Here is an interesting fact that you might have not known of Hungary: it’s a beloved filming location for Hollywood (and other) movies and series. Dozens of box office and streaming heavy hitters are shot here each year, which means that you can see A-list celebrities around Budapest practically any day of the year. Let’s see why this small Eastern European country is so popular and some of the most famous movies and series shot in Hungary.

Why is Hungary so popular in the movie industry?

There are several reasons why Hungary has become a movie industry staple for the last decades.

• Film and movie industry has a long history in Hungary with the first cinema opening in 1896 and the first officially Hungarian motion picture shot in 1901. Hungarians were also among the first settlers of the Hollywood hills. Hungarian filmmakers forced into emigration in the 20th century were actually already present when Hollywood was born. Many of the great studios that are operating today were led by Eastern Europeans. Many movie industry forefathers were born Hungarian, such as William Fox, Adolph Zukor or Michel Curtiz.
• Legal and financial support: The favorable provisions of the Hungarian Motion Picture Act (coming into effect in 2004) were specifically designed to make the Hungarian film culture and film industry internationally competitive. Therefore, to establish the necessary financial background, productions making films in Hungary enjoy automatic indirect support. Originally the available tax rebate for movies shot in Hungary was 25%, which was raised to 30% in 2018. This makes making movies in Hungary financially lucrative for small and big studios alike.
• Hungary offers multiple film studios and studio complexes with state-of-the-art equipment and experienced and professional local and international film crew- one the largest and most famous ones being Korda Studios just a couple of miles away from Budapest (see location photos below).
• Hungary (and Budapest itself too) are also popular shooting locations, as they are extremely versatile in terms of optics. Budapest can function as romantic downtown Paris, or brutalist Russia, or a modern NASA quarter, or WWII-era Europe, or medieval Turkish baths… there are so many different angles to the city, that basically anything can be shot here.