD60 million annually.
A movie for Japanese TV recounting the events of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo will be filmed on location in southern New Zealand. Tokyo Olympics ’64 is being made partly to promote the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games, which sees a return to the Japanese capital.
This year, for the first time, we organised The Location Beach Lounge on Plage Goeland during the Cannes Lions Festival. Co-hosting with our partners CrossWind Advertising, Ooops Films, Joshua Tree and Ready To Shoot, we offered an exclusive decked beach space on the Croisette.
Michael Bay’s new action movie Transformers: Age of Extinction spotlights Hong Kong filming locations with an epic finale set against the backdrop of the city. The movie spent several weeks in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland, but also built a sprawling set in Detroit.
The BBC’s adaptation of JK Rowling’s 2012 novel The Casual Vacancy starts filming today on location in Stroud, near Bristol in south-west England. Produced by Bronte Film and Television and in association with HBO, the story traces tensions in a fictional market village in rural England.