8 Places a Cowboy Would Love To Hang His Hat

Lights on Location on returns with yet another fascinating post, and today it is about Cowboys and Westerns!

                Ever felt like riding into the sunset with a trusty steed? If yes, then you've probably watched too many cowboy movies. But who wouldn't though? Cowboy films let us see another world full of action and adventure. Parts of this are the iconic filming locations that have been used in some of the most famous cowboy films. With that in mind, here are 8 of the places that a cowboy would love to hang his hat.

Grafton Ghost Town

The western film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid gave us the unforgettable bike scene with the song “Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head” playing. This town is where that iconic bike scene was filmed.  Head to the New Sheridan Hotel's bar and have a drink for the full cowboy experience.

Monument Valley

This valley is famed for its curious rock formations, and is named by the Navajo as 'Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii' (Valley of the Rocks). Western director John Ford made use of the Monument Valley as house filming location for some of his best work, including the 1950's western flick starring John Wayne – The Searchers.

Bronson Caves in Los Angeles

Another filming location from the westerns of the past up to the present, the Bronson Caves found in Los Angeles is a great place for any cowboy to have a rest from the heat. This cave has been used by big feature films and low budget movies as well.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

The 1976 movie starring Clint Eastwood titled “The Outlaw Josey Wales” was filmed in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. The surrounding lake is a nice place for a rest and also for fishing all types of bass.

Columbia State Historic Park

The Columbia State Park is another place for filming a western. High Noon made use of this park as their backdrop. The 1982 film Shadow Riders were also shot in this very location.

Tree Canopy at Evergreen Plantation

One of the more familiar filming locations used in a western might be the Tree Canopy. It was recently used in Quentin Tarantino's grisly western film Django Unchained.

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park

What better place to give a rousing speech to your gang than in the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park. Hedley Lamarr and his gang were right in this spot when they shot the classic “Blazing Saddles”. Although the rest of the film was shot on soundstages, this location added to the realism tone of the instrumental scenes of the film.

Ouray County Courthouse

Prove your true grit by checking out the Ouray County Courthouse. The movie True Grit made use of the courthouse as one of their filming locations. And when you're feeling hungry, you can also visit the True Grit Cafe named in honor of the film.

10 Surprising Facts About Despicable Me’s Minions

Lights on Location returns with a writeup about box office giant Minions from the Despicable Me franchise!

What makes animated movies fun to watch is that the creators are not constrained with having to look for filming locations, making unbelievable creatures and even avoiding the laws of physics? The Despicable Me franchise was one that has become loved by many children because of its ridiculous premise and funny characters, one of which are the Minions. Now that they have their own movie, the Minions have become more famous than ever. You can see them in pens, t-shirts, tumblers, and other items. These lovable creatures have captured the audience in their simple mindedness and comedic mishaps. But even when they're well known, there are still things that the audiences might not know about them. Here's a list of 10 surprising facts about Despicable Me's Minions.

Fact #1: All of the Minions have male names
We don't know why that is, but all the minions have male names. Now whether this makes them all male or just loves the sound of masculine names is a mystery. They love to dress like a girl sometimes, so that just complicates things more.

Fact #2: Minions can breathe and live even in outer space
Minions are almost invulnerable beings that can survive anything you throw at them. They've been squashed, shrink, dropped, and they still come out feeling only a bit dizzy. One minion even survived outer space for a while after he was given a douse of the anti-gravity serum.

Fact #3: Purple Minions are evil because it exactly opposes the Minions in spectrum color
These cute little creatures can turn into horrible monsters too. When they do, their color changes to purple, which is the opposite of yellow in the color spectrum? These creatures will eat anything that gets in their way, which makes them terrifying to anyone in close contact with them.

Fact #4: Minions are now the official mascot of Illumination Entertainment
After the success that the Despicable Me movies have brought to their company, this animation film production company has adopted the Minions as their official mascot.

Fact #5: Banana is the favorite fruit of the Minions, second are apple and papaya
When children think of Minions, it's usually accompanied by the sound of Banana. As is the case with the Minions, they'll do anything for a banana. It's even one of the words that they can actually say correctly. Plus they made a song about it!

Fact #6: A third Despicable Me film is currently in the works and is set to release in 2017
The Despicable Me franchise has made over a $2 billion dollars so it's no wonder that they're making another one. Mark your calendars kids! It's still far ahead, but expects the film to come out in 2017.

Fact #7: Minions don't like to leave unanswered
You better make sure that you tell them your specific orders, or else they'll just stand there staring at you waiting for your answer.

