Filmed in South Africa Trivia Quiz

Answer: District 9

Certainly a leading sci-fi movie coming out of the 2000s, "District 9' was bolstered by Peter Jackson's name, especially coming out of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and it put director Neill Blomkamp on the sci-fi map. While the movie was most certainly about alien integration, especially in the poorer regions of Johannesburg, South Africa, it was also an allegory for Apartheid, racism, and poverty. Reception for the film was overwhelmingly positive. "District 9" was later nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture, though it lost to "The Hurt Locker".

Answer: Blood Diamond

Following a story told during the Sierra Leone Civil War in the 1990s, "Blood Diamond" featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly, as DiCaprio assisted Connelly's character, a reporter, in getting a story about the horrifying groundwork of the diamond trade and the warlords profiting from it (hence the term 'blood diamonds').

The story moves from Sierra Leone to South Africa at a couple of points despite the two countries being over five thousand kilometers apart. DiCaprio and Hounsou were nominated for Oscars for their roles. Neither won.

Answer: Avengers: Age of Ultron

"Avengers: Age of Ultron", was the culmination of the second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it stretched the dangers on Earth to an even bigger scale, pitting the heroes of the previous movies (Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America) into different spots around the globe to bring down the super-villain Ultron. Scenes filmed in Joburg were set in Joburg with Robert Downey Jr.s' Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo's Hulk causing a bit of damage (thanks to Scarlet Witch's mind control influence).

Answer: Safe House

"Safe House", about a CIA operative in charge of interrogating a former agent in a Cape Town safe house and then their subsequent battle against heavily-armed assassins and a potential mole in the agency throughout the city, ended up being quite the successful film for both Washington and Reynolds.

The movie earned over $200,000,000 internationally. "Safe House" certainly did show off the city, including Green Point Stadium, home of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but the movie was originally written with Rio de Janeiro as its setting.

Answer: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

In this sixth movie in the "Resident Evil" series directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and starring his wife Milla Jovovich, Alice, leaving Washington D.C., headed back to ground zero in Raccoon City to fight her way through to the remaining members of the Umbrella Corporation and finally find a cure for the T-Virus.

Although the one scene on Table Mountain was noteworthy in kicking off the zombie outbreak in this film, the movie was actually shot in many different locations ranging from Canada to Australia to Russia.

Answer: Invictus

"Invictus" followed both the events in Nelson Mandela's career as President of South Africa in 1995 (which was five years after his release from Robben Island) and the games of The Springboks, South Africa's rugby team, as captained by player Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon in the film). Filmed primarily in South Africa, including Ellis Park Stadium where the 1995 final was played, the movie ended up being a critical hit with Freeman and Damon both receiving Oscar nominations for their roles.

Answer: Chappie

The third film from "District 9" director Neill Blomkamp, "Chappie" brought the sci-fi filmmaker back to his hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa for filming. The movie was unlike "District 9" though; it featured a police robot named Chappie who, after being taken in by gangsters, started to blur the line between law and disorder. Both Yolandi and Ninja of Die Antwoord were heavily featured in the movie, both being previously known for their zef-influenced alternative hip hop.

Answer: Chronicle

"Chronicle" starred Dane DeHaan as a teen who, along with his friends, gained superpowers from a mysterious object in the woods. Although the movie was somewhat of a sci-fi coming-of-age film, it morphed into something a great deal darker as one of the boys took their powers to a more nefarious extreme. Seattle was meant to be the setting of the film (the Space Needle featured in it) but most of the movie, including indoor scenes, was shot in Cape Town, South Africa over about five months.

Answer: The Dark Tower

Production of a "Dark Tower" adaptation languished for about a decade as different directors (including J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard) struggled to get Stephen King's eight book magnum opus to the big screen, and it finally happened in 2017 with Idris Elba in the main role as Roland the Gunslinger, but it didn't go too well from a critical standpoint. Roland passed through a doorway between Mid-World and New York City (circa present day), but Mid-World scenes ended up being filmed in South Africa. Due to poor test screenings, production pushed millions towards reshoots to clean up the story.

Unfortunately, it didn't do much to satisfy fans of the complex and long-running series.

Answer: Dredd

"Dredd" is, of course, based on the Sylvester Stallone film "Judge Dredd" (1995) but as part of the gritty sci-fi remakes of the 2010s, "Dredd" cast Karl Urban in the lead role and saw Alex Garland as screenwriter (Garland would later go on to write "Ex Machina" in 2015). Dredd followed the Judge as he headed to a super-large skyscraper to bring down a resident drug lord for the crimes she'd committed.

While the movie was meant to be set on the eastern coast of the U.S., all scenes were filmed in South Africa.

The movie doesn't really look like any of these locations since the wide shots of Mega-City One were CGI-ed into the final cut.