In the early days of cinema, movies were only filmed in Los Angeles on sound stages. Through the years, locations outside of California have been sought to give a more authentic feel or for a different look.

Atlanta, Georgia and Shreveport, Louisiana have been hot spots lately for many of our favorite blockbusters.

Here are fifteen big budget movies filmed in whole or in part in Texas.

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    1

    Dazed and Confused

    This filmed introduced us to Longview native Matthew McConaughey's signature "Alright, alright, alright." A majority of the film was shot in Austin.

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    2

    Sin City

    One of my favorite movies. The cool black and white aesthetic with a splash of color when needed makes for a great viewing experience. Not for kids, though. Portions were shot in Austin.

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    3

    Friday Night Lights

    A movie about Texas high school football has to be shot in Texas. Austin, Houston, Odessa, Elgin, Abilene, and Taylor were all used in the making of this great movie.

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    4

    Predators

    Robert Rodriguez likes to make these off the wall movies. Just over half of the movie was filmed in various parts of Texas, including at Rodriguez's studio in Austin. The rest in Hawaii. Two great locals.

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    5

    Transformers: Age of Extinction

    The first 30 minutes of the movie was all shot in Texas in places like Lockhart, Pflugerville and Austin. I missed out (long story) on being able to travel down there to try to be an extra in my beloved Transformers franchise.

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    6

    Spy Kids

    Kids who are secret agent spies. Most of us dreamed of that as a kid. This kid adventure was filmed in San Antonio and Austin.

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    7

    Miss Congeniality

    Sandra Bullock is an Austin native so she probably felt right home filming at the Alamo and Riverwalk in San Antonio, the Driskill Hotel and UT Austin.

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    8

    Pearl Harbor

    A movie about Pearl Harbor should be all shot in Hawaii but the award-winning film used the battleship USS Texas near Houston and the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi to film part of their scenes.

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    9

    Apollo 13

    With the famous quote, "Houston, we have a problem", and being that movie is about our space program, the Johnson Space Center in Houston would be an obvious choice to film.

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    10

    Armageddon

    I can watch this movie over and over and it's currently on Netflix. Some filming was done in Denton and at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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    11

    Office Space

    While not as big budget as most Hollywood blockbusters, this became a cult classic and was filmed in Dallas. No one can ever forget that printer scene or Milton's stapler.

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    12

    Robocop

    Another cult classic filmed on Dallas soil! While everyone has seen or at least heard of the sci-fi crime film, not many know it's roots are in Texas.

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    13

    Rushmore

    Director Wes Anderson is known for being EXTREMELY particular with his movies. The movie Rushmore is very much a 'coming of age' story and Houston had the perfect aesthetic of high schools in America.

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    14

    Any Given Sunday

    Names like Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz and Dennis Quaid are not the only big names involved with the football movie. Parts of it were filmed in Texas, naturally.

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    15

    Tree of Life

    Any movie with scenery like this, I automatically think 'Texas'. This art film picked up a few awards and is likely thanks in part to Texas landscape.

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