The EU’s smallest island nation has played ancient Rome, the Land of Spells, beside the Bay of Pentos. It draws more than 30 productions annually.
What links the Caribbean, ancient Rome, Enid Blyton’s Land of Spells, the south of France, as well as the Bay of Pentos from Game of Thrones? These are all locations that recent and upcoming movies set in Malta, a sunny archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, will portray. Recent and upcoming movies set in Malta, a sunny archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, portray all of these locations. It’s no bigger in size than that of the British town of Sheffield.
Malta has, over the last decade, risen to become one of the most popular places in Europe for American & British filmmakers to set their works. Malta’s success is in leading what has been described as an arms race to lure large movie productions with tax incentives.
This EU’s smallest country has hosted more than 30 film & TV productions annually during each of the last 3 years. This included a record 36 in ’23 & ’25. They include Jurassic World Rebirth & Gladiator II. This spring’s Blyton adaptation, The Magic Faraway Tree, besides the new Jason Statham action thriller Mutiny, is expected to be released at the end of this month.
On the screen, Malta has stood in for Greece (in the BBC’s recent 2 weeks in August), ‘80s Sicily (Heidi Ewing’s forthcoming British feature The Travel Writer), rural southern France (Channel 5’s cosy crime drama, the Madame Blanc Mysteries) & the Caribbean (Guy Ritchie’s forthcoming Layer Cake follow-up Viva la Madness).
The island’s even starting to represent itself: the 3rd season of Netflix’s detective drama Enola Holmes decamps from Victorian London to the then-British-occupied island. Principal photography’s due to commence next year for TV auteur Stephen Poliakoff’s the Order. It’s set on the eve of the 1565 siege of Malta by Ottoman forces.
Adrian Wooton, the chief executive of the British Film Commission, stated that Malta is outperforming expectations for a small European country. It’s been quite aggressive, in a positive way, in diversifying its industry.
