Filming Locations Guide: Where was Annihilation filmed?

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Annihilation was filmed in England, around London and East Anglia. The film was hosted on the soundstages, location gardens, and the paddock tank at Pinewood Studios.

Something mysterious called The Shimmer has arrived on Earth, expanding in a big area of the American southeast. A team of four volunteer military researchers will be the latest expedition to venture into Area X.

Annihilation location Inside the sealed off-zone, strange phenomena distort the laws of physics, re-composing animal and plant life within it.

This is the promising plot of this new project by writer and director Alex Garland, nominated for his first Academy Award for Ex Machina.

The movie, starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson, shares many elements with Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece, Stalker.

Here are the spoiler-free filming locations for this long-awaited movie.

Where was Annihilation filmed
The parts of the movie filmed in a wet marshland, looking like the swamps of Louisiana or Mississippi, are actually right next to London: it's Windsor Great Park.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix - Map


The crazy surrealist colorful forest
The crew was shooting in the depths of Windsor Great Park, in an area known as Wood Pond.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix


Army station location
The shots from the military base were filmed at the old Bomb-stores of the former Bentwaters Royal Air Force station (Woodbridge, Suffolk).

The area is now part of Bentwaters Parks, a new film studio project with a massive 2500 acre production space.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix and Bentwaters Parks - Map


The swimming pool scene
The scene of the swimming pool was shot at the abandoned Carmel College in Oxfordshire.

The previous Southern Reach base, engulfed by the Shimmer, was filmed at the former USAF-RAF Upper Heyford facility (Bicester, Oxfordshire).

Scenes for the series Good Omens, set in the fictional town of Tadfield, were also shot in this complex.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix and Stuart Thomas - Map


College interiors with Natalie Portman
The John Hopkins University scenes from the beginning of the movie are located at the offices of the Sun Park campus in Camberley (Surrey).
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix - Map


Annihilation beach
Further filming took place at Holkham Beach and Pinewoods in North Norfolk.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix - Map


Behind the scenes
A set of the base of the lighthouse was built on location, and the interiors were filmed at the studios.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Netflix and Pear Tree Cottage


Annihilation drehort
Did you notice that? On the top, Lena's house in a screenshot from the beginning of the film...

If you enjoyed the movie, immerse yourself in the mysterious world of Area X. Annihilation is the first novel in Jeff VanderMeer's The Southern Reach Trilogy (Authority is the second, and Acceptance is the third).

Stalker (1979) is one of my favorite movies of all time. If you are not scared of long, subtitled Russian films from the Soviet era, Criterion Collection has released a beautiful edition of this classic Sci-Fi film in Blu-Ray.

Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of Annihilation? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!

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8 comments
  1. I think the bunker scenes might be the Bentwaters abandoned US air base in Suffolk

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    Replies
    1. Definitely it is Bentwaters, thanks a lot for you help!

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  2. Pretty certain the John Hopkins University scenes are filmed at the Sun Park campus near Camberley. I used to work in those buildings.

    https://www.delancey.com/sun-park.html

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    Replies
    1. We checked it, definitely the movie was filmed there. Thanks for your help!

      Delete
  3. Looked like Florida in some scenes lol

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  4. Interior shots from the military base appear to have been shot in the dining hall and sports hall/pool of the former Carmel College school in Oxfordshire; previously a shooting location for Kylie Minigue and for the Kaiser Chiefs.

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  5. It looks like some conversations were filmed in the Los Angeles Studio's cafeteria.

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