Top 5 U.S. cities that movies are based in? (house, live in)

[1greatcity]

It’s not an exaggeration: At least half of movies I’ve seen lately take place in southern California. It’s obvious from the California license plates on vehicles. And the frequent shots of the LA skyline. And the palm trees backdropped by mountains. It’s as if the rest of the country is irrelevant. I’ve repeatedly noticed this to the point where I now comment, “oh look, another movie script that’s set in the LA area...because OF COURSE it’s the center of the universe!” Film producers rarely bother to cross the California state line, even when the movie content would make much more sense if it was set in another part of the country.
I mean, hillbillies in SoCal, really?

[mhays25]

Hillbillies in California is kind of a thing...Oakies during the dustbowl years, etc.

[tion91]

Wow I thought SF would be higher than all besides NY and LA. SF is in so many movies. Sonic and invisible man is in SF right now as we speak

[btownboss4]

I feel like only NYC, LA and Chicago are the only cities that have lots of movies set in them generically. Like Home Alone or Mean Girls where set in Chicagoland but it really wasn’t important nothing defined those movies as Chicago Movies.

Every other city other than maybe Adam Sandler for Boston or Tyler Perry for Atlanta have movies set there because it’s important for the story. Although Atlanta is growing in that regard.

Ted makes no sense in Indiana, a show like Silicon Valley can’t be set in Kansas City.

Not to say those 3 don’t get city specific movies like Wolf of Wall Street can’t be plopped into Dallas for example.

[citylove101]

I only picked three:

1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington D.C.

Surprised that D.C. is relatively low on the poll as so many movies have been set in the nation's capital over the years, including many fine non-political ones like The Exorcist, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Thank You For Smoking, and Olympus Has Fallen. And of course, there are the great political films like Dr. Strangelove, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Fail Safe, and All The President's Men.

[g500]

Here's my stack of DVD's (total at bottom). I am only counting time set in major U.S. Metro Areas only. I deleted all movies that I was unsure of, not specific, or set in a non-major city or a fictional city. I am pro-rating by movie run time when set in multiple cities. If most of the movie is set in a city, and the spirit of the movie is set in that city, I just give 100% of the movie to that city (for example Elf is mostly spent in NYC, with some set in the North Pole). Probably will be plenty of errors and most of this is based on estimates and my opinion. This is also a small sample size.

American Gangster: NYC
Anchorman: San Diego
August Rush: NYC
Beverly Hills Cop: 20% Detroit 80% Los Angeles
Blow: 10% Chicago 50% Los Angeles
Boondock Saints: Boston
Bourne Ultimatum: 30% NYC
Breakfast Club: Chicago
Sixteen Candles: Chicago
Fast Times at Ridgemont High: San Diego
Carlito's Way: NYC
Chuck and Larry: NYC
Clueless: Los Angeles
Trading Places: 90% Philadelphia 10% NYC
Coming to America: NYC
Crocodile Dundee: 50% NYC
Crocodile Dundee 2: 50% NYC
The Departed: Boston
The Devil Wears Prada: NYC
Far and Away: 70% Boston
Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Chicago
Forrest Gump: 10% NYC, 20% DC, 10% San Fran
The Godfather 1: 75% NYC
The Godfather 2: 50% NYC, 10% Miami
The Godfather 3: NYC
Goodfellas: NYC
Good Will Hunting: Boston
Gran Torino: Detroit
Heat: Los Angeles
Julie and Julia: 50% NYC
Knocked Up: Los Angeles
Liar Liar: Los Angeles
Limitless: NYC
Lincoln Lawyer: Los Angeles
Maid in Manhattan: NYC
The Martian: 30% Houston
Menace 2 Society: Los Angeles
Once Upon a Time in America: NYC
Scarface: Miami
TMNT: NYC
Tommy Boy: 25% Chicago
Dragnet: Los Angeles
American Vacation: 25% Chicago, 10% St. Louis
Vegas Vacation: Las Vegas
Wall Street: NYC
Wedding Planner: San Francisco
What Women Want: Chicago
When Harry Met Sally: NYC
Whip It: Austin
World War Z: 25% Philadelphia
Reservoir Dogs: Los Angeles
Pulp Fiction: Los Angeles
Jackie Brown: Los Angeles
Elf: NYC
The Santa Claus: Chicago
Home Alone: Chicago
Home Alone 2: NYC
Christmas Vacation: Chicago
The Family Man: NYC
Jingle All the Way: Minneapolis

20.25 NYC
11.3 Los Angeles
7.6 Chicago
3.7 Boston
2.0 San Diego
1.2 Detroit
1.15 Philadelphia
1.1 San Francisco
1.1 Miami
1.0 Minneapolis
1.0 Austin
1.0 Las Vegas
0.3 Houston
0.2 DC
0.1 St. Louis

According to the Wikipedia page titled Category:Films set in the United States by city:
2,219 NYC
1,324 Los Angeles
447 San Francisco
385 Chicago
335 Washington DC
215 Las Vegas
174 New Orleans
143 Boston
139 Miami
127 Seattle
125 Philadelphia
97 Pittsburgh
82 Detroit
78 Houston
76 Atlanta
52 San Diego
48 St. Louis
35 Dallas
27 Phoenix

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by 1greatcity

It’s not an exaggeration: At least half of movies I’ve seen lately take place in southern California. It’s obvious from the California license plates on vehicles. And the frequent shots of the LA skyline. And the palm trees backdropped by mountains. It’s as if the rest of the country is irrelevant. I’ve repeatedly noticed this to the point where I now comment, “oh look, another movie script that’s set in the LA area...because OF COURSE it’s the center of the universe!” Film producers rarely bother to cross the California state line, even when the movie content would make much more sense if it was set in another part of the country.
I mean, hillbillies in SoCal, really?

You bring up a good point. Growing up in Southern California it’s easy to tell when something is set here, even if the movie doesn’t have a said location. It’s the reason I put LA #1 while I had a suspicion NY might be? Apparently according to another poster and Wikipedia it is? Movies set in NYC are just that, set there or NY/NJ. Kinda hard to be anything else?

Case in point, I was watching Step Brothers for the first time in years the other night. While they never say they’re in LA, it’s obvious it’s set there, especially in regards to the Catalina Wine Mixer.

[Veritas Vincit]

I feel like D.C. doesn't have tons of movies specifically set in it as in the whole movie takes place in D.C., but there's an extreme number of them that feature scenes set in D.C. or the surrounding metropolitan area i.e. just about every spy movie and movies involving the military and FBI.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Was gonna say Atlanta should be there, but movies are shot there, not set there.

[That_One_Guy]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

You bring up a good point. Growing up in Southern California it’s easy to tell when something is set here, even if the movie doesn’t have a said location. It’s the reason I put LA #1 while I had a suspicion NY might be? Apparently according to another poster and Wikipedia it is? Movies set in NYC are just that, set there or NY/NJ. Kinda hard to be anything else?

Funnily enough it’s very common for movies to be set in NY but filmed in other cities to cut costs, and it’s usually painfully obvious for us. Things that may seem like very minor details always stick out like a sore thumb to me, but anyone from outside of NY watching the film would not notice or care.