List of films set in Washington, D.C.

This is a list of feature films set in Washington, D.C.

Released	Title	Director	Comments	Filmed in DC
2022	The 355	Simon Kinberg		Y
2009	2012	Roland Emmerich	^[1]	Y
1997	Absolute Power	Clint Eastwood		Y
2015	Accidental Love	David O. Russell		Y
2016	The Accountant	Gavin O'Connor
1962	Advise & Consent	Otto Preminger	Main Setting ^[2]	Y
2018	Affairs of State	Eric Bross
1997	Air Force One	Wolfgang Petersen	^[1]	Y
1976	All the President's Men	Alan J. Pakula	Main Setting, National Film Registry^[3]	Y
2016	All the Way	Jay Roach	Main Setting
2001	Along Came a Spider	Lee Tamahori
1995	The American President	Rob Reiner	Main Setting ^[4]	Y
1997	Amistad	Steven Spielberg
2019	Angel Has Fallen	Ric Roman Waugh
1982	Annie	John Huston
2015	Ant-Man	Peyton Reed
2012	Argo	Ben Affleck	^[5]	Y
1999	Arlington Road	Mark Pellington	Main Setting ^[1]	Y
1998	Armageddon	Michael Bay		Y
1992	Article 99	Howard Deutch
1987	Assassination	Peter R. Hunt
2020	The Banker	George Nolfi
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	Zack Snyder		Y
2012	Battleship	Peter Berg
1996	Beavis and Butt-Head Do America	Mike Judge
1979	Being There	Hal Ashby	Main Setting, National Film Registry^[6]	Y
1999	Bicentennial Man	Chris Columbus
1977	Billy Jack Goes to Washington	Tom Laughlin	Main Setting
2009	Black Dynamite	Scott Sanders
1977	Black Sunday	John Frankenheimer
2022	Blacklight	Mark Williams		Y
2013	Blue Caprice	Alexandre Moors
2008	Body of Lies	Ridley Scott		Y
1992	Boomerang	Reginald Hudlin
2008	Borat	Larry Charles		Y
1950	Born Yesterday	George Cukor	National Film Registry	Y
1993	Born Yesterday	Luis Mandoki
2012	The Bourne Legacy	Tony Gilroy
2007	Breach	Billy Ray	Main Setting ^[5]	Y
2015	Bridge of Spies	Steven Spielberg
1987	Broadcast News	James L. Brooks	Main Setting National Film Registry^[3]	Y
2008	Burn After Reading	Joel Coen, Ethan Coen	^[3]	Y
2013	The Butler	Lee Daniels	Main Setting
1995	Canadian Bacon	Michael Moore
1972	The Candidate	Michael Ritchie
2014	Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Anthony Russo, Joe Russo	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
2010	Casino Jack	George Hickenlooper
1996	Chain Reaction	Andrew Davis		Y
1989	Chances Are	Emile Ardolino	Main Setting ^[4]	Y
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	Mike Nichols
2004	Chasing Liberty	Andy Cadiff		Y
2024	Civil War	Alex Garland	Main setting
1994	Clear and Present Danger	Phillip Noyce	^[1]	Y
2002	Collateral Damage	Andrew Davis		Y
2015	Concussion	Peter Landesman
1997	Contact	Robert Zemeckis		Y
2000	The Contender	Rod Lurie	Main Setting
2003	The Core	Jon Amiel
1996	Courage Under Fire	Edward Zwick		Y
1955	The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell	Otto Preminger
1947	Crossfire	Edward Dmytryk
1983	D.C. Cab	Joel Schumacher	Main Setting	Y
1958	Damn Yankees	George Abbott, Stanley Donen		Y
1983	Daniel	Sidney Lumet
1993	Dave	Ivan Reitman	Main Setting ^[4]	Y
2004	The Day After Tomorrow	Roland Emmerich	^[1]	Y
1951	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Robert Wise	National Film Registry^[1]	Y
1998	Deep Impact	Mimi Leder	^[5]	Y
2004	The Defender	Dolph Lundgren
1999	Dick	Andrew Fleming	Main Setting ^[5]	Y
1990	Die Hard 2	Renny Harlin	^[1]
1992	The Distinguished Gentleman	Jonathan Lynn
1991	Doc Hollywood	Michael Caton-Jones
2021	Don't Look Up	Adam McKay		Y
2011	The Double	Michael Brandt		Y
1944	The Doughgirls	James V. Kern
