Why International Productions Film in Hungary

Last week, film executives the world over went into collective melt-down as President Trump flagged tariffs to hit feature films made on foreign soil. The major "culprits" in question here–countries that provide film services to not just U.S. but international production companies–include Canada, the U.K., Australia, and Hungary.

Those in the know are aware that this small central European country has been diligently working its way to the top of preferred filming destinations for a number of years. Budapest now stands as the second larget filming hub in Europe after London thanks to a 30% tax rebate, lower costs, state-of-the-art studios (Origo, Korda and the newly expanded NFI Studios spring to mind) and, of course, professional crews.

The most recent high-profile projects to have been filmed here include Alien: Romulus directed by Ridley Scott, Dune: Parts One & Two from Denis Villeneuve , Poor Things from Yorgos Lanthimos, The Brutalist from Brady Corbet and Maria from Pablo Lorraín starring Angelina Jolie. Ruben Östlund's newest satire, The Entertainment System is Down, is currently filming in Budapest, as is a cold war thriller starring Russel Crowe, The Billion Dollar Spy.

Television series are also increasingly choosing Hungary as a filming location. Shows such as The Alienist, FBI International and Shadow and Bone were filmed in the country. Ponies, a cold war espionage-thriller starring Emilia Clarke, is filming in Budapest at the moment, and it was recently announced that 3 Body Problem would shift production for seasons 2 and 3 to Hungary.

Budapest, Hungary. Photo by Kristina Jilly

In addition to the tax incentive, other factors in Hungary's favour include the ecclectic architecture and city moods to be found in its capital. This has allowed Budapest to stand in for a range of European cities of different epochs (e.g., Berlin, Munich, Moscow, Paris, Vienna). Suprisingly, it has also doubled for cities in the U.K. and the U.S. And although the country lacks a coastline or mountains (which are, however, easily reachable via Croatia, Slovakia or Austria), there's still a lot of diversity in terms of countryside locations. The cave dwellings in Bükkalja, for example, were put to good use for the filming of HBO's Dune: Prophecy (the prequel series to the Dune saga).

A further advantage of filming in Hungary that's not often spoken about is the vibrant, international community based in Budapest. This includes native-English speaking professional actors living in the city as well as background actors and extras from an array of backgrounds. There are also highly experienced writers and writer/directors with native-level English skills working in the city.

Annual film production spend has almost hit one billion USD in Hungary, with ambitions to hit 3 billion by 2030. Tax incentives have also been extended until this date. However, with potential tariffs from the U.S. looming ominously over the industry, it remains to be seen how and if global production trends will shift as a result.

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