List of films set in Houston
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Part or all of these movies/shows either take place, or are set, in Houston, Texas or the surrounding area:
- The Houston Story (1956) - starring Gene Barry and Barbara Hale (of Perry Mason)
- Hellfighters (1968) - with John Wayne
- Brewster McCloud (1970) – first film to be filmed inside the Astrodome
- The Getaway (1972) – filmed in Huntsville, Texas
- The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973) – set and filmed in Houston
- Sugar Hill (1974) - set and filmed in Houston
- The Sugarland Express (1974) – filmed on location at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Inmate Division Jester III Unit in Sugar Land, Texas
- Together Brothers (1974) - filmed in Galveston, Texas
- Rollerball (1975) – set in Houston but filmed in Bavaria, Germany
- Futureworld (1976) – filmed at the Johnson Space Center facilities and Jones Hall
- Logan's Run (1976) – filmed inside the Houston Hyatt Regency
- The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977)
- Murder at the World Series (1977) – made-for-TV film
- Telefon (1977) – set in Houston but filmed on a Hollywood backlot, parts of Los Angeles and inside the Hyatt Regency at 5 Embarcadero in San Francisco
- FM (1978) – filmed at Greenway Plaza in Houston
- The Swarm (1978) - second unit scenes filmed on Memorial Drive, Astrodome, Interstate 45 South/McKinney Street Exit ramp, and the main lobby of 2 Houston Center
- Texas (1980–1982) – daytime soap opera, a spin-off of Another World
- Urban Cowboy (1980)
- Murder in Texas (1981) – made-for-TV film
- Okay, Mr. Pancho (1981) – Mexican film, filmed in Mexico City and Houston areas.
- Student Bodies (1981)
- The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) – character played by Dom DeLuise was based on KTRK-TV personality Marvin Zindler
- Terms of Endearment (1982)
- Local Hero (1983) - filmed in Houston and Scotland
- Uncommon Valor (1983) – set in Houston, filmed in California
- Blood Simple (1984)
- Cutter to Houston (1984)
- Paris, Texas (1984) – shot in several cities around Texas, including Houston
- The Trip to Bountiful (1984) – set in Houston but filmed in Dallas
- Pray for Death (1985) - set and filmed in Houston
- Buck James (1987–1988) – based on Dr. Red Duke
- Forever Evil (1987) – filmed in Houston and Coldspring
- Houston Knights (1987–1988)
- My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988)
- Twins (1988) – sale of engine set in Houston
- A Tiger's Tale (1988) – Rose's house was in League City
- Full Moon in Blue Water (1988) – Filmed in Seabrook
- Blind Fury (1989) – filmed partially in Houston
- Cohen and Tate (1989)
- For All Mankind (1989) – documentary filmed partially in Houston
- Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
- Night Game (1989) – filmed in Galveston
- Akkare Akkare Akkare (1990) – Malayalam movie filmed in Houston
- I Come in Peace (1990)
- Vietnam, Texas (1990) - filmed and set in Houston
- RoboCop 2 (1990) - set in Detroit, but chiefly filmed in Houston
- Rush (1991) – filmed in Houston
- City of Joy (1992) – first scene is set in Houston
- Sidekicks (1992)
- A Taste for Killing (1992) – made-for-TV film
- Wild Wheels (1992) - documentary footage dating back to the late 1980s during the Houston Art Car Parade including artist interviews are seen in the film - some parade footage dates back to 1988 when the parade was co-branded with the Houston International Festival
- A Perfect World (1993) – filmed in Huntsville
- The Chase (1994) – filmed in the Rice Village area and several highways around the Houston area; one scene also shot in Kemah
- City of Joy (1994) - set in Houston, though not filmed there
- Jason's Lyric (1994) - set in Houston's Third, Fourth, and Fifth Ward including a scene at This Is It! Soul Food Restaurant, a local Houston eatery
- Reality Bites (1994)
- Thea (1994)
- Apollo 13 (1995) Johnson Space Center (box office #1 film in U.S.)
