10 international movies and series shot in South Africa

We’re not saying it jolts us out of the action, but there’s a special thrill when you spot a movie scene that’s out of place. Is this sunny Los Angeles? Not a chance! That’s the Sea Point swimming pool pavilion in Cape Town. Some mysterious dystopian brutalist fortress? Nope, we know your works, Artscape Theatre and Cape Town Civic Centre. And that’s not the railway station in 1920s Nairobi, Kenya, because we know KZN’s Inchanga Choo Choo station when we see it. 

We’ve picked out just 10 films and series on Showmax and gone location spotting for a little fun. But if you spot more familiar South African locations behind their Scooby Doo movie-magic masks, drop us a hint on our socials!

1. Boy Kills World

Comic book-style action comedy. In a dystopian post-apocalyptic world, a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian) trains a Boy (Bill Skarsgård) to fulfil his quest for vengeance with the help of two resistance fighters Basho (Andrew Koji) and Benny (Isaiah Mustafa): to kill the matriarchal despot Hilda Van De Koy (Famke Janssen) – the woman he blames for his family’s deaths. Boy (who’s Deaf and non-speaking) narrates his experiences using a voice borrowed from his favourite childhood arcade game (performed by H Jon Benjamin, the voice of Batman in Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas). 

Location scout: Boy Kills World was shot entirely on location in Cape Town. Look out for local landmarks including the Heerengracht (in the opening flashback), Rhodes House (the Van Der Koy palace), and the Artscape theatre steps and Civic Centre (where the Shaman’s family is gunned down).

2. 1923

Drama mini-series. Taylor Sheridan took Yellowstone to Africa in the Dutton saga prequel series, 1923. Back in Montana’s Paradise Valley, the Great Depression is a restless, difficult time for Dutton patriarch Jacob (Harrison Ford) and his wife Cara (Helen Mirren). And while his nephew John Sr (James Badge Dale) helps Jacob to run Yellowstone, John Sr’s brother Spencer (Brandon Sklenar), a World War I veteran, escapes to seek his fortune in Kenya as a big game hunter.

Location scout: Scenes set at the train station in Nairobi were really filmed at KwaZulu Natal’s Umgeni Steam Railway near Botha’s Hill. Kearsney Manor in KwaDukuza in KwaZul- Natal stood in for Nairobi’s famous Stanley hotel. And scenes set in Mombasa’s harbour were really shot in Kalk Bay in Cape Town.

3. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Sci-fi action. In this direct sequel to Resident Evil: Retribution, a vindictive Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) sends the full might of the Umbrella Corporation to wipe out his adopted daughter Alice (Milla Jovovich) – the biological daughter of Umbrella’s original founder Dr James Marcus (Mark Simpson) – along with her fellow zombie apocalypse survivors including Doc (Eoin Macken), Abigail (Ruby Rose), Christian (William Levy), Cobalt (Rola), Razor (Fraser James), and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). Meanwhile Alice is told that she has just 48 hours to infiltrate the Hive facility beneath Raccoon City to release an airborne antivirus. 

Location scout: The main filming locations were Hartbeespoort Dam and Cape Town, where Table Mountain becomes ground zero for the T-virus outbreak. But keep your eyes peeled for a battle scene filmed inside the Ponte Tower in Johannesburg. PS: A South African crew member, Ricardo Cornelius, was killed in an accident on set, while Mila’s South African stunt double Olivia Jackson suffered severe injuries.

4. Girl You Know It’s True

Biographical drama. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, German dancer Rob Pilatus (Tijan Njie) and French choreographer Fab Morvan (Elan Ben Ali) shot to stardom as musical duo Milli Vanilli, even raking in a Best New Artist Grammy Award in 1990. But it wasn’t long before the truth came out – Rob and Fab were just frontmen hired by German music producer Frank Farian (Matthias Schweighöfer), the founder of smash hit disco group Boney M. They were lip-synching to tracks performed by less attractive, less charismatic session musicians Brad Howell and John Davis. The backlash was devastating, and this film does a lot to humanise two performers who became a musical joke.

Location scout: Several scenes were filmed in and around Cape Town, so you’ll see Rob and Fab jogging around Sea Point pool and promenade in their colourful lycra 80s workout gear, and getting mobbed in St George’s Mall near Wale and Church street (standing in for London).

