List of films set in Los Angeles

In the history of motion pictures in the United States, many films have been set in Los Angeles respectively in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, or a fictionalized version thereof.

The following is a list of some of the more memorable films set in Los Angeles, however the list includes a number of films which only have a tenuous connection to the city. The list is sorted by the year the film was released.

1920s

Souls for Sale (1923)
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Show People (1928)
The Studio Murder Mystery (1929)

1930s

Free and Easy (1930)
What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Movie Crazy (1932)
The Death Kiss (1932)
Bombshell (1933)
Lady Killer (1933)
Hollywood Party (1934)
Another Face (1935)
A Star Is Born (1937)
Pick a Star (1937)
It Happened in Hollywood (1937)
Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
Second Fiddle (1939)
Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)

1940s

Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Jolson Story (1946)
Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
The Perils of Pauline (1947)
Variety Girl (1947)
He Walked by Night (1948)
Jolson Sings Again (1949)
White Heat (1949)
Criss Cross (1948)

1950s

Armored Car Robbery (1950)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Valentino (1951)
Hollywood Story (1951)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Story of Will Rogers (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The War of the Worlds (1953)^[1]
A Star Is Born (1954)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
The Buster Keaton Story (1957)
Jeanne Eagels (1957)
Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Beloved Infidel (1959)

1960s

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Private Property (1960)
The Exiles (1961)
The George Raft Story (1961)
The Parent Trap (1961 film) (1961)
The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Move Over, Darling (1963)
Muscle Beach Party (1964)
Harlow (1965)
The Loved One (1965)
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966)
Lord Love a Duck (1966)
Don't Make Waves (1967)
The Graduate (1967)
Point Blank (1967)
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Targets (1968)
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)
Model Shop (1969)
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)

1970s

Alex in Wonderland (1970)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
Halls of Anger (1970)
Diamonds are Forever (1971)
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Kotch (1971)
Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
The Omega Man (1971)^[1]
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
The New Centurions (1972)
Blacula
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Blume in Love (1973)
Save the Tiger (1973)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Chinatown (1974)
Earthquake (1974)
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Dolemite (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Shampoo (1975)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
The Bad News Bears (1976)
Car Wash (1976)
Carrie (1976)
Gable and Lombard (1976)
Gus (1976)
The Human Tornado (1976)
Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)
A Star Is Born (1976)
Trackdown (1976)
Two-Minute Warning (1976)
W.C. Fields and Me (1976)
Welcome to L.A. (1976)
Grand Theft Auto (1977)
Petey Wheatstraw (1977)
The Driver (1978)
Grease (1978)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
Straight Time (1978)
Thank God It's Friday (1978)
Up in Smoke (1978)
1941 (1979)
Boulevard Nights (1979)
The China Syndrome (1979)
Disco Godfather (1979)
Hardcore (1979)
The Onion Field (1979)
Roller Boogie (1979)
Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979)
Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
Scooby Goes Hollywood

1980s

9 to 5 (1980)
Airplane! (1980)
Midnight Madness (1980)
Seems Like Old Times (1980)
Xanadu (1980)
Carbon Copy (1981)
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
The Four Seasons (1981)
Mommie Dearest (1981)
S.O.B. (1981)
True Confessions (1981)
Zoot Suit (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Frances (1982)
Grease 2 (1982) (local suburbs, e.g. Hawthorne)
The Entity (1982)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)
White Dog (1982)
Blue Thunder (1983)
Boardinghouse (1983)
Mr. Mom (1983)
The Star Chamber (1983)
Star 80 (1983)
Valley Girl (1983)
Angel (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Body Double (1984)
Crimes of Passion (1984)
Irreconcilable Differences (1984)
The Karate Kid (1984)
Night of the Comet (1984)^[1]
Protocol (1984)
Repo Man (1984)
Swing Shift (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
8 Million Ways to Die (1985)
Back to the Future (1985) (Universal City, California)
Fletch (1985)
Into the Night (1985)
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
Tuff Turf (1985)
Teen Wolf (1985)
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
Echo Park (1986)
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Modern Girls (1986)
Ruthless People (1986)
That's Life! (1986)
Top Gun (1986)
Barfly (1987)
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
Born in East L.A. (1987)
Dragnet (1987)
The Hidden (1987)
La Bamba (1987)
Less than Zero (1987)
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Maid to Order (1987)
The Running Man (1987)
Summer School (1987)
Alien Nation (film) (1988)
Big Business (1988)
Colors (1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
For Keeps (1988)
License To Drive (1988)
Miracle Mile (1988)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Sunset (1988)
Tequila Sunrise (1988)
They Live (1988)
Twins (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Back to the Future Part II (Universal City, California) (1989)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Chances Are (1989)
The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
Miracle Mile (1989)^[1]
Skin Deep (1989)
Tango & Cash (1989)
Troop Beverly Hills (1989)

1990s

1990

Back to the Future Part III (Universal City, California)
Internal Affairs
Predator 2
Pretty Woman
To Sleep with Anger
The Two Jakes
House Party (1990 film)

