Sunday, 10 May 2009

  • Batman Seen Flying Over Hong Kong!!

    Okay, maybe not in real life. One great scene in the many awesome scenes in The Dark Knight was the breathtaking shot of Batman flying over Hong Kong. After obsessively following the production of the movie, I knew that this was filmed on location.

    This meant that no special effects were used and they actually had a stuntman fly over Hong Kong (using a helicopter and extra strong cable). So, what you saw was actually Hong Kong and the city never looked more beautiful, especially in the day shots. I've been to Hong Kong before when I was a kid but after seeing how awesome it looked in The Dark Knight, it made me much more interested in visiting again.

    I know I'm not the only one that feels like this. Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand and it helped boost the annual tourism numbers by several hundreds of thousands. I have to admit that after seeing the shots of the Fellowship hiking along New Zealand disguised as Middle Earth I wanted to travel there myself. There are even Lord of the Ring tours there if you were interested.

    With Angels and Demons coming out shortly, another movie in the series also helped boost tourism. The Da Vinci Code helped bring in visitors to the Louvre Museum in Paris who were curious on the factual accuracy of the movie and the book that it was based off of. I was taken aback that the museum actually offered a The Da Vinci Code tour where you were handed a portable tape player and headphones and follow along as they showed you paintings and sculptures that coincided with both the movie and the book.

    Did a movie or book that showcased another country ever inspire you to visit there?

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Comments (11)

  • Roadlesstaken@xanga

    Forgetting Sarah Marshall made me wanna go to Hawaii even more so.  It looks so pleasant and relaxing over there.
  • mycontinuity@xanga

    No not another country, but I did want to go to Seattle after watching a few shows where that location was used.


    I kind of have the reverse thing going on: I want to watch movies and shows that are filmed in my state. That's why I started watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

  • black_lie@xanga

    my grandparents and uncle live in hk. when i visited them last summer, they pretty much wanted to see dark knight only because of the hk shots.

    also, i wanted to go to nz before, but after lotr came out it just boosted my interest in the location.

    my bf's friend reeeeeally wants to go to scranton, pa because of the office. it'll probably be the most boring road trip ever...

    i also have the opposite going on, like mycontinuity. i live in pittsburgh and i go to cmu, so i watched dawn of the dead, smart people, adventureland, and star trek because they were either filmed here or had cmu alums in them.
  • evil_brian_lee@xanga

    that's great
  • LadyLibellule@xanga

    I already live where a lot of stuff is filmed.  It's kind of cool to see where you live on the big screen... especially when they make it look so nice.

    I did want to visit Strasbourg after seeing it in a miniseries.  I still haven't gotten there, though.
  • arrbu@xanga

    Yeah its so beautiful but when you cant see the crowd and the rubbish on the street
  • quicksandbuddy@xanga

    The Last Samurai made me want to visit Japan even more than I already do.

    And that thing about Batman is awesome! He's my favorite comic book character for a reason.
  • fudge_inthefridge@xanga

    Amelie made me want to visit France!
    Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants just filmed Greece so beautifully and now I am itching to go.
  • angelwingfive@xanga

    Only when it's a film that is made by a filmmaker in the mentioned country, because they capture the beauty of the land, but don't habitually include stereotypical landmarks for the sake of familiarity to appease American audiences.
  • vikivandalist@xanga

    well i grew up and still go back to hong kong every year, so not so much there.

    however, i would go to NZ on a LOTR tour.for sure.
  • anonymous
    Another movie that had a big impact on tourism was The Beach starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Filming took place not far from the Phi Phi Islands in Krabi, South Thailand. The small island was completely changed so that the production crew could get the necessary shots which did upset some locals but on the flip side the amount of tourism to that area must have doubled or even trebled in the following year thanks to youngsters coming to the area hoping to find their own slice of heaven.
    Unfortunately, Phi Phi Island is also famous for the devastating Tsunami that ravaged the area in 2004 but thankfully the island is pretty much back to normal now and is still one of the most beautiful places in the world to visit.
    Regarding Batman in Hong Kong, I have seen the movie so many times and actually thought that scene was computer generated. Time to watch it again me thinks! Any excuse.

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