5. Rogue

Action thriller. A mercenary named Samantha “Sam” O’Hara (Megan Fox) leads a group of tough guns through East Africa’s grasslands on a mission to locate and recover Asilia Wilson (Jessica Sutton), the daughter of a governor who’s been kidnapped for ransom along by terrorist leader Zalaam (Adam Deacon), along with two of her classmates. While the plan is to save only Asilia, Sam is secretly planning to extract the other girls, too. During their chaotic escape, they run afoul of both a group of poachers, and an escaped lioness. Look out for a host of South Africans fleeing, fighting, and screaming including Sisanda Henna, Lee-Anne Liebenberg, Austin Shandu and Brandon Auret. 

Location scout: Rogue was filmed at Glen Afric Country Lodge in Broederstroom, as well as on a game farm about 40 minutes from Johannesburg. 

6. Warrior

Martial arts action drama. Chinese immigrant Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) becomes a fighting legend in San Francisco’s Chinatown in this power-punch of an action series, based on a concept that martial arts legend Bruce Lee was working on before his death. Set in San Francisco during the Tong Wars era of the 1800s, Warrior plunges us into the power struggle between the rival Tongs (gangs), who employ everyone from prostitutes to hatchet men, with each gang ruling over their turf with deadly violence. Occasionally, though, they have to set aside their differences and close ranks against the white police, and racist American citizens whose attacks lead to outbursts of violence like the real-life July 1887 riots (recreated in Season 2, episode 9).

Location scout: 1800s San Francisco and Chinatown were reconstructed on the lot and soundstages at Cape Town Film Studios.

7. Generation Kill

This madly macho war drama mini-series explores the first 40 days of the March-April 2003 invasion of Iraq through the eyes of the US soldiers and their embedded Rolling Stone reporter Even Wright (Lee Tergesen). It features a who’s who of leading men including Alexander Skarsgård as Staff Sergeant Brad “Iceman” Colbert, James Ransone as Corporal Josh Ray Person, Kellan Lutz as Corporal Jason Lilley, and South African Langley Kirkwood as Sergeant Steven Lovell. Former US Marines Eric Kocher and Rudy Reyes acted as the show’s military advisors as well as playing themselves on screen.

Location scout: Iraq’s South African stand-ins include the Ses Brugge area of Upington in the Northern Cape, and Kragbron in the Free State.

8. Blood Diamond

Political war drama Blood Diamond centres on the Sierra Leone Civil War of 1991–2002, and The Revolutionary United Front’s strategy of kidnapping citizens like Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) and forcing them to mine diamonds, which they then sold to fund their side of the conflict. When Solomon finds a huge, pink diamond, a government raid allows him to conceal it from his brutal overseer, Captain Poison (David Harewood), before the two wind up in prison in Freetown. There, Solomon meets diamond smuggler and Border War veteran Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), and Danny decides to help Solomon to reunite with his family … in exchange for the diamond, of course.

Location scout: The scene in which Danny and Solomon are running from RUF soldiers was shot in Port Edward in KwaZulu Natal, while Danny’s call to Maddy (Jennifer Connelly) was shot with her at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

9. Escape Room

Oh, so you and your friends love an escape room puzzle? Well what if the person who set up the challenges was a maniac like Jigsaw from the Saw films? In this sci-fi horror, six seemingly random people all receive a puzzle cube. If they can solve it, they’re invited to the Minos company’s special escape room event, which comes with a cash prize. From the moment the lucky “winners” set foot on Minos grounds, they’re locked into the game, and have to puzzle their way out of the waiting room as it turns into a lethal oven. More nasty surprises lie in wait, including a hospital room, deep shafts to fall down, and a frozen “lake”.

Location scout: Jason’s (Jay Ellis) posh office is located in the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), the exterior of the Minos building is the Media24 building on the Heerengracht, and most of the film was shot around the Convention Centre. Production designer Ed Thomas and his team had six weeks to construct all the trap rooms on their soundstages.

10. Strike Back

British action thriller series Strike Back, based on the novel of the same name by former Special Air Service soldier Chris Ryan, recruits us into a special branch of British Intelligence, and takes us along on their high risk missions across the globe. Key characters include SAS Sergeant John Porter (Richard Armitage), Major Hugh Collinson (Andrew Lincoln), Colour Sergeant Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester), Philip Locke (Robson Green), and First Sergeant Damien Scott (Sullivan Stapleton).

Location scout: Season 1 was shot heavily in Johannesburg, but the action was set in Iraq and the UK. Season 2 featured episodes shot in Cape Town, Durban, and Springbok in the Northern Cape – all standing in for India and Pakistan. And Season 3 was meant to shoot in Mozambique until political activity made the production team switch to Cape Town (including Langa) and Johannesburg for scenes set both in Somalia, and in Johannesburg itself. 

Now hop on the Showmax app to start your own game of production location GeoGuessr!