Movie Locations in Morocco

Many  filmmakers have been lured by the beauty, magic, and mystery of the Moroccan landscape. As early as 1897, Louis Lumiere filmed silent classics in Morocco. In the 1950s, Orson Welles, shot Othello. Since then, numerous other famous films have been shot on location in Morocco.

Blockbusters such as Gladiator, The Mummy, Sahara,The Sheltering Sky, Black Hawk Down, Seven Years in Tibet, Alexander, Lawrence of Arabia, Othello, Cleopatra, The Message, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra and The Hills Have Eyes II were all filmed in Morocco.

Ait Ben Haddou has been the location of many other movies including Gladiator, Babel, Lawrence of Arabia  and The Jewel of the Nile.  In the movie Gladiator, the African town, where Maximus is sold into slavery, is Aït Ben Haddou, near Ouarzazate in Morocco.  Our tours to Ouarzazate include a visit to Ait Ben Haddou.

The exotic locations you see in the film Sex and the City 2 (2010), were all shot in Morocco. The market scene where Carrie meets up with old flame Aidan (John Corbett) was filmed in the Marrakech medina. You see Aidan with a big carpet under his arm, a typical look for many tourists in Marrakech. Carpets are big business here and most visitors will find themselves in a carpet shop at some point!  All the desert scenes in SATC2 were filmed in Morocco, in the Erg Chebbi dunes south of Erfoud, just outside a small town of Merzouga. Our tours can include a visit to many of the actual locations of SATC2.

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra was filmed on location in the beautiful fortified kasbahs and the spectacular deserts in southern Morocco.  Our desert tours can include a visit to many of the actual locations used in the movie.

Black Hawk Down was made in Morocco, largely around Rabat and the nearby city of Sale, across the Bou Regreg River, on the Atlantic coast.   The ‘target building’was built from scratch on a football ground and Mogadishu’s ‘Bakara Market’ was reconstructed in a courtyard off the Rue de Consuls shopping street of the 17th century Rabat medina.  The first Black Hawk is downed in the Hay Arrahma district of Sale, about two miles from Avenue Nasser.  The US military base is the Royal Moroccan Air Force Field at Kenitra, on the coast twenty miles north of Rabat, and the firing range was constructed on the beach at nearby Mehdiya.

Marrakech has provided an authentic atmosphere and exotic setting for many movies.  Brideshead Revisited made use of the Bahia Palace, scenes from Alexander were shot in the Mamounia Gardens while The Man Who Knew too Much featured the same palatial hotel, the square and souks.  The popular Mamma Mia shows a daring Bill racing his bike across the Djemaa el Fna square.

The Mummy was filmed on location in in Marrakech and in a dormant volcano near Erfoud where the entire set was constructed.

Atlas Film Studios is the largest film studio in the world. Covering more than 322,000 square feet of desert, Atlas Film is located just outside of Ouarzazate on the road to Marrakech, the grounds are littered with old movie sets that are decaying in the harsh environment.   Tours to Ouarzazate can include a visit to the Atlas Film Studios.

For a full list of movies, television series and video clips that have featured Morocco locations visit http://www.moroccofilmlocation.com/films-list.htm

Real Morocco Tours can create itineraries that visit the movie locations of interest to you.

We can organise guided tours of the locations and the film studios. Contact us about Morocco Movie Location Tours.