‘A hip, sexy place of wealth’: Singapore’s appeal as film and TV location growing in wake of Crazy Rich Asians

After the success of Crazy Rich Asians, production companies have been looking more closely at shooting films and TV series in the Lion City and Southeast Asia

With Hong Kong and Tokyo overexposed, and the Asian HQs of Netflix, HBO and Lucasfilm all in Singapore, ‘the needle has moved’, a brand consultant says

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Could Singapore be the next go-to destination for Hollywood and TV companies? Photo: Alamy

Published: 8:15am, 18 Sep 2019Updated: 12:14pm, 18 Sep 2019

Following the box-office success of the 2018 romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, and with the third season of hit HBO sci-fi series Westworld pending – both shot partially in Singapore – is the Lion City becoming the new Asian darling of TV and Hollywood film producers?

The cityscapes of locations such as such as Tokyo and Hong Kong have been filmed too often, leaving American film and television productions seeking new backdrops, says Freddie Yeo, chief operating officer of Infinite Studios. The company is the production arm responsible for securing Singapore as the set location for both Crazy Rich Asians and the upcoming Westworld season.

Yeo points out that although only three major films and one television series have been shot in the Lion City in the past 10 years, it is a marked improvement on the previous decade considering the scale and global reach of the productions.

“If we were to compare the volume of productions between the periods of 2000 to 2010 and from 2010 to the current time, yes, the latter period has seen increasing activity, with three major Hollywood films entirely or partially shot in Singapore – namely Crazy Rich Asians, Independence Day: Resurgence and Hitman Agent: 47.”

Some of the scenes in Independence Day: Resurgence were filmed in Singapore at Marina Bay Sands.

Yeo says the timing of international events in Singapore last year, such as the Trump-Kim summit in June, then August’s premiere of Crazy Rich Asians , was “something money could not buy” in terms of turning a global spotlight on Singapore.

“The box-office success of Crazy Rich Asians definitely opened the eyes of the world to Singapore, especially from a visual and cultural perspective,” he says. “Filmmakers are always looking for something fresh, new and enticing, and Singapore has not been featured much globally compared with Asian cities like Tokyo or Hong Kong.”