Movie Scene Map

🏞 Landscapes & nature

Mojave Desert

desert in southwestern United States

🇺🇸 United States · 35.0083, -115.4750

Mojave Desert is recorded as a filming location for 2 productions. Wikipedia names it for 18 more.

“Trial runs of the stunt with the Land Rover, during which Bond escapes by parachute from the tumbling vehicle, were filmed in the Mojave Desert in the southwestern United States, although the final cut of the film uses a shot achieved using a dummy.”
The Living Daylights (1987) · Wikipedia

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Mojave Desert
Photo: Fred Morledge · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Movies filmed at Mojave Desert

Filmed here, per Wikipedia

Productions whose English Wikipedia article names Mojave Desert as somewhere it was shot, with no matching statement on Wikidata. Weaker evidence than the statements above, so it gets its own list — each production’s own page links the exact section the claim comes from.

  • Prometheus 2012
  • The Living Daylights 1987
  • X-Men: First Class 2011
    “Washington, D.C., the Mojave Desert and Fox's soundstages in Los Angeles also served as locations.” Wikipedia
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 1989
    “Production problems plagued the film on set and during location shooting in Yosemite National Park and the Mojave Desert.” Wikipedia
  • The Right Stuff 1983
    “No location could substitute for the distinctive Edwards Air Force Base landscape and so the entire production crew moved to the Mojave Desert to shoot the opening sequences that framed the story of the test pilots at Muroc Army Air Field, later Edwards AFB.” Wikipedia
  • Army of Darkness 1992
  • Lost Horizon 1937
    “Many exteriors were filmed on location in Palm Springs, Lucerne Valley, the Ojai Valley, the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and in what is now Westlake Village, adding the cost of transporting cast, crew, and equipment to the swelling budget.” Wikipedia
  • The Big Country 1958
    “The Blanco Canyon scenes were filmed in California's Red Rock Canyon State Park in the Mojave Desert.” Wikipedia
  • Broken Arrow 1996
    “The desert sequences were shot in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, California, and in Coconino County near Page, Arizona.” Wikipedia
  • Westworld 1973
    “Westworld was filmed in several locations, including the Mojave Desert, the gardens of the Harold Lloyd Estate, several MGM sound stages and on the MGM backlot, one of the final films to be shot there before the backlot was sold to real estate developers and demolished.” Wikipedia
  • The Doors 1991
  • Hair 1979
    “Scenes were also shot at the Fort Irwin National Training Center, in the Mojave Desert in northern San Bernardino County, California, and in Barstow, California; as well as in Washington, D.C., at the Lincoln Memorial, in the National Mall.” Wikipedia
  • Fall 2022
  • In Old Arizona 1928
  • The Hills Have Eyes 1977
    “The film was shot in Victorville, California, in the Mojave Desert using 16 mm film on cameras that were borrowed from a Californian pornographic filmmaker.” Wikipedia
  • Land of the Lost 2009
  • Them! 1954
    “The scenes set in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico were actually filmed in the Mojave Desert near Palmdale, California.” Wikipedia
  • Mars et Avril 2012
    “The Martian backgrounds were taken by photographer Denis McCready in the Mojave Desert using a panoramic film camera.” Wikipedia

Set here, per Wikipedia

Games whose English Wikipedia article says they are set in Mojave Desert, where Wikidata’s narrative-location statement stops at the country. Still a setting and not a shoot, and still a sentence rather than a statement — two steps from the strongest evidence on this atlas, and labelled at both.

  • Fallout: New Vegas 2010
    “The game, which was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, is set in the Mojave Desert 204 years after a devastating nuclear war.” Wikipedia

Other filming locations in the United States

Frequently asked questions

What was filmed at Mojave Desert?

20 productions are recorded as filmed at Mojave Desert, including Chinatown (1974), Volcano (1997) and Prometheus (2012). 18 of the credits come from Wikipedia articles rather than Wikidata statements and are labelled per Wikipedia.

Which is the best known production filmed at Mojave Desert?

Chinatown (1974), covered by 61 Wikipedia language editions, which is how this atlas ranks fame.

Where is Mojave Desert?

Mojave Desert is in the United States, at 35.0083, -115.4750.

Where does this information come from?

Filming location statements on Wikidata, joined to the place's coordinates and Wikipedia article, plus places named in Wikipedia articles, which are labelled per Wikipedia wherever they appear. The photograph is from Wikimedia Commons, by Fred Morledge, CC BY-SA 2.5.