The Malta Film Industry
Malta offers a colourful and varied background which entirely favours the film industry. The island could double up for practically any place, old and new. The island boasts a fusion of Mediterranean lifestyle; baroque architecture and modern freshness. With a countryside that is opulent and green in winter and arid and barren in summer; modern urban areas and Mediterranean villages; grand cathedrals and small, wayside chapels; small islands and steep cliffs; and large marinas as well as tiny fishing villages – Malta offers eclectic, modern, traditional environments that lend themselves very favourably to an array of film settings.
Dubbed in 1999 as “a Hollywood in the Mediterranean” (CNN journalist), Malta retained this momentum for the last decade or so. The last ten years have seen such an influx of productions that resulted in local crews struggling to keep up between one shoot and another. With 65 different productions, 26 films or TV series, such industry has highly contributed to job creation in Malta for a range of sectors including hotels, transport and logistics, catering, costume-makers and others involved in building film sets.
Malta has served as location for a number of international films. Starting with Treasure in Malta in the 1960s, followed by Popeye (1983), Midnight Express, Jaws, Christopher Columbus, Cutthroat Island, and more recently Gladiator and U-571. Perhaps ironically Malta is best known to the world through the film adaptation of a book that isn’t about Malta – Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, the title of which refers to a statuette of mysterious origin.
Having such rich medieval architecture, Malta is ideal for serving as a location for films, doing away with costly construction of models. Indeed, while touring the Maltese islands, one can recall famous scenes from movies that made the screen. Moreover, Popeye Village, the set of the film about the sailor Popeye and his friends, has been made into a major tourist attraction in the north of the island, while one can view the largest water tank in the world at Rinella, where ocean-based parts of movies are shot in miniature.
The latest movie filmed in Malta: By the Sea, featuring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
Films shot in Malta over the years
| Year | Film |
|---|---|
| 2014 | By the Sea |
| 2014 | The Whale |
| 2013 | Pirate Pete |
| 2013 | Captain Phillips |
| 2013 | World War Z |
| 2012 | Asterix et Obelix: Au service de Sa Majeste |
| 2012 | Kon-Tiki |
| 2012 | Die Manner der Emden |
| 2011 | Le Cochon de Gaza |
| 2011 | Wickie auf großer Fahrt |
| 2010 | Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa |
| 2010 | The Devil’s Double |
| 2009 | Agora |
| 2009 | Wickie und die Starken Manner |
| 2008 | U-900 |
| 2008 | A Previous Engagement |
| 2008 | Nie kłam, kochanie |
| 2008 | Novaya Zemlya |
| 2008 | Nepobedimmy |
| 2007 | Ein Fliehendes Pferd |
| 2007 | Eichmann |
| 2007 | Pars: Kiraz Operasyonu |
| 2007 | Largo Winch |
| 2007 | Tempelriddernes skat III: Mysteriet om slangekronen (Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar) |
| 2007 | Sommer |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code |
| 2006 | Open Water 2: Adrift |
| 2006 | Ghost Boat |
| 2005 | Munich |
| 2004 | A Different Loyalty |
| 2004 | Troy |
| 2004 | Alexander |
| 2003 | The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen |
| 2003 | The Death of Klinghoffer |
| 2002 | The Count of Monte Cristo |
| 2002 | Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre |
| 2002 | Swept Away |
| 2002 | Pinnochio |
| 2001 | The Emperor’s new Clothes |
| 2001 | Revelation |
| 2000 | U-571 |
| 2000 | Gladiator |
| 1996 | Merisairas |
| 1996 | White Squall |
| 1995 | Cutthroat Island |
| 1994 | Casque bleu |
| 1993 | Voyage |
| 1992 | Christopher Columbus: The Discovery |
| 1990 | Les 1001 Nuits |
| 1990 | Der Skipper |
| 1989 | Erik the Viking |
| 1989 | Leviathan |
| 1988 | Black Eagle |
| 1987 | Iron Warrior |
| 1986 | Pirates |
| 1985 | Les Loups entre Eux |
| 1985 | Final Justice |
| 1984 | Der Scheenman |
| 1983 | Trenchcoat |
| 1982 | Samraat |
| 1981 | L’ultimo squalo |
| 1981 | Inseminoid |
| 1981 | Clash of the Titans |
| 1980 | Popeye |
| 1980 | Raise the Titanic |
| 1978 | Warlords of Atlantis |
| 1978 | Sweeney 2 |
| 1978 | Force 10 from Navarone |
| 1978 | Midnight Express |
| 1977 | Orca |
| 1977 | Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger |
| 1976 | Shout at the Devil |
| 1976 | Charas |
| 1975 | Il lupo dei Mari |
| 1975 | Children of Rage |
| 1974 | L’Invenzione di Morel |
| 1974 | Voir Malte et Mourir |
| 1974 | The Golden Voyage of Sinbad |
| 1973 | The Mackintosh Man |
| 1972 | Pulp |
| 1971 | Murphy’s War |
| 1971 | When Eight Bells Toll |
| 1971 | Zeppelin |
| 1970 | Hell Boats |
| 1970 | Mister Jerico |
| 1970 | Eyewitness |
| 1970 | Adventures of Gerrard |
| 1969 | Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? |
| 1969 | Vendetta for the Saint |
| 1969 | Battle of Britain |
| 1968 | A Twist of Sand |
| 1966 | Death is a Woman |
| 1965 | The Bedford Incident |
| 1963 | Treasure in Malta |
| 1958 | The Silent Enemy |
| 1956 | The Baby and the Battleship |
| 1956 | The Battle of the River Plate |
| 1953 | Single Handed |
| 1953 | Malta Story |
| 1953 | They Who Dare |
| 1931 | Tell England |
| 1928 | Bolibar |
| 1927 | The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands |
| 1925 | Sons of the Seas |
First published on 29 January 2015, and restored from the archive of our previous website.
