January puts Utah on the world map each year. It’s the month Utah’s world famous ski town, Park City hosts the Sundance Film Festival. A-list celebrities and movie industry Hall of Famers gather for film premiers, parties and awards celebrations.
This year the 43rd Sundance Film Festival will be presented in a different light amidst the COVID pandemic. Running from January 28th to February 3rd the festival will be a seven-day online event accessible to movie fans across the USA. US festival goers will be to view 72 feature films on a custom online platform this year. Details of all the movies are here.
However, the Sundance Film Festival is not the only drawcard when it comes to films in Utah. Utah is a fitting location for the largest independent film festival in the USA, with its majestic mountains and national parks forming the backdrop to more over 900 movies. Added to this, big budget TV shows, like HBO’s multi-award winning Westworld, use the Beehive State as their film set.
Even the Utah Film Commission is now using the official trademark: Utah. America’s Film Set®, recognizing that Utah has acted as the backdrop over the decards for hundreds of award-winning movies playing the role of many destinations both on this earth and off (think Mars).
| Here, to mark the 2021 awards season and the launch of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, are some of the biggest Utah-filmed movies celebrating their ‘Film-versaries’, signalling when they were released into cinemas: Movies: Grand Canyon (30 years) – January 1991 Starring: Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin Utah locations: Snow Canyon State Park Broken Arrow (25 years) – February 1996 Starring: John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis Utah locations: Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreational Area Spy Kids (20 years) – March 2001 Starring: Alexa PeneVega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas Utah locations: Salt Lake City Mulholland Falls (25 years) – April 1996 Starring: Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Connelly Utah locations: Wendover Thelma & Louise (30 years) – May 1991 Starring: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Brad Pitt Utah locations: Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Dead Horse Point State Park, Valley of the Gods Mexican Hat, Cisco, West Valley City, Thompson Springs, Arches National Park, La Sal Mountains Billy the Kid (80 years) – May 1941 Starring: Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Ian Hunter, Mary Howard Utah locations: Kanab, Kanab Movie Ranch, Monument Valley Independence Day (25 years) – July 1996 Starring: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum Utah locations: Bonneville Salt Flats, Wendover Airport, Tooele, Lakepoint, Skull Valley Jurassic Park III (20 years) – July 2001 Starring: Sam Neill, William H Macy, Tea Leoni Utah locations: Wendover Planet of the Apes (20 years) – July 2001 Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth Utah locations: Lake Powell, Kanab Joy Ride (20 years) – October 2001 Starring: Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski Utah locations: Grantsville, Delle, Skull Valley The Tree of Life (10 years) – October 2011 Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain Utah locations: Goblin Valley State Park Larger Than Life (25 years) – November 1996 Starring: Bill Murray, Matthew McConaughey, Jerry Adler Utah locations: Moab Westward the Women (70 years) – December 1951 Starring: Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson, John McIntire Utah locations: Johnson Canyon & Paria Canyon – Kanab, Kanab Movie Ranch, Surprise Valley |
| TV Series: Promised Land (25 years) – September 1996 ‘Touched by an Angel’ spin-off Starring: Gerald McRaney, Wendy Phillips, Austin O’Brien Utah locations: Salt Lake City, Huntsville, Ogden, Rush Valley, St George, Stockton, University of Utah Westworld (5 years) – October 2016 Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris Utah locations: Dead Horse Point State Park, Moab, |
| Click here for more on Utah’s cinematic heritage or to take a walk down memory lane for your favourite movies. Click here to see what’s been filmed and is coming up in Utah. Media: For high res images to accompany article click here. |
