With stunning buildings dotted around, sprawling fields, and a grand mix of unreliable weather conditions, the UK has long made for a popular filming location for studios from the British Isles and beyond. Of all the places in the country that attract major productions, though, Oxfordshire regularly draws in the cameras.
Some of the highest-earning films ever made and the most recent hits have featured Oxfordshire locations in one way or another. Not only does this mean that some stunning places are making it onto the big screen, but that millions of people are appreciating those spots and might even fancy visiting them one day.
Should you want to go to some of the legendary spots in Oxfordshire that saw great movies filmed before them, consider heading to these locations.
$1 billion of musical might from two flicks
When the Wonka movie was announced, it was almost guaranteed to be a hit. Starring Timothée Chalamet as a young chocolatier, it could easily bank on the ever-lasting fandom of the 1971 hit. In fact, just before Wonka hit cinemas on 8 December, Light and Wonder launched their own tie-in.
Found at the platform given a five-star review with a live casino bonus, which is found if you check here, is the nostalgia-inducing slot game from Light and Wonder, World of Wonka. Based on the Gene Wilder-led classic, there’s a 1,030x top prize and a whole host of in-theme features. These range from the Oompa Loompa stretching the reels to the Everlasting Gobstopper bonus.
The success of the slot game to this day shows how popular the story is in all forms of entertainment media, but perhaps the studios didn’t expect Wonka to do quite as well as it did. The late 2023 release amassed over $628 million at the worldwide box office, so, millions of people got to see the incredible scenery of Sheldonian Theatre and the Radcliffe Camera.
Before Wonka, another guaranteed hit came to Oxfordshire to film. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again got underway in 2017, released a year later. The musical made a whopping $400 million worldwide having filmed in Wytham and central Oxford, which you can look at in this picture gallery.
Eight films in the wizarding world
From The Philosopher’s Stone in 2001 to The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 2011, few film series in the history of cinema could stand to the popularity of the Harry Potter movies. Of particular note, in the movies were the choices of film locations around the UK, which earned a tremendous amount of praise – even at a time when The Lord of the Rings trilogy was doing its utmost to power up the New Zealand tourism industry.
Across the increasingly lavish films, eventually, $1.2 billion was spent to bring J. K. Rowling’s world to the big screen, but that was a sound investment. At the box office alone, those movies brought in $7.7 billion to narrowly miss out on averaging $1 billion per wizarding movie.
Oxfordshire played a central role in much of the filming and set design across the series. You can even go on a Harry Potter Walking Tour of Oxford by clicking this link. It’ll take you to the Bodleian Library, New College Cloisters, and Christ Church College. Oxford University and just the streets of Oxford are also cited as being inspirations for the scenery.
If you’re in Oxfordshire and want to experience the grand settings of these hit movies, you don’t have to go far!