1964	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb	Stanley Kubrick	Main Setting National Film Registry
1994	Drop Zone	John Badham
2004	Eagle Eye	D. J. Caruso		Y
1956	Earth vs. the Flying Saucers	Fred F. Sears	^[1]
2013	The East	Zal Batmanglij		Y
2006	Eight Below	Frank Marshall
1999	Election	Alexander Payne		Y
2016	Elvis & Nixon	Liza Johnson
2002	The Emperor's Club	Michael Hoffman
2006	End Game	Andy Cheng
1998	Enemy of the State	Tony Scott	^[3]	Y
1996	Eraser	Chuck Russell		Y
2007	Evan Almighty	Tom Shadyac		Y
1973	Executive Action	David Miller
1996	Executive Decision	Stuart Baird
1973	The Exorcist	William Friedkin	Main Setting, National Film Registry, see Exorcist steps^[3]	Y
1990	The Exorcist III	William Peter Blatty		Y
1964	Fail Safe	Sidney Lumet
2010	Fair Game	Doug Liman		Y
2011	Fast Five	Justin Lin
1951	FBI Girl	William A. Berke
1959	The FBI Story	Mervyn LeRoy
1992	A Few Good Men	Rob Reiner	^[3]	Y
1980	The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu	Piers Haggard
2013	The Fifth Estate	Bill Condon
1993	The Firm	Sydney Pollack		Y
2004	First Daughter	Forest Whitaker
1980	First Family	Buck Henry
1996	First Kid	David M. Evans		Y
1948	For the Love of Mary	Frederick de Cordova
1994	Forrest Gump	Robert Zemeckis	National Film Registry^[3]	Y
1971	The French Connection	William Friedkin	National Film Registry	Y
2008	Frost/Nixon	Ron Howard
1997	G.I. Jane	Ridley Scott		Y
2013	G.I. Joe: Retaliation	Jon M. Chu	^[1]	Y
2009	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	Stephen Sommers
1933	Gabriel Over the White House	Gregory La Cava
2019	Georgetown	Christoph Waltz	Main Setting
2017	Geostorm	Dean Devlin
1996	Get on the Bus	Spike Lee
2008	Get Smart	Peter Segal	Main Setting	Y
2023	Ghosted	Dexter Fletcher	Main Setting	Y
2012	Goats	Christopher Neil
1974	The Godfather Part II	Francis Ford Coppola	National Film Registry	Y
2019	Godzilla: King of the Monsters	Michael Dougherty
2013	A Good Day to Die Hard	John Moore
2006	The Good Shepherd	Robert De Niro		Y
1986	Good to Go	Blaine Novak
1943	Government Girl	Dudley Nichols
2022	The Gray Man	Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
1978	The Greek Tycoon	J. Lee Thompson
1979	Hair	Miloš Forman
2001	Hannibal	Ridley Scott		Y
2011	Haywire	Steven Soderbergh
2003	Head of State	Chris Rock		Y
1986	Heartburn	Mike Nichols
2000	Hollow Man	Paul Verhoeven		Y
1980	Hopscotch	Ronald Neame
1997	The House of Yes	Mark Waters
1958	Houseboat	Melville Shavelson		Y
2010	How Do You Know	James L. Brooks		Y
2018	Hunter Killer	Donovan Marsh
1997	I Think I Do	Brian Sloan
2016	I.T.	Melville Shavelson
2006	Idiocracy	Mike Judge	Main Setting
1993	In the Line of Fire	Wolfgang Petersen		Y
2009	In the Loop	Armando Iannucci	Main Setting	Y
1996	Independence Day	Roland Emmerich	^[1]	Y
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	Roland Emmerich
2007	The Invasion	Oliver Hirschbiegel		Y
2019	The Irishman	Martin Scorsese
2010	Iron Man 2	Jon Favreau
2013	Iron Man 3	Shane Black
2020	Irresistible	Jon Stewart
2011	J. Edgar	Clint Eastwood	Main Setting	Y
2016	Jack Reacher: Never Go Back	Edward Zwick		Y
2014	Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit	Kenneth Branagh
1997	The Jackal	Michael Caton-Jones		Y
2016	Jackie	Pablo Larraín	Main Setting	Y
2016	Jason Bourne	Paul Greengrass		Y
1991	JFK	Oliver Stone	^[2]	Y
2010	Jonah Hex	Jimmy Hayward	^[1]
1938	Judge Hardy's Children	George B. Seitz