Fact #8: Minions only have 3 fingers
As with all animated characters, the Minions are missing a few fingers. They only have 3 fingers, but that doesn't stop them from helping Gru with making any diabolical plan that he has. That being said, the other characters do have 5 fingers in the movies, so it's probably just them who has 3.

Fact #9: The population of Minions is 899 according to Pierre Coffin
Imagine having a family of 899 people that are all males. That would be unbearable. Luckily the Minions are fun loving creatures who just want to spend their time serving the most evil villain in the world.

Fact #10: There are 9 known Minion's names - Dave, Stuart, Kevin, Jerry, Tim, Mark, Phil, Bob and Norbert
It can be quite hard naming all 899 of them with just male names, but we don't know if their names repeat or it's individual to them. The only named Minions in the series are Dave, Stuart, Kevin, Jerry, Tim, Mark, Phil, Bob and Norbert.

12 Marvelous Things That You Should Know About X-Men: Apocalypse

 X-Men: Apocalypse is the next X-Men film, and unlike the previous antagonists in the franchise, Apocalypse is one with a complex and interesting history. Today the people over at Lights on Location, a website where filmmakers can find a filming location, have written some fascinating facts about the upcoming  X-Men: Apocalypse film along with an infographic! Check it out below and comment!

  With less than a year until X-Men Apocalypse, fans are getting excited about the upcoming film. Bryan Singer is also bringing the hype by posting daily photos from the filming location and introducing us to the new mutant characters. To give you a bit of background in what you should expect for the film, here are 12 things that you should know about X-Men: Apocalypse.

1. Apocalypse is the oldest mutant alive.

He was born in Aqaba, a city in the coast of Jordan, almost 5000 years ago. This makes him the first and the oldest known mutant to live on earth. Because of his mutant gene that gave him freakish grey skin, he was shunned by his own people.

2. The First One

His real name 'En Sabah Nur' means 'The First One' in Arabic, possibly referring to him being the first mutant to be born. He was gifted with immortality and a handful of terrifyingly powerful abilities such as regeneration, superhuman strength, telepathy, and the ability to alter his molecules to whatever form suits him. 

3. The movie's filming locations 

Bryan Singer has been busy in various filming locations shooting the movie. The cast is currently in Montreal, Quebec which serves as the primary filming location. They also built giant sets of Egyptian tombs and Storm's hometown Cairo, Egypt.

4. They have a new Cyclops

We briefly saw James Marsden return as Cyclops in Bryan Singer's previous X-Men film 'Days Of Future Past'. Now in X-Men Apocalypse, a new actor will portray a younger Cyclops. Tye Sheridan - known for his roles in Tree of Life, Mud, and Joe - will play the role of the teenage Scott Summers in the 2016 film.

5. Riders of the Dark

Aside from his Four Horsemen, Apocalypse also founded a group of fanatics devoted to the Darwinian ideals that "the strong shall inherit the earth and the weak should be culled". He calls this group the Riders of the Dark.

6. Apocalypse's first appearance

Apocalypse was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Walter Simonson for the Marvel comics 'X-Factor #5', released in June 1968. The 2016 film will mark his first actual appearance in the big screen after a younger apocalypse was show in the post-credit scene of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

7. It's coming real soon

2016 is going to be a big year for 20th Century Fox. Next year will mark Deadpool's introduction in the X-Men universe as well as the release of Gambit's solo film. X-Men: Apocalypse is also set to open to theaters worldwide on May 27th, 2016.

8. The CIA agent is back

The CIA agent from X-men First Class will be back for this film. Rose Byrne will reprise her role as Moira MacTaggert, the CIA agent that helped the x-men and became a love interest for the young Professor Xavier.

9. X-Men: Apocalypse's main villain

Oscar Isaac will play the main villain of the film, En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse. But before we see him wreak havoc for the new x-men, we will see him first as Poe Dameron in this year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

10. Shooting schedule

X-Men Apocalypse began principal shooting in April 2015 at Montreal and is currrently in production as of this writing. Recent photos released from the shoot reveal Ben Hardy as Angel in what looks like a fight club. Rumors tell us that Apocalypse will recruit the winged mutant in a German Fight Club. From the set photo we've seen, this might just be the club they were talking about.

11. Apocalypse's power levels

According to Marvel's official power ratings, Apocalypse is considered one of the strongest mutants ever. He is rated as having immense strength, considerable speed, high durability and extreme intelligence. He is also skilled in fighting and energy projection.

