Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
- Documented locations
- 33
- Year
- 1984
- Directed by
- Steven Spielberg
- Cities
- Borehamwood, Macau, Novato, Mammoth Lakes, Groveland, Coloma, Rancho Cordova, Nicasio, San Rafael, Grand Coulee, Page, Tuba City, Twin Falls, Orlando, St. Augustine, Kandy, Rambukkana, Adhikarigama
Elstree Studios
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
Opened in 1925 on Shenley Road, this complex is one of the oldest operating film studios in Britain.
The scene : The essence of the film was shot on the Elstree studios: the palace of Pankot, built in a studio inside and out once the filming in India was abandoned, the Kali temple, the mines and their quarry, and the close-ups of the rope bridge, redone on a replica a few meters off the ground.
Elstree Stage 1 (1948-1989)
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
Site of the former Elstree studios, demolished in 1989.
The scene : The interior of Club Obi Wan, the Shanghai cabaret where Indy comes to exchange Nurhachi's remains for Lao Che's diamond before the negotiation turns into a fight, was built on this set.
Elstree Stage 2 (1948-1989)
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
Site of the former Elstree studios, demolished in 1989.
The scene : The ceremonial hall of the temple occupied the entire set; the lava pit was later added by a model from ILM. A shot of the window of Club Obi Wan was also filmed there.
Elstree Stage 3 (1948-1989)
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
Site of the former Elstree studios, demolished in 1989.
The scene : Several sets have succeeded each other on this stage: part of the interior of the Club Obi Wan and its awning, the great hall of the Pankot palace, then Indy and Willie's rooms and the hallway that connects them.
Elstree Stage 4 (1948-1989)
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
Plateau of the former Elstree studios, demolished in 1989.
The scene : The cart chase was filmed here, in galleries that lead to an exit into the open air and to the dead end of the tracks; the rest of the chase then continues into the ILM model tunnel.
Elstree Stage 6 (1979-1989)
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
A giant plateau measuring 250 × 122 feet and 45 feet high, built in 1978-1979 for The Empire Strikes Back and nicknamed the 'Star Wars Stage'. Lost with the sale of half the site in 1989 and dismantled in 1991, it made way for the Tesco supermarket; its steel was used to build stages R and S at Shepperton. Number 6 now designates a workshop converted into a stage in the late 1990s.
The scene : The set of the mine quarry was built on this monumental plateau, the one previously occupied by the Star Wars crew.
Elstree Stage 7
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
Platform measuring 77 × 64 feet built in 1966 with Stages 8 and 9, originally equipped with a telescopic lighting grid. Closed in 2022 following the discovery of asbestos and RAAC concrete, it reopened in September 2025.
The scene : The night at the campsite in the jungle, around the fire, was filmed on this set.
Elstree Stage 9
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
A plateau measuring 97 × 77 feet built in 1966 with Stages 7 and 8, featuring a basin. Closed in 2022 after the discovery of asbestos and RAAC concrete, it reopened in September 2025 and has since hosted the filming of EastEnders.
The scene : This set hosted the insect-infested tunnel that Willie must cross, the room lined with spikes where Indy and Demi-Lune nearly get crushed, and Mola Ram's chamber.
Elstree Backlot
Borehamwood, United Kingdom
The scene : Two sets were built outdoors on the studio grounds: the courtyard of Pankot Palace, extended in the image by a matte painting, and the rocky wall where the fight continues after the bridge collapses, barely elevated above the ground and complemented in places by painted glass.
Praça de Ponte e Horta 14-16 (Macau)
Macau, Macao SAR China
Address of the former Sun Sun pension, demolished and then replaced by the Sun Sