Transformers 5 films Detroit as London

Earlier this year it was announced that the new Transformers movie had secured a $20m filming incentive to shoot in Detroit. It’s the fourth time the northern US city has hosted the action franchise, and production is also planned for Michigan Motion Picture Studios, which was recently home to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Michigan actually cancelled its filming incentive last year but Transformers is being made locally under an agreement made with the state of Michigan before the support was withdrawn.

London is one of the most popular filming locations in the world due to a combination of its iconic architecture, world-class studio infrastructure and crew, and the UK’s generous tax credit support.

However, the streets of the English capital can be a challenging production experience, particularly in terms of basic logistics such as parking and locating a unit base, which is potentially why the Transformers team has opted to recreate the city in the US.

Transformers: The Last Knight is also scheduled to film scenes in the UK for real in the next few weeks. Director Michael Bay has shared a location scout on social media in recent months, including a visit to Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

The Transformers franchise has a track record of mixing up its filming locations. Previous instalment Age of Extinction featured a finale set in Hong Kong, for which the production team did film scenes in the Chinese city and on the mainland. But they also built an expansive Hong Kong set in Detroit which was used to stage elaborate action set pieces.

Editor's Note: This article was amended on 25 July 2016 to reflect new details regarding Transformers' UK filming schedule.

For more on filming in Detroit see our production guide.

Image: Paramount Pictures