From Film to Reality: How Fans Find Their Fantasy Worlds

Movies and TV shows can serve to highlight their filming locations and lead to heightened tourism and exposure for those areas. For example, fans of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film series can choose travel destinations based on “Tolkien Tourist” hotspots, most notably filming locations in New Zealand that comprise the on-screen Middle-earth. The Hobbiton movie set is the well-known Shire, and hiking the Tongariro Crossing is commonly called the “Mount Doom” hike. By visiting these locations, fans can live the films they love.

But what about fans of animated films, which have no real-world filming locations? Where possible, both fans and aspiring tourist destinations seize the opportunity to transform popular animation into real-life experiences.

One of the most beloved animated films globally, Spirited Away (2011), is one such film that has brought an on-screen world into reality. Produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by the famed Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away is one of the highest grossing Japanese films of all time, earning over $289 million worldwide. It is the only non-English nomination to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and boasts a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Western celebrities, such as Ariana Grande, even have tattoos and related fan art of the film’s heroine, Chihiro.