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

2 Days in the Valley
The Craft
The Crow: City of Angels
Demolition Man
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Escape from L.A.
Get on the Bus
Independence Day
Kazaam
Last Man Standing
Matilda
Mulholland Falls
Set It Off
Spy Hard
Swingers
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

1997

1998

1999

8mm
Bellyfruit
Blast from the Past
Blue Streak
Bowfinger
Free Enterprise
Go
Hot Boyz
Magnolia
The Muse
RKO 281
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (select scenes)
Sugar Town
The Thirteenth Floor
The Wood

2000s

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

17 Again
2012
2012: Supernova
500 Days of Summer
All About Steve
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Black Dynamite
Blood and Bone
Crank: High Voltage
Crossing Over
Drag Me to Hell
Fast & Furious
Funny People
G-Force
I Love You, Man
The Informers
Land of the Lost
My Sister's Keeper
Notorious
Obsessed
A Single Man
The Soloist
Spread
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Totally Spies! The Movie
The Ugly Truth
Zombieland^[1]

2010s

2010

30 Days of Night: Dark Days
The A-Team
Beginners
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Cyrus
Get Him to the Greek
Greenberg
Horrorween
Inception
Iron Man 2
Jackass 3D
The Kids Are All Right
Kites
The Losers
Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus
My Name is Khan
Resident Evil: Afterlife
The Runaways
Skyline
Takers
Tooth Fairy
The Town
Tron: Legacy
Valentine's Day
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020s

2020

2021

2022

Ambulance
Babylon
The Bad Guys
Blonde
Bullet Train
Day Shift
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Don't Worry Darling
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Jackass Forever
Moonfall
Nope
Scream
Top Gun: Maverick
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

2023

2024

Los Angeles destroyed in films

The War of the Worlds (1953) (destroyed by an alien invasion)
Earthquake (1974) (destroyed by an earthquake)
Night of the Comet (1984) (destroyed by a comet)
The Terminator (1984) (destroyed by artificially intelligent machines)
The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990) (destroyed by an earthquake)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (destroyed by a nuclear bomb)
Double Dragon (1994) (destroyed by a major earthquake in 2007)
Escape from L.A. (1996) (destroyed by a major earthquake and tsunami in 2000)
Independence Day (1996) (destroyed by an alien invasion)
Volcano (1997) (destroyed by a large volcanic eruption)
Tycus (2000) (destroyed by a piece of the Moon after being hit by comet Tycus)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) (destroyed by a nuclear bomb)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) (destroyed by a series of massive tornadoes)
10.5: Apocalypse (2006) (destroyed by an earthquake)
Dragon Wars (2007) (destroyed by a giant monster attack)
Pandemic (2007) (destroyed by a bird flu outbreak)
Transformers (2007) (destroyed by a series of giant robots)
Life After People (2008) (disintegration)
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008) (destroyed by an alien invasion)
Terminator Salvation (2009) (destroyed by artificially intelligent machines)
2012 (2009) (destroyed by a massive earthquake)
2012: Supernova (2009) (destroyed by a supernova)
Zombieland (2009) (destroyed by a zombie apocalypse)
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) (destroyed by an epidemic)
Skyline (2010) (destroyed by an alien invasion)
Battle: Los Angeles (2011) (destroyed by an alien invasion)
Disaster Wars: Earthquake vs. Tsunami (2013) (destroyed by a tsunami)
This Is the End (2013) (destroyed by the Rapture)
10.0 Earthquake (2014) (destroyed by a massive earthquake)
Fire Twister (2015) (destroyed by a fire tornado)
L.A. Apocalypse (2015) (annihilation of the city due to an explosion)
San Andreas (2015) (destroyed by a massive earthquake)
Terminator Genisys (2015) (destroyed by a nuclear bomb)
Destruction: Los Angeles (2017) (destroyed by a massive earthquake)
Eruption LA (2018) (destroyed by a volcanic eruption)
"Moonfall" (2022) (destroyed by the Moon)

Anime

Pet Shop of Horrors (1999)
Death Note (2006-2007)
Heroman (2010)
Harukana Receive (2018)
Mutafukaz (2018)

Los Angeles Set in Animation

A Goofy Movie (1995)
Cats Don't Dance (1997)
Space Chimps (2008)
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
Despicable Me (2010)
Trigun: Badlands Rumble (2010)
Rio (2011)
The Adventures of Tintin (film) (2011)
Puss in Boots (2011)
Brave (2012)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Rio 2 (2014)
The Anthem of Heart (2015)
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Throne of Elves (2016)
Moana (2016)
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
Gantz: O (2016)
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
Coco (2017)
Cars 3 (2017)
The Grinch (2018)
The Stolen Princess (2018)
Smallfoot (film) (2018)
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f King, Susan (June 12, 2013). "'This Is the End': Los Angeles takes on the apocalypse (again)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-06-06.

[Apocalypse-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f King, Susan (June 12, 2013). "'This Is the End': Los Angeles takes on the apocalypse (again)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-06-06.

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