Sometimes, movies or TV shows that film in the Wilmington area go out of their way to make the Port City look like someplace else. It’s happened from the beginning, really, when “Firestarter,” the first major movie to film here back in the early 1980s, tried to turn downtown Wilmington into New York City.
Other times, however, projects shot here turn into so-called “postcards” for the area, or feature places that are iconically Wilmington. Following are just a few of the places immortalized in locally shot movies and television shows, places that either got lots of screen time, factored importantly into the story line or both.
‘Scream’ at Cardinal Lanes
Did “Scream” kill Cardinal Lanes? In January of 2022, the Wilmington-shot “requel” and fifth film in the horror franchise featured an extended scene between stars Melissa Barrera and Jack Quaid outside the Cardinal Lanes bowling alley on Shipyard Boulevard. Then, in April, Cardinal Lanes announced it would close after nearly five decades in business. Coincidence? Only Ghostface knows.
Port City horrorLocally made ‘Scream’ hits No. 1 at box office, showcases many Wilmington locations
‘Halloween Kills’ at Wallace Park
Among other Wilmington sights, including the Rusty Nail bar and Cape Fear Community College, this 2021 Wilmington-shot horror film featured an extended sequence in scenic Wallace Park on Market Street, with masked villain Michael Myers offing several victims, and one character hiding under the pedestrian bridge over Burnt Mill Creek.
‘Halloween Kills’ WilmingtonWilmington-shot ‘Halloween Kills’ is No. 1 at the box office; ‘Hightown’ shows off beaches
‘Blue Velvet’ at the Carolina Apartments
There’s lots of shots of mid-1980s downtown Wilmington in David Lynch’s neo-noir classic, but nowhere gets more coverage than the foreboding Carolina Apartments at Fifth and Market streets, which plays the home of mysterious lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini). The interior of Vallens’ apartment was a set, but some scenes were shot in the hallways of the Carolina, as well as outside.
‘George & Tammy’ at Thalian Hall
In December of last year, the first episode of the country music mini-series about singing legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette had an extended series of scenes at the historic downtown Wilmington theater, which dates to 1858. Thalian Hall plays a venue in a nameless town where the couple begins to fall in love while on tour. Michael Shannon, as Jones, sits in Thalian Hall’s second-floor balcony wistfully watching as Jessica Chastain, as Wynette, sings her song “Apartment No. 9” from the stage during a sound check.
Country coolWilmington-shot country music series ‘George & Tammy’ premieres, shows off Thalian Hall
‘Eastbound and Down’ at The Blue Post
The raunchy HBO comedy starring Danny McBride as disgraced former Major Leaguer Kenny Powers shot for four seasons in and around Wilmington. One location that turns up repeatedly is downtown Wilmington bar The Blue Post, which is rechristened Shaboom’s in the show. As in, “I’m going to Shaboom’s!”
Shaboom Shaboom’sCelebrating 25 years, this Wilmington bar is famous for film and a Donkey Kong record
‘One Tree Hill’ at the Harry Forden Sixth Street Bridge
You know how you know when a location used by a production strikes a chord? Well, if people travel from far and wide to see it, and write their names on it when they get there, that’s usually a pretty good clue. The Harry Forden Sixth Street Bridge was used so often, and so well, by long-running Wilmington-shot drama “One Tree Hill” (2003-12) that many now call it the One Tree Hill Bridge.
‘Dawson’s Creek’ at the Ice House
In the “gone but not forgotten file,” Wilmington-shot drama “Dawson’s Creek” (1998-2003) had quite a few scenes at the old “tugboat bar” at late, lamented Water Street bar The Ice House. The historic structure was torn down in 2004.
‘Ruby Bridges’ at Williston
This 1998 TV movie about racial injustice, which you can stream on Disney+, shot some of its more racially charged scenes outside of Williston Middle School and Gregory Elementary School, both of which are sites of local import. Williston was a high school for Black students during segregation, but in the movie it plays a school for white children in New Orleans where an angry white mob protested when a 6-year-old Black girl named Ruby Bridges began attending in 1960.
Annals of filmWilmington-made Disney movie at center of Florida controversy after parent complains
‘Iron Man 3’ at the Port of Wilmington
The climactic night scenes in this 2013 superhero movie used the giant cranes at the Port of Wilmington as the backdrop while Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) do battle with a villain played by Guy Pearce. Not so fun fact: Robert Downey Jr. suffered an injury filming at the ports, and production had to be suspended while he recovered.
‘The Hudsucker Proxy’ on the streets of downtown
In a classic scene from this 1994 Coen Brothers movie, a hula hoop bounces down Wilkinson Alley (where the Blue Post bar is), rolls along Front Street, crosses Dock Street and somehow makes it all the way to Second and Princess streets, where a little kid (Arthur Bridgers of Southport) picks it up and wows a crowd of children with his skills, right in front of where the Bourgie Nights music venue is now.
‘Little Monsters’ at Wilmington National Cemetery
Fred Savage is best known for starring in TV show “The Wonder Years,” but in 1989 he was in a Wilmington-shot movie called “Little Monsters,” in which his character befriends a monster (Howie Mandel, spectacularly irritating) living under his bed. Most of the movie, which you can stream on HBO Max, was shot on sets at the old Ideal Cement plant. But there’s one long, lingering scene where Savage walks on a brick wall on 20th Street bordering the Wilmington National Cemetery on Market Street. The wall, and the view, remain largely unchanged.