While a lot of times big movies are shot at a studio in sunny California, whether it be Warner Bros. or Paramount, there are also flicks that go to a certain location to shoot. Some companies travel across the country, or go international to get the best setting for their films, but other times they pick a state, and the movie relies on the location for the plot. In North Carolina, there have been several big movies shot, gaining attention from big companies to their small towns and quaint cities. Peerspace states the film companies take advantage of North Carolina’s beautiful scenery and coastline. As well as films, iconic shows have also been filmed in this state, such as Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill. Wilmington, NC, has been featured in the majority of movies shot in North Carolina, as well as Greenfield Lake. Here’s a list of some of the best movies shot in North Carolina.
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6 Safe Haven (2013)
Temple Hill Entertainment
Based on the novel written by Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven was filmed in a variety of locations in NC, but mostly in the town of Southport. Safe Haven is a film/novel about a woman named Katie (Julianne Hough), who flees to the small town that’s based off of Southport, running away from her abusive husband and to the safety of this beachside paradise. It’s there she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widowed father of two, who quickly falls in love with Katie and forms a sweet/protective relationship with her. In Southport, lovers of the film can take a tour throughout the town to visit the sites of filming locations, getting a peak to see where Katie and Alex’s love story unfolded.
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5 A Walk to Remember (2002)
Warner Bros.
While the plot sets this film in Beaufort, NC, A Walk to Remember was shot in Wilmington, borrowing sets from Dawson’s Creek in their short amount of filming days. Nicholas Sparks once again inspired this film from his novel of the same name; the movie stars Mandy Moore and Shane West, and follows the story of bad boy meets good girl. The two characters get paired up when Landon (West) gets served with community service and Jamie (Moore) helps him out, leading to a friendship, and eventually a whirlwind romance that ends in a devastating tragedy. While it had some harsh reviews from critics when it was first released, A Walk to Remember is a sweet film that will make the viewer believe in love, and also cry their eyes out.
4 Halloween Kills (2021)
Universal Pictures
Being the twelfth installment of the Halloween franchise, Halloween Kills had big shoes to fill as Jamie Lee Curtis and James Jude Courtney reprised their roles as the iconic characters, Lori Strode and Michael Myers. Halloween Kills was filmed in Wilmington, Greenfield Lake, Cape Fear Community College, and Carolina Place, which is a historic neighborhood in Wilmington. Viewers find Lori Strode once again in the fight of her life against slasher Michael Myers, as he wreaks havoc on the town of “Haddonfield”, with several members of the community taking it upon themselves to help defend their beloved small town.
3 The Conjuring (2013)
New Line Cinema
The Cinemaholic states that a replication of the original Conjuring house (the actual haunted one located in Rhode Island) was built on a stage in Currie, NC. The Conjuring was also mostly filmed in Wilmington, with the crew jumping back and forth between the two locations as they filmed all the scenes in chronological order. Based on the true story of the Perron Family being tormented by an evil spirit, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) swoop in and cast the demon out of the house and out of the family’s lives. While there are eight movies in The Conjuring and Annabelle franchises, this movie was the first released and kicked things off.
2 Forrest Gump (1994)
Paramount Pictures
Possibly one of Tom Hank’s biggest movies, Forrest Gump was filmed in a handful of different states throughout the southern United States, including North Carolina, for a very iconic scene. The film follows Forrest Gump, a kind individual viewers watch through decades of his life, experiencing one adventure after another. During the scene where Gump is running along a road before he realizes he’s being followed by a big group of people, he’s running along the bend of Grandfather Mountain located in Linville, NC. That bend is now dubbed the “Forrest Gump Curve” and can be located about a few miles past the entrance to the mountain.
1 Dirty Dancing (1987)
Great American Films Limited Partnership
While Dirty Dancing had two separate locations for filming, North Carolina and Virginia, the iconic lake scene was shot at Lake Lure, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, NC. Starring Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle, the dance instructor at the resort, and Jennifer Gray as Baby, a younger woman who falls hopelessly in love with the older man. The pair navigated their very different lifestyles and formed an everlasting bond through the summer they shared, and that struck the hearts of many viewers in the ’80s. The iconic song “Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes was made for this movie, and used as the theme song of the film, gaining the two artists an Oscar for Best Original Song.
