Wadi Rum Movies
For anyone not in the know, Wadi Rum has some of the most incredible desert landscapes on earth. Yes we might be a bit biased, but in this article we will be taking a look at some of the most well known movies filmed in Wadi Rum to show you exactly how unbelievable some of the scenery is that you can come and see for yourself if you join us on a Wadi Rum tour in this magical desert.
Must See Wadi Rum Movies
To kick things off let’s look at 2 films that are absolute must watch movies before you come to Wadi Rum. The reason we recommend these, above all the others, is because they focus on actual Bedouin culture and show you how life in the desert was around the time of World War 1.
This classic film tells the story of Thomas Edward Lawrence who worked as an officer in the British Army during the First World War, back when the Ottomans still held those areas. While the movie is somewhat of a wartime story, it has a deeper side, going into how Lawrence found a home among the Wadi Rum Bedouin camp and how he was torn between the violence he faced as a British soldier and his growing love for the Arabian desert.
The scenery of the desert in Lawrence of Arabia is out of this world, nothing compares to seeing these places in real life. At Rakan Wadi Rum Tours we can take guests on 4×4 Jeep tours to the place where some of the actual walls from Lawrence’s house still stand in tact.
There is also Lawrence’s Spring just a short camel ride tour from Wadi Rum Village with its own interesting history as it is woven into the story of this interesting character called Lawrence of Arabia.
This 2014 film is another excellent one to watch before visiting us here in the desert. It tells the story of a Bedouin boy facing the ultimate challenge as he tries to survive in the hostile desert of Wadi Rum. It plays off in the same historic period as Lawrence of Arabia, but Theeb focuses on the lives and traditions of the Bedouin people and the struggles that they faced after the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans.
While the story is beautiful and the cinematography is excellent, what really sets this film apart from all the rest is that they used real non-professional people from the local Bedouin community as actors.
The film went on to receive numerous nominations and awards, including a 2016 Oscar Nomination for “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year.”
Space Movies in Wadi Rum
The vast expansive deserts of Wadi Rum can easily be mistaken for a distant planet millions of lightyears from earth. This has sparked the interest of many film directors over the years, leading to some of the most iconic space films of all time being made here.
Below are a few of the most well known intergalactic blockbusters shot in the Wadi Rum and you can come take a Wadi Rum jeep tour to see some of these amazing scenes in real life.
Star Wars is perhaps one of the most well known space film franchises to ever launch. Even if you have never seen a single one of the films, most of us recognise some of the characters and topics thanks to popular culture. In recent years 2 of the film series were shot in Wadi Rum.
The first was “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” which was released in 2016 in which the expanses of the desert was used to create the scenery for the fictional sacred planet of Jedha.
This was followed by a 2019 film named “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” which imagined the landscape as the desert planet Pasaana. Some of the scenes are incredible as they turn the desert into a massive battle scene between the First Order and the Resistance.
This is yet another one of the desert planet films shot in Wadi Rum. Dune is a 2021 released sci-fi adventure flick that tells the story of a noble family having to leave their planet and take over the harvesting of a highly praised psychotropic substance called “melange” on the desert world of Arrakis.
As with our previous entry, Dune also originated as a book, this time penned by the legendary science fiction writer Frank Herbert. If you book a Wadi Rum Jeep tour we will take you through the desert where you might be able to recognise some of the iconic landmarks from the film.
There is a very interesting short video called “Dune Interviews | Filmed in Jordan” released by the Royal Film Commission (RFC) that talks to Denis Villeneuve, the director of Dune, about the filming that took place in Jordan.
From the well known director Ridley Scott, The Martian is one of the Wadi Rum movies that makes plenty of use of desert’s scenic features to create the feeling of being on Mars. The story is about an astronaut who gets stranded on a desert planet and how he employs all of his will power and knowledge about science to fight for survival.
The film is based on a book by Andy Weir with the same name and is well worth a watch if you enjoy the Robinson Crusoe type of story and want to see movies shot in Wadi Rum that really shows off the landscape.
While this Antony Hoffman film was seen as a bit of a failure due to low ticket sales in the box office, but a lot of it was filmed in Wadi Rum, again using the desert as a stand in for the Martian surface. The plot revolves around a group sent to investigate what is happening on the “Red Planet” after efforts to terraform it take a turn for the worse, while the earth heads for a total catastrophe.
As the film was released in the year 2000 it feels a bit dated watching it today, but there are some nice shots of the desert that you can book a tour in Wadi Rum to see, despite the fact that they used a lot of cgi along with actual footage.
As the 2000s rolled around, the red carpet for films featuring desert planets, especially Mars and especially movies shot in Wadi Rum, rolled out one after the other. Mission to Mars was directed by Brian Russell De Palma and is another entry on our list that really showcases some of the incredible scenery of the Wadi Rum desert.
This time the story told is about the first human mission to Mars and how things end up going sideways. There are mentions of the so-called “face on Mars” and some alien-ish interaction.
Although not entirely a space film, the subject matter does revolve around space things, so we will add it to this Wadi Rum movie list. This is the second installment in the Transformers film series and was considered a massive box office success at the time.
Thanks to King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein Al-Hashemi being a big fan of sci-fi movies, it was organized that the Royal Jordanian Air Force would assist the crew in filming at Wadi Rum, Petra, and Al-Salt, resulting in some great cinematography.
A Few More Wadi Rum Movies
While there are still a bunch of other Wadi Rum movies featuring space scenes, I think that the ones mentioned above do a great job of showing off the amazing landscape of the desert. Now let’s look at a few other movies filmed in Wadi Rum.
The crew shooting the 2019 depiction of Walt Disney Pictures’ Aladdin also came to visit Wadi Rum and did their filming with the assistance of the Royal Film Commission of Jordan.
The story is pretty much the same as in previous iterations of the film and turned out to be a massive success. The sand dunes and other desert scenes taken in Wadi Rum really helping to create the perfect atmosphere for this age old adventure tale.
The John Wick film franchise features Keanu Reeves who depicts a retired hitman who is forced back into the criminal world.
This is the fourth installment of this epic action thriller series and there are some scenes filmed in Wadi Rum Jordan.
While the film plays off in Morocco, it was decided that Wadi Rum would be the best place to film the desert scenes as it is truly one of the most incredible places on earth.
Come and See Where All These Wadi Rum Movies Were Made
We hope that this list of Wadi Rum movies gives you enough scenery to show off the incredible beauty of our magical desert.
If you would like to come and see some of the places that are depicted in these films get in touch with Rakan Wadi Rum Tours and we will help you to put together the perfect Wadi Rum experience, be it a 4×4 desert tour to see where Lawrence of Arabia actually lived or going old school and sleeping under the stars, we can tailor each experience to fit your needs.
Check out our Wadi Rum Jeep Tours and our Sleeping Under the Stars.