Marvel may return to Korean filming locations

As a result, the film boosted its profile throughout Korea and eventually helped generate more than $40m for Marvel at the Korean box office, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Black Panther’s Busan shoot was in fact the second time Marvel had filmed in Korea, having previously shot a chase sequence on Seoul’s ten-lane Mapo Bridge for the 2015 ensemble movie Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, has reportedly told Korean media that the company plans to return next year to shoot another film in the country.

Marvel generally bases its superhero films in either Atlanta or London, but has also developed a pattern of filming parts of its Earth-set movies in locations that are either unusual or uncommonly seen by mainstream cinema audiences.

The move helps add visual flourishes to Marvel’s films, while also building fan bases in different parts of the world.

Edinburgh became the key non-studio filming location for Avengers: Infinity War and previously scenes for Doctor Strange were shot in Nepal. Italy made an appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but only as a stand-in for a fictional Eastern European country.

Marvel is scheduled to shoot a new Spider-Man movie in the UK this summer and a third Guardians of the Galaxy film is expected to go into production next year. Otherwise, the studio’s precise slate of forthcoming movies is less clear following the fates of several key characters in Avengers: Infinity War.

What does seem certain is that the stellar success of Infinity War has safeguarded the immediate future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and could bring in a new era of audacious location filming decisions.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in South Korea.

Images: Disney/Marvel Studios