Top 7 Movies Filmed in Santa Cruz, California by US Box Office

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Lights, Camera, Santa Cruz: Get Ready to Explore the Filming Locations of Your Favorite Movies!

Lights, camera, action! It’s time to dive into the enchanting world of cinema and embark on a thrilling adventure through the stunning landscapes of Santa Cruz, California. Are you ready for an unforgettable journey? Buckle up and get ready to explore the famous filming locations of your favorite movies!

Key Takeaways:

  • Immerse yourself in the magic of cinema by visiting the actual locations where legendary movies were filmed.
  • Discover the hidden gems of Santa Cruz as you follow in the footsteps of your favorite actors.
  • Experience the thrill of reliving iconic movie scenes and capturing picture-perfect moments.

Imagine strolling through the same streets where your favorite actors once stood, and reliving the movie magic that captured your heart. Santa Cruz has been a popular filming destination for many movies, and the city’s charm and scenic beauty have undoubtedly made it a favorite among directors.

But why should you consider visiting movie locations? Well, my enthusiastic fellow adventurer, let me tell you why! Exploring filming locations adds a whole new dimension to your travel experience. It’s like stepping into the screen, becoming a part of the story, and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

While you’re visiting Santa Cruz, you can immerse yourself in the setting where some of your most beloved movies were brought to life. From action-packed blockbusters to heartwarming romances, this captivating city has set the stage for numerous cinematic masterpieces.

Imagine standing on the iconic Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where thrilling scenes from classic movies unfolded. Feel the breeze in your hair as you remember the adrenaline rush of your favorite character’s nail-biting escapades. It’s not just a visit; it’s a chance to relive those magical moments and indulge in your cinematic fantasies.

And let’s not forget the picturesque landscapes that have served as the backdrop for so many memorable movie scenes. From the majestic redwoods to the breathtaking coastline, Santa Cruz offers an array of mesmerizing natural beauty. You can soak in the same awe-inspiring vistas that captured the hearts of directors and cinematographers.

Whether you’re a movie buff seeking adventure, or simply looking for unique experiences to spice up your travel, exploring movie filming locations in Santa Cruz is an absolute must-do. So grab your camera, channel your inner action hero or leading lady, and prepare to make memories at the real-life sets of your favorite films!

Lights, camera, what are you waiting for? Discover the magic of movie filming locations in Santa Cruz, and let the silver screen come to life before your very eyes. Explore the listicle below and embark on an unforgettable journey through the movies that have immortalized this stunning city. Lights, camera, action awaits!

Remember, adventure awaits just around the corner. So pack your bags, put on your movie-inspired costume (optional), and get ready to experience the thrilling fusion of cinema and real-life wonder in Santa Cruz!

US (II) – US Box Office: USD$175.08millions

Director: Jordan Peele 

Main Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker

Release Date: March 22, 2019

Filming Locations: Santa Cruz, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Calabasas, California, USA; Pasadena, California, USA; 854 Malibu Meadows Dr. Calabasas, California, USA

Main Plot: Adelaide, now a mother of two, reluctantly walks with her husband back to their peaceful lakeside cottage. Gabe, on the other, spent the summer vacation not far from the sun-kissed Santa Cruz beach where she had a horrible childhood experience. But Adelaide still has the disturbing feeling that her strange doppelgänger experience will somehow return to haunt her. Despite the passing of time, as well as her unaware family. Before the day is out, the happy visitors’ worst nightmare will come true as a nasty foursome that looks similar to theirs sits in their driveway. They then pull out their sharp-bladed scissors. What do “they” hope to get out of them?

Famous quotes:

Gabe Wilson: “Let’s make some traps or something, like some ‘Home Alone’ type stuff. That way, if she comes…”

Adelaide Wilson: “Tell me you did not just reference ‘Home Alone’.”

Gabe Wilson: “You know what I’m talking about.”

Adelaide Wilson: “Gabe. They’ve been planning this. They have the upper hand. This is the time to run, not to be sprinkling Micro Machines on the floor.”

Jason Wilson: “What are Micro Machines?”

Fun Fact about US (II):

  • The words Get Out (2017), the name of Jordan Peele’s previous movie, are engraved into the walls of the hall of mirrors’ entryway.

