Maps of Movies
Oblivion (2013)
Where Oblivion says it takes place, and where it was really shot.
A future Earth built on a soundstage, an Icelandic ridge and a Hawaiian summit, with one real New York dream
View on the map
Scenes and places
The dream above New York
Jack describes a dream of a New York from before the war, with a woman he has never met. It feels like a memory, and it makes him doubt the story he has been told about himself.
Set in Empire State Building observation deck, New York — The pre-war New York deck where Jack keeps meeting a woman in his dreams. Google Maps · Apple Maps
Manhattan's landmark skyscraper, whose deck is where the film's key flashback takes place.
Filmed at Empire State Building observation deck, New York — The key flashback was filmed on the real observation deck; CGI added the future skyline. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: Take the lift to the 86th-floor observatory at 20 W 34th St.
Jack and Vika's Sky Tower
Jack and Victoria run Unit 49 from a glass tower above the clouds, a couple with erased memories and two weeks left before they leave Earth. Beneath the routine, Jack's dreams keep pulling at him.
Set in Sky Tower, Unit 49's home above the clouds — The glass tower above the clouds where Jack and Victoria live and run their daily drone checks.
An invented tower: the actors saw real sunrise and sunset footage around them instead of a blue screen.
Filmed at Soundstage set, Baton Rouge, Louisiana — The Sky Tower set was built on a soundstage here, wrapped in projected sky footage. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: A studio set, not open to visitors; the city is the nearest marker.
Filmed at Haleakalā summit, Maui, Hawaii — A crew filmed the cloud view from the peak for four days; it was projected around the set. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: Drive or take a tour to the summit of Haleakalā National Park.
Jack waters a flower on the ridge
Jack takes a break from his patrol to admire the view and water a flower. It is the one private moment in a job that is all rules, and he keeps it from Victoria.
Set in A ridge overlook — A quiet viewpoint where Jack stops his patrol to look at the land and water a flower.
An Iceland ridge on the edge of a glacier, with a drop of about 240 metres beside the actor.
Filmed at Jarlhettur, edge of Langjökull, Iceland — Cruise sat beside an 800-foot drop at the top of Jarlhettur; the exact spot is not given, so the pin marks Langjökull. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: Reachable only by helicopter, as the production noted.
The hidden cabin by the lake
Jack slips away to a green valley no one else knows, where he has built a cabin and gathers relics of Earth's past. Here he can be the man he half remembers.
Set in Jack's lakeside cabin in a hidden green valley — The verdant valley where Jack built a cabin and keeps relics of the old Earth.
A small pond in the Eastern Sierra, standing in for a valley that survived the war.
Filmed at Black's Pond, June Lake, California — The forest retreat scenes were filmed at Black's Pond; the pin marks June Lake village because the pond has no listed coordinates. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: June Lake is on the Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway, near Mammoth Lakes.
The module that falls at the signal
A signal sent into space draws a spaceship module down. Jack reaches the sleepers first and saves the one woman he already knows from his dreams.
Set in Crash site at the signal's coordinates — The spot where a spaceship module comes down, carrying sleepers in suspended animation.
Placed by the story at coordinates in Grid 37; the film does not name a real place.
Inside Raven Rock
Jack and Julia are brought into the scavengers' mountain hideout. There Jack is questioned by their leader and learns the scavs are not the aliens he has been told they are.
Set in Raven Rock Mountain Complex — The scavengers' hideout inside a mountain.
In real life Raven Rock is a US military site in Pennsylvania; no filming there is documented.
Characters
- Jack Harper — A drone repair technician on an emptied Earth who has had his memory erased and keeps dreaming of a woman he has never met.
- Victoria — Jack's partner and communications officer at Unit 49, who keeps the mission on schedule.
- Julia — The woman from Jack's dreams, found in a crashed spaceship module in suspended animation.
Questions answered on the map
- Where is the cloud-top Sky Tower from Oblivion, really?
- Where did Tom Cruise water a flower on a cliff edge in Oblivion?