12. The Four Horsemen

Apocalypse employs a group of mutants called The Four Horsemen for his evil plans, taking the titles of Death, Famine, War and Pestilence. He persuades them using his power or with other means, during which he converts them and augments their mutant abilities. He also gives them outfits with specially designed weapons and equipment using his advanced technology. The Four Horsemen in the movie will be Angel (Ben Hardy), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender).

10 Amazing Facts You Might Not Know About The Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four is on its way! And to prepare for its release, J and J Productions is having another special collaboration with Lights on Location, a website where filmmakers can find a filming location, and they have written some fascinating facts about the upcoming Fantastic Four film along with an infographic! Check it out below and comment!

  The Fantastic Four is about to premiere this 7th of August and fans are surely eager to see if the reboot will be successful in bringing the characters back to the big screen. To get you up to speed with the weird history of the superhero family, we have compiled 10 amazing facts that you might not know about the Fantastic Four.

1. The Fantastic Four is the first superhero team from Marvel. After the success of DC's Justice League of America, Marvel decided to form a superhero team of their own. This lead to the creation of the Fantastic Four.

2. They have a robot member named H.E.R.B.I.E. . (Humanoid Experimental Robot. B-Type Integrated Electronics) that replaced The Human Torch as the fourth member of the team in the 1978 animated series.

3. Each member of the Fantastic Four have once been considered dead. Reed  Richards died in a battle with Doom. Sue Storm was killed due to a mistake by Johnny Storm, while he himself died in a fight with a horde of aliens from the Negative Zone. The Thing was killed by Reed when his body was possessed by Doom.

4. The four superheroes have additional powers aside from their base abilities. Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) can increase his size and mass to Thing-like proportions to increase his strength. The Thing not only has increased durability, increased lung capacity , superhuman levels of stamina, and immortality while on his Thing form. The Invisible Woman (Sue Storm) can create force fields to simulate telekinesis. The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) can manipulate any fire within his vicinity at will.

5. If you want to buy the very first Fantastic Four comic, you're going to need to save a lot. Their first  issue is noted to be worth up to $800,000. 

6. The Fantastic Four has crossed over with various other properties. The Thing once starred as a solo character in an animated series featuring the Flintstones called  "Fred and Barney Meet The Thing".

7. In the ultimate version, due to a massive destruction caused by Magneto, the team eventually split up. This changed Reed's worldview, and with Sue rejecting his proposal, he ultimately became a villain in their world.

8. To promote the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fox and Franklin mint planned to create 40,000 quarters with the Silver Surfer on the back

9. The Fantastic Four actually fought the infamous Adolf Hitler. In the comics, the Fantastic Four fought his clone who is called Hate Monger.

10. Spider-Man is a frequent ally and friend of the Fantastic Four and by Johnny Storm during his solo adventures. They have become such good friends that it's not a surprise if Spider-Man steals Storm's underwear as a prank.

9 Ant-Man Movie Facts

Hello everyone, today J and J Productions is having a special collaboration with Lights on Location, and they have written some fascinating facts about the upcoming Ant-Man film along with an infographic!

Ant-Man Movie Coming to Theaters this July 2015

Ant Man is an upcoming movie about a superhero based on another Marvel comic character with the same name. It stars PaulRudd who plays Scott Lang who will be the said superhero.

In the movie, Scott Lang aids his mentor Dr. Hank Pym in protecting the Ant-Man technology from those who threatened to steal it. Other than this, as Ant-Man must also protect the world from an evil plot which plans to use the said technology for destruction.

Development of Ant-Man started on April 2006 when Edgar Wright was set to direct and co-write the story with Joe Cornish. In April 2011, the two were able to complete three drafts. In July 2012 Wright started shooting footages in different filming locations.

Rudd was casted for the role of Ant-Man on December 2013. Even if Wright left the project on May 2014 due to creative differences, his task was taken up by McKay. Principal photography happened around August to December of 2014 in San Francisco and Atlanta.

Ant-Man the Marvel Hero
Since the movie Ant-Man will be coming up, here’s a little background on the comic book hero where it will be based on.

Ant-Man was originally the persona of Hank Pym, the scientist who invented the substance that helped him decrease in size but even increased his strength. He was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book Tales to Astonish #27 which was released in January 1962. After Pym’s retirement, Scott Lang inherited the technology to become Ant-Man. Other than Lang, Eric O’Grady also took on the role of Ant-Man.

Thanks Lights on Location a website where filmmakers can find filming locations to film their movies and other media with easy to use search tools. You can check out Lights on Location by clicking here, or on the following link: lightsonlocation.com.

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