Bumblebee (I) – US Box Office: USD$127.20millions

Director: Travis Knight

Main Cast: Hailee Steinfield, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena, Jason Drucker

Release Date: December 24, 2018

Filming Locations: Santa Cruz, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Vallejo, California, USA; Vallejo, California, USA; Felton, California, USA

Main Plot: Optimus Prime and the Autobots of Cybertron are on the verge of losing the Great Cybertronian War to the Decepticons. During the escape, the Decepticons headed by Shockwave, Soundwave, and Starscream ambush them, so Optimus sends B-127, a youthful scout, to Earth to establish a center of operations where the Autobots can reassemble. In 1987, B-127 made its solo approach to Earth, crash-lands in California, and prevented Sector 7. A covert government organization that keeps track of alien activities on Earth, from conducting a training exercise. Colonel Jack Burns of Sector 7 assumes B-127 is an enemy invasion and assaults, forcing B-127 into the woods where the Decepticon Blitzwing ambushes him. B-127 refuses to give Optimus a location, so Blitzwing savagely destroys his memory core and removes his voice box. B-127 defeats Blitzwing before passing out from his injuries. B-127 scans and changes into a 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle before entering stasis.

Famous quotes:

Bumblebee: Please this is a mistake.”

Agent Burns: “Stay cool, hold your fire.”

Bumblebee: “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Agent Burns: “Who called in the Air Force?”

Bumblebee: “That’s not the Air Force.”

Fun Fact about Bumblebee (I):

  • The only cast member to appear in each Transformers movie that has been theatrically released is Peter Cullen (who voices Optimus Prime). In The Transformers: The Movie (1986), he provided the character’s voice, and he returned for the live-action movies, including this one.

Dangerous Minds – US Box Office: USD$84.92millions

Director: John N. Smith

Main Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, George Dzundza, Courtney B. Vance, Robin Bartlett

Release Date: January 19, 1996

Filming Locations: Pacoima, California, USA; Santa Cruz, California, USA; Monrovia, California, USA; Glendale, California, USA; Sherman Oaks, California, USA

Main Plot: Beginning with George Dzundza, the character played by a fellow instructor in the movie Dangerous Minds, is more forthright in real life. Michelle Pfeiffer plays LouAnne Johnson, an ex-Marine, who says, “These are bright kids, with little or no educational skills, and what we respectfully refer to as social difficulties.” she submits a job application and is chosen to work as a teacher in a school. It is considered to be composed of unique children who are passionate and difficult. They do, mostly from kung-fu movies, and after she throws a few of the kids, she succeeds in getting their attention.

Famous quotes:

Hal Griffith: How’d they get you to stay?

Louanne: “They gave me candy and called me their light.”

Hal Griffith: “That’ll do it.”

Mr. Grandey: “This wouldn’t happened to have been their reward for reading poetry would it?”

Louanne: “In my classroom, poetry is its own reward.”

Fun Fact about Dangerous Minds:

  • Wade Dominguez, who played Emilio in the 1995 movie, passed away from respiratory failure three years later, in 1998.

Sudden Impact – US Box Office: USD$67.64millions

Director: Clint Eastwood 

Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bradford Dillman

Release Date: January 27, 1984

Filming Locations: Santa Cruz, California, USA; Santa Cruz Beach, Santa Cruz, California, USA; Monterey Beach, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Main Plot: The fortunate survivor, Jennifer Spencer, is hell-bent on revenge and murder a torturous ten years after her horrible sexual assault. The typically stern Homicide Inspector for the San Francisco Police Department. Harry Callahan tries to shed light on the murderous trail and draw connections as the blonde vigilante begins a bloody campaign. Apart from his brand-new.44 AMP Auto Mag Model 180 handgun, not much has changed since Callahan’s lethal dose of justice in Dirty Harry (1971). But this time, a peculiar sensation of adoration begins to grow. With each empty cartridge he discovers, Callahan is one step closer to Jennifer, who controls the situation. Will Harry cease Jennifer’s terror campaign?

Famous quotes:

Burly Detective: “What do ya think, a gang hit, screwed-up drug score, unlucky John, or an unhappy love affair? Huh? Don’t tell me this shit’s gettin’ to ya. Not Harry Callahan. Say it ain’t so.

Harry Callahan: “No, this stuff isn’t gettin’ to me. The knifings, the beatings, old ladies being bashed in the head for their Social Security checks, teachers being thrown out of a fourth-floor window because they don’t give As, that doesn’t bother me a bit.”

Burly Detective: Come on, Harry. Take it easy.”

Harry Callahan: “Or this job, either. Having to wade through the scum of this city, being swept away by bigger and bigger waves of corruption, apathy and red tape. Nah, that doesn’t bother me. But you know what does bother me?”

Burly Detective: “What?”

Fun Fact about Sudden Impact:

  • The one piece of evidence of Dirty Harry is when Callahan is single.

