The plot centers on a tattoo that gives the coordinates of Mount Everest, but the latitude and longitude are switched, so it actually pinpoints a location in the Arctic Ocean.
This film features the majestic cliffs and mountains of coastal Virginia; they didn’t exist 400 years ago, and they don’t exist today either.
This Jackie Chan film shows snow-capped mountains as the backdrop to New York City, but there are no such mountains visible from there.
An earthbound portion of this film depicts Iguazu Falls as being on the Amazon River, then the hero walks from there to a Mayan temple; there were no Mayans in South America.
Dr. Evil proves that he’s from Bruges by speaking French, even though Bruges is in Flanders, the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium.
It’s fine that the title city seems to be missing a letter—that’s an old transliteration—but this 1940 film surrounds the city with mountains; it’s actually on a plain.
Though the southern tip of Vietnam does have a western coast, this John Wayne film is often cited for seeming to end with a sunset in the east, over the South China Sea.
The title of this Maximilian Schell film uses the wrong compass direction: the volcano is actually in the opposite direction relative to the island.
Timothy Olyphant drives across the Russian-Turkish border, which doesn’t exist, and scenes ostensibly set in Moscow have Bulgarian signs in the background.
Mexico’s Chichén Itzá pyramid appears in Peru, and the title character claims to have learned the Quechua language from Pancho Villa’s people in Mexico.
In this 1969 film, a data-enriched Kurt Russell identifies the capital of Pakistan as Rawalpindi, though the capital had moved to Islamabad two years earlier.
At the end, people in the United States, Turkey, and India look upward at the same time to see an exploding asteroid, and it's simultaneously daytime in all three countries.
Wayne Knight makes an unsavory deal in San José, Costa Rica, with the ocean visible behind him, though San José is about 35 miles (55 km) from the nearest coast.
Although Steve Martin and John Candy are traveling from central Missouri, they somehow cross the Mississippi River on the way to St. Louis.
Kenneth Branagh delivers a soliloquy amid breath-taking mountains, though the highest land in Denmark is only 561 feet (171 m) above sea level.
As the protagonists speed south from Darwin to Adelaide, they see Uluru (Ayers Rock) to their left, namely east. Uluru is west of their route and much too far away to see.
Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson take a two-hour ferry ride from Detroit to Racine, Wisconsin, but that would be at least 600 miles (1000 km) around Michigan's Lower Peninsula.
The hero travels from Dover to Nottingham, but on the way he encounters Hadrian's Wall, which actually lies about 140 miles (220 km) beyond his destination.
Though the film is set in 1936, a vintage map showing the hero's route includes Thailand, a name not adopted by Siam until 1939, and it shows Sikkim as part of India.
Leonardo DiCaprio mentions ice fishing in Wisconsin on Lake Wissota, but that's an artificial lake created by a dam completed in 1917, five years after the movie is set.
In this 1935 film with W. C. Fields, a scene in Great Yarmouth includes a sunset over the sea, even though Great Yarmouth is on England's eastern coast.
The protagonists visit Bogotá, Colombia, as a sultry tropical village, but Bogotá is an urban metropolis with a cool climate because it’s at an altitude of 8600 feet (2600 m).
This film implies that Petra, Jordan, is within sight of Giza, Egypt, but they’re 250 miles (400 km) apart. A later scene is set at the non-existent border of Egypt and Jordan.
Once compass directions are added, the coordinates sent by aliens signify a spot in Ault, Colorado, 280 miles (450 km) south of the intended site, Devils Tower.
As Johnny Depp leaves the title place, a sign says that it's 400 miles to Los Angeles. The driving distance from there to Los Angeles is really far less, 270 miles (430 km).
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