2014	Kill the Messenger	Michael Cuesta		Y
2023	Killers of the Flower Moon	Martin Scorsese
2014	Kingsman: The Secret Service	Matthew Vaughn
2017	Kingsman: The Golden Circle	Matthew Vaughn
1997	Kiss the Girls	Gary Fleder
1964	Kisses for My President	Curtis Bernhardt
2017	Kong: Skull Island	Jordan Vogt-Roberts
1944	Ladies of Washington	Louis King
1973	The Last Detail	Hal Ashby		Y
2019	The Last Full Measure	Todd Robinson		Y
2016	LBJ	Rob Reiner		Y
2003	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Charles Herman-Wurmfeld	Main Setting
2013	Life of a King	Jake Goldberger
2012	Lincoln	Steven Spielberg	Main Setting
2007	Lions for Lambs	Robert Redford	Main Setting	Y
2007	Live Free or Die Hard	Len Wiseman	^[1]	Y
1992	Live Wire	Christian Duguay
2012	Lockout	James Mather, Stephen Saint Leger
1976	Logan's Run	Michael Anderson	^[1]
2016	London Has Fallen	Babak Najafi
1939	The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt	Peter Godfrey
2019	Long Shot	Jonathan Levine
2010	Lost Boys: The Thirst	Dario Piana
2016	Loving	Jeff Nichols
2010	MacGruber	Jorma Taccone
1946	Magnificent Doll	Frank Borzage
1955	A Man Called Peter	Henry Koster
1983	The Man Who Wasn't There	Bruce Malmuth
1985	The Man with One Red Shoe	Stan Dragoti
1972	The Man	Joseph Sargent
1986	Manhunter	Michael Mann		Y
1962	The Manchurian Candidate	John Frankenheimer		Y
2004	The Manchurian Candidate	Jonathan Demme	^[5]	Y
1996	Mars Attacks!	Tim Burton	^[1]	Y
2002	The Master of Disguise	Perry Andelin Blake
2021	The Mauritanian	Kevin Macdonald		Y
2007	Max 2: White House Hero	Brian Levant
1936	A Message to Garcia	George Marshall
1979	Meteor	Ronald Neame
1993	The Meteor Man	Robert Townsend
2002	Minority Report	Steven Spielberg	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
2016	Miss Sloane	John Madden
1943	Mission to Moscow	Michael Curtiz
2015	Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation	Christopher McQuarrie
1943	The More the Merrier	George Stevens
1987	Morgan Stewart's Coming Home	Alan Smithee
2002	The Mothman Prophecies	Mark Pellington		Y
1939	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Frank Capra	Main Setting, National Film Registry	Y
1997	Murder at 1600	Dwight H. Little	Main Setting	Y
1996	My Fellow Americans	Peter Segal		Y
2020	My Spy	Peter Segal
1991	The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear	David Zucker		Y
1995	National Lampoon's Senior Trip	Kelly Makin
2004	National Treasure	Jon Turteltaub	Main Setting,^[3]	Y
2007	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	Jon Turteltaub		Y
1990	Navy SEALs	Lewis Teague
1995	The Net	Irwin Winkler		Y
2009	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Shawn Levy	Main Setting,^[3]	Y
1995	Nixon	Oliver Stone	Main Setting	Y
1987	No Way Out	Roger Donaldson	Main Setting^[3]	Y
2014	Non-Stop	Jaume Collet-Serra
2008	Nothing but the Truth	Rod Lurie
2013	Olympus Has Fallen	Antoine Fuqua	Main Setting^[1]
1976	The Omen	Richard Donner
2023	Oppenheimer	Christopher Nolan
2013	Parkland	Peter Landesman
1992	Patriot Games	Phillip Noyce		Y
2001	Pearl Harbor	Michael Bay
1993	The Pelican Brief	Alan J. Pakula	^[4]	Y
1996	The People vs. Larry Flynt	Miloš Forman
2013	Philomena	Stephen Frears		Y
2015	Pixels	Chris Columbus		Y
1959	Plan 9 from Outer Space	Ed Wood		Y
2001	Planet of the Apes	Tim Burton	^[1]	Y
1993	Point of No Return	John Badham
2017	The Post	Steven Spielberg	Main Setting	Y
1986	Power	Sidney Lumet