The Lost Boys – US Box Office: USD$32.22millions

Director: Joel Schumacher

Main Cast: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes 

Release Date: October 23, 1987

Filming Locations: Mobile, Alabama, USA; Alabama, USA; Santa Cruz, California, USA; Valencia, California, USA; Burbank, California, USA

Main Plot: A recent divorcee named Lucy packs up her two teenage kids. Mike and Sam move in with her father in Santa Carla, California, to get her financial problems under control. Sam learns about the town’s vampire infestation when she arrives there. He doesn’t believe the tales until Mike meets a stunning girl in the neighborhood at the amusement park. After getting to know her and her pals, Mike displays all the typical vampiric traits. Sam enlists the assistance of two teenage vampire hunters to discover the primary vampire and exterminate him before it’s too late out of concern for his safety.

Famous quotes:

Alan Frog: [after Laddie vamps out] Holy shit! It’s the attack of Eddie Munster!

Edgar Frog: “Get him!”

Star: “Stop! Get away from him! You just stay away from him! He’s just a little boy.”

Max: “It was all going to be so perfect, Lucy. Just like one big, happy family. Your boys… and my boys.”

Edgar Frog: “Great! The Bloodsucking Brady Bunch!”

Fun Fact about The Lost Boys:

  • The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed the bandstand on which the band performed when Michael first met Star and the Frog Brothers comic book store.

To Live and Die in L.A – US Box Office: USD$17.31millions

Director: William Friedkin

Main Cast: William Petersen, William Dafoe, Jane Leeves, Cherise Bates

Release Date: January 7, 1986

Filming Locations: Lancaster, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Malibu, California, USA; Palmdale, California, USA; San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Main Plot: Richie Chance, a Secret Service agent in LA, primarily handles counterfeiting cases and behaves recklessly. In the opinion of his longtime and former colleague Jimmy Hart, this will likely result in his death before he is ready to retire. His passion for base jumping is one way his need for excitement shows in his personal life. Ruth Lanier, a parolee who gives him information in exchange for him not sending her back to jail for some fictitious parole violation, serves as a professional example of this behavior. Based on recent events, Chance is more motivated than ever to apprehend veteran counterfeiter Ric Masters. Who is more than prepared to use violence against and kill anybody who opposes him, together with his new companion John Vukovich. 

Famous quotes:

Jeff Rice: “Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!”

Eric ‘Rick’ Masters: “Hello Jeff.”

Jeff Rice: “What are you doing in my crib.”

Eric ‘Rick’ Masters: “You sent two assholes to do Cody and they blew it. I paid you half, I want it back.”

Jeff Rice: “Yeah, well uh… I’m trying to get that money back myself. I had to front the whole purchase to get my people to do their thing. So I ain’t got any more.”

Fun Fact about To Live and Die in L.A:

  • Real prisoners served as extras in the prison scenes filmed at the San Luis Obispo Penitentiary.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space – US Box Office: USD$15.63millions

Director: Stephen Chiodo

Main Cast: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Synder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon 

Release Date: May 27, 1988

Filming Locations: Santa Cruz, California, USA; Santa Cruz Beach, Santa Cruz, California, USA; Santa Cruz County, California, USA; Watsonville, California, USA; 558 Main St. Watsonville, CA, USA

Main Plot: Killer Klown from Outer Space is a film that starts when Mike, who is in the character of Grant Cramer, and Debbie, that was screen played by Suzanne Snyder. Observing a comet crash outside their tranquil tiny town, they investigate and find a group of deadly aliens that resemble circus clowns. They attempt to alert the local authorities, but everyone believes they are playing a joke about their discovery of these aliens. The clowns started gathering and consuming as many people as they could. Mike doesn’t realize it’s up to him to end the clowns’ deadly spree until they take Debbie.

Famous quotes:

Debbie Stone: “We were up at “the top of the world” and we saw this shooting star and we decided to go look for it. But instead of finding the shooting star we saw this… this circus tent. And that’s when we went inside, and that is when we saw those people in those… those pink, cotton candy cocoons. Dave, it was not a circus tent. It was something else.”

Dave Hanson: “What? What?”

Mike Tobacco: “It was a space ship. And there was these things, these 

killer clowns, and they shot popcorn at us! We barely got away!”

Curtis Mooney: “Killer clowns, from outer space. Holy shit!”

Farmer Gene Green: “Where’s my dog! Where’s my Pooh Bear!”

Fun Fact about Killer Klowns from Outer Space:

  • On Halloween, October 31, 1987, the first day of recording the music score for Killer Klowns took place.

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