- Powder (1995) - filmed in Sugar Land, a Houston suburb, and some indoor scenes on a soundstage at Houston Studios in Downtown Houston
- Don't Look Back (1996) – filmed in Galveston, Texas
- The Evening Star (1996) - sequel to Terms of Endearment (1982)
- Independence Day (1996) – Houston is largely destroyed by a nuclear missile
- SubUrbia (1996) – filmed in Houston, Set in Austin, Texas
- Tin Cup (1996) – final tournament shot in Kingwood, Texas
- Prithvi (1997) - set in Houston, Texas
- Selena (1997) – Selena's final concert scene is set in the Astrodome, but filmed in San Antonio, Texas
- Armageddon (1998) – filmed at the Johnson Space Center facilities
- Dance With Me (1998)
- Fifth Ward (1998) – filmed in and set in Houston's Fifth Ward
- Five Wives, Three Secretaries and Me (1998) – documentary filmed in Houston
- Rushmore (1998) – written and directed by Houstonian Wes Anderson; filmed at his alma mater, St. John's School, as well as The Kinkaid School
- Arlington Road (1999) – filmed in Pearland, a Houston suburb, and at the University of Houston
- 2000 WNBA Champions - Houston Comets (2000)
- Mercy (2000)
- Space Cowboys (2000)
- Reba (2001-2007) – TV series set in Houston but filmed in Los Angeles
- Pearl Harbor (2001) - San Jacinto Battlefield State Memorial Site
- Texas Justice (2001-) – filmed in Houston
- Houston Medical (2002)
- Tarnation (2002) - contains old pictures from Houston
- Animal Cops: Houston (2003)
- The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003) – set in Houston, but filmed in Canada
- Right on Track (2003) – Disney Channel movie set in Houston, but filmed in Utah
- Threshold (2003)
- Where's the Party Yaar? (2003) - also called Dude, Where's the Party; filmed entirely in Houston, about a nerdy Indian student who visits his hip nephew in Houston
- Friday Night Lights (2004) - in the book and real life events, the final game of the Permian High School Team is played at The University of Texas at Austin in Austin not the Astrodome of Houston
- Suburban Madness (2004) - details the Clara Harris story
- 14 Hours (2005) – made-for-TV film set in Houston, but filmed in Canada
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) – documentary about the Enron scandal
- Volver (2006) – Houston is mentioned briefly several times by a woman with cancer as a place where "they cure everything there"
- Fast Food Nation (2006) – filmed in several US cities, including Houston
- American Drug War: The Last White Hope (2007) – documentary with scenes in Houston
- Towelhead (2007) – set in a Houston suburb, but filmed in Los Angeles
- A Federal Case (2007) - set in Houston and Richmond, Texas
- Frieda Gilroy (2008)
- Crazy Heart (2009) - partly filmed in downtown Houston
- Mao's Last Dancer (2009) - drama about the life of ballet dancer Li Cunxin; partly filmed in Houston at the China Garden Restaurant and JP Morgan Chase Tower downtown, Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park, and the Wortham Theater Center downtown; mostly filmed in Australia and Nanjing, China
- The Open Road (2009)
- Puncture (2011)
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) (box office #1 film in U.S.)
- Tree of Life (2011) – shot in Houston and other cities in Texas; starring Sean Penn and Brad Pitt
- Art Car: The Movie (2012) - filmed during the 2010 Houston Art Car Parade
- Boyhood (2014) – directed by Richard Linklater; shot in Houston, Austin, San Marcos, Big Bend National Park, and other locations in Texas
- Draft Day (2014)
- Top Five (2014)
- God's Not Dead (2014) - filmed in Baton Rouge, set in Houston
- The Martian (2015) (box office #1 film in the U.S.)
- A Curry on an American Plate (2015)
- Orphan Train (2015) shot in Houston, Hill Country, Marfa, Mexico
- 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) sign that leads to Houston in the end of the movie
