Question of the Day - 05 August 2025

We've heard of only one hotel that, in the past few years, has balked at hosting Hollywood.

The Netflix series "Obliterated" (2023) revolves around a team of Special Forces agents tracking a terrorist group. After months of slow progress, they believe they've finally found and disarmed a bomb that could have blown up Las Vegas. So they embark on a Sin City celebration, "a mushroom, ecstasy, and alcohol-infused blowout involving more dildos and chaos than anyone could have expected," in the words of one description. Problem is, at the height of the debauchery, the team is informed that the bomb they defused was just a decoy. Now, good and inebriated from all the booze and drugs, they have to continue their quest to save Vegas -- along with their suddenly jeopardized careers. 

Now, if you were a casino executive, would that setup convince you to allow your hotel to be used for the location shots? And there's more. According to the filmmakers, "It was absolutely the gun violence. They certainly didn’t want us running through these hotels with guns.”

Indeed, during the filming of a car chase in the 2016 movie Jason Bourne near Aria, simulated gunfire caused a panic on the casino floor. 

Still, after many compromises, “Obliterated” managed to film at Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Plaza, the Four Queens, and Drai’s at the Cromwell. Most interior scenes were shot in the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque.

Otherwise, the most famous examples of hotel-casino refusals were Circus Circus turning down the shoot for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998); the interiors were simulated, though some exteriors did appear in the movie. Mandalay Bay reportedly nixed several long-term reality series, most notably MTV's "The Real World," citing concerns about long filming schedules, guest privacy, and conflicts with its target demo. "The Real World" ended up at the Palms during the Maloof era.

Another movie that Las Vegas wanted nothing to do with was Leaving Las Vegas. We're not aware of a single property that was willing to be associated with it.

Aside from those, most major Strip properties like Caesars, Bellagio, Aria, Mirage, Venetian, and others have welcomed film crews. The Hangover, Think Like a Man Too, Now You See Me, Last Vegas, Jason Bourne, The Family Plan, The Last Showgirl, Anora, F1, and Army of the Dead, Flight Risk, The Wrecker, Back on the Strip, and more have all been filmed in and around the hotel-casinos in the past five years.  

So yes, we'd say the hotels are much more cooperative with Hollywood projects than back in William Goldman's days.