It should come as little surprise that Netflix’s J-Lo vehicle and sci-fi romp Atlas was filmed primarily in a studio, with ample help of green screens and CGI (and perhaps AI, at least according to our review. The film is inspired by the popular video game Titanfall and follows the exploits of Atlas Shepherd, a data analyst with a huge problem with AI who tags along on a quest to apprehend a rogue android
Filming Locations and Shooting Details
As you have come to expect, the majority of Atlas was shot in a studio and on green screen.
The main studio utilized was in LA, California, and plenty of CGI was used to help build the world the film takes place in.
Many of the visual effects and animation was conducted by Industrial Light and Magic, a Lucasfilm Ltd company, with additional work from Yannix and SDFX Studios.
It’s also worth noting that there is a lot of stock footage used in the movie, provided by CBC Archive Sales, Critical Past, Getty Images, and iStock, with further footage coming from Jose Xavier, British Antarctic Survey, NASA Pond 5, Shutterstock and British Columbia Wildfire Service.
Quixote Studios are a huge player when it comes to studio space, with the company incorporating twenty-four stages in six locations and the film would have been shot there. The credits also supply information on the Cupertino Unit that would film out with the main studio set, helping create the finished product.
Wikipedia also hints that some filming was done in New Zealand but it has been hard to pinpoint the exact locations, if any, that were used.
Production Timeline
Here’s a quick timeline of Atlas made its way to our screens:
- Casting had already started on the project back in 2022, and principal photography kicked off in August of the same year.
- The bulk of the shoot would wrap up in November of 2022, but the type of film that Atlas is means a whole lot of work was done in post-production.
- A teaser for the film dropped on March 13th, 2024.
- A full trailer would appear a month later in April 2024.
- Atlas debuted globally on Netflix on May 24th, 2024.
Who Directed Atlas?
Atlas was directed by Brad Peyton, and you will know his work on TV shows such as Frontier, Daybreak, and Albedo. His film work includes Cats and Dogs, The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Incarnate, Rampage, and Sweet Girl. He has been involved in three projects with Dwayne Johnson.
Brad was born in Canada and graduated from The Canadian Film Centre.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Peyton would say that
“[Atlas], overall, is the most complex movie I’ve ever made. I jokingly say this, though it’s true, but Avatar is probably the most complex movie you could make. It’s a lot of completely imagined and created reality, but ours is one step below that because there’s a lot of imagined augmented reality.”
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