1934	The President Vanishes	William A. Wellman
1967	The President's Analyst	Theodore J. Flicker
1998	Primary Colors	Mike Nichols
1977	The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	Larry Cohen
1997	Private Parts	Betty Thomas		Y
1984	Protocol	Herbert Ross
2016	The Purge: Election Year	James DeMonaco
1994	Quiz Show	Robert Redford		Y
1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark	Steven Spielberg	National Film Registry	Y
2002	Red Dragon	Brett Ratner		Y
1935	Red Salute	Sidney Lanfield
2007	Rendition	Gavin Hood		Y
2019	The Report	Scott Z. Burns	Main Setting
2012	Resident Evil: Retribution	Paul W. S. Anderson
2023	The Retirement Plan	Tim Brown
1983	The Right Stuff	Philip Kaufman	National Film Registry
2014	RoboCop	José Padilha
1996	The Rock	Michael Bay
1992	Running Mates	Michael Lindsay-Hogg
2023	Rustin	George C. Wolfe	Main Setting	Y
2010	Salt	Phillip Noyce		Y
1940	Santa Fe Trail	Michael Curtiz
2003	Scary Movie 3	David Zucker		Y
1973	Scorpio	Michael Winner
1946	The Searching Wind	William Dieterle
1979	The Seduction of Joe Tynan	Jerry Schatzberg
2006	The Sentinel	Clark Johnson		Y
1918	The Service Star	Charles Miller
1964	Seven Days in May	John Frankenheimer	^[6]	Y
1985	Seven Minutes in Heaven	Linda Feferman
1997	Shadow Conspiracy	George P. Cosmatos		Y
2003	Shattered Glass	Billy Ray	Main Setting	Y
1943	Sherlock Holmes in Washington	Roy William Neill
2024	Shirley	John Ridley		Y
1998	The Siege	Edward Zwick	^[1]
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Jonathan Demme	National Film Registry	Y
2007	The Simpsons Movie	David Silverman
1998	Slam	Marc Levin	^[6]
1943	So This Is Washington	Ray McCarey
1956	The Solid Gold Cadillac	Richard Quine
2020	Sonic the Hedgehog	Jeff Fowler
2017	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Jon Watts	^[3]	Y
2019	Spies in Disguise	Troy Quane, Nick Bruno
2001	Spy Game	Tony Scott		Y
1985	St. Elmo's Fire	Joel Schumacher	Main Setting ^[4]	Y
2009	State of Play	Kevin Macdonald	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
2005	Stealth	Rob Cohen
1999	Storm Catcher	Tony Hickox
1951	Strangers on a Train	Alfred Hitchcock	^[2]	Y
1998	Streetwise	Bruce Brown
2016	Suicide Squad	David Ayer
2002	The Sum of All Fears	Phil Alden Robinson		Y
1980	Superman II	Richard Lester	^[1]
1987	Suspect	Peter Yates		Y
2005	Syriana	Stephen Gaghan		Y
2007	Talk to Me	Kasi Lemmons
2004	Team America: World Police	Trey Parker
2013	Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor	Tyler Perry
1927	A Texas Steer	Richard Wallace
2005	Thank You for Smoking	Jason Reitman	Main Setting ^[2]	Y
1943	They Got Me Covered	David Butler
1952	The Thief	Russell Rouse
2000	Thirteen Days	Roger Donaldson	Main Setting	Y
1975	Three Days of the Condor	Sydney Pollack	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
1992	Thunderheart	Michael Apted
1994	Timecop	Peter Hyams
1972	Top of the Heap	Christopher St. John
1970	Tora! Tora! Tora!	Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, Kinji Fukasaku		Y
2000	Traffic	Steven Soderbergh		Y
2007	Transformers	Michael Bay		Y
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Michael Bay		Y
2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Michael Bay		Y
2017	Transformers: The Last Knight	Michael Bay
1994	True Lies	James Cameron	Main Setting ^[4]	Y
2015	Trumbo	Jay Roach
2018	Uncle Drew	Charles Stone III
2024	Unfrosted	Jerry Seinfeld
1916	The Velvet Paw	Maurice Tourneur
2018	Vice	Adam McKay	Main Setting	Y
2008	W.	Oliver Stone	Main Setting
1997	Wag the Dog	Barry Levinson	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
2007	The Walker	Paul Schrader
1942	The War Against Mrs. Hadley	Harold S. Bucquet
1932	Washington Merry-Go-Round	James Cruze
1943	Watch on the Rhine	Herman Shumlin
2009	Watchmen	Zack Snyder
2005	Wedding Crashers	David Dobkin	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
1973	The Werewolf of Washington	Milton Moses Ginsberg
1964	What a Way to Go!	J. Lee Thompson
1951	When Worlds Collide	Rudolph Maté
2013	White House Down	Roland Emmerich	Main Setting ^[1]	Y
1967	Who's Minding the Mint?	Howard Morris
1999	Wild Wild West	Barry Sonnenfeld
1945	Without Love	Harold S. Bucquet
2021	Without Remorse	Stefano Sollima		Y
2020	Wonder Woman 1984	Patty Jenkins	Main Setting ^[3]	Y
2021	Worth	Sara Colangelo
1998	The X-Files	Rob Bowman
2008	The X-Files: I Want to Believe	Chris Carter
2000	X-Men	Bryan Singer
2016	X-Men: Apocalypse	Bryan Singer
2014	X-Men: Days of Future Past	Bryan Singer	^[1]
2011	X-Men: First Class	Matthew Vaughn		Y
2003	X2	Bryan Singer
2005	XXX: State of the Union	Lee Tamahori		Y
1942	Yankee Doodle Dandy	Michael Curtiz	National Film Registry	Y
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	Kathryn Bigelow
2009	Zombieland	Ruben Fleischer
2019	Zombieland: Double Tap	Ruben Fleischer

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t Williams, Julien (September 1, 2016). "DC's Biggest Landmarks, Ranked by How Frequently They're Destroyed in Hollywood Movies". Thrillist. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Blanchard, Quentin (May 25, 2020). "DC Cinema Scene: 10 Best Movies Filmed in Town". DC Post. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r "20+ Films & TV Shows to Watch Featuring DC". Washington.org. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Georgetown Movie Sites". Georgetowndc.com. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Goldstein, Jessica (January 3, 2022). "When You Want to Film in Washington, She Makes It Happen". Washington Post. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Basch, Michelle (October 4, 2017). "District of Cinema: From 'Mr. Smith' to 'Exorcist,' must-see movies set in DC". WTOP. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[destroyed-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t Williams, Julien (September 1, 2016). "DC's Biggest Landmarks, Ranked by How Frequently They're Destroyed in Hollywood Movies". Thrillist. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[10best-2] Blanchard, Quentin (May 25, 2020). "DC Cinema Scene: 10 Best Movies Filmed in Town". DC Post. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[20DC-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r "20+ Films & TV Shows to Watch Featuring DC". Washington.org. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[Georgetown-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Georgetown Movie Sites". Georgetowndc.com. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[Pridemore-5] Goldstein, Jessica (January 3, 2022). "When You Want to Film in Washington, She Makes It Happen". Washington Post. Retrieved January 6, 2022.

[mustsee-6] Basch, Michelle (October 4, 2017). "District of Cinema: From 'Mr. Smith' to 'Exorcist,' must-see movies set in DC". WTOP. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]