Written by on Aug 27, 2015. Posted in On Location

Action sequel Hitman: Agent 47 films on location in Berlin and Singapore

New action movie Hitman: Agent 47 used Berlin as its production base and also became the first major Hollywood film to shoot in Singapore, in South-East Asia. The movie is an adaptation of a popular videogame franchise and a sequel of sorts to the 2007 film Hitman.

“Singapore was a complete contrast to Berlin,” said director Aleksander Bach: “It’s a modern, high-tech world with an Asian flavour and a tropical feel, which enhanced our film’s visuals.”

Hitman: Agent 47 was co-produced by Infinite Frameworks Studios, a facility that offers two sound stages in Singapore and an additional two stages and a back lot on the nearby Indonesian island of Batam.

High-profile productions filmed at Infinite Studios have included Serangoon Road, a TV miniseries by HBO Asia set in 1960s Singapore when the city was establishing its independence. The show’s production team used the Batam Island back lot to recreate much of the city as it looked in the 60s, and the team also filmed at various expatriate locations.

Singapore faces production industry pressure from neighbouring Malaysia, which now offers a 30% filming incentive and is home to Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios. The recent major Netflix drama Marco Polo was the first production based at the facility and the UK period drama Indian Summers has since doubled the Malaysian state of Penang for northern India.

China remains the central focus of South-East Asia for the international production industry, but primarily because of its vast box-office potential.

The country does not have a reputation as a film-friendly part of the world, but major investments are being made in large studio facilities with strong Hollywood appeal. China remains tricky to access in terms of distribution, partly because the government allows fewer than 40 foreign films to be released in cinemas each year.

(Image: Reiner Bajo/R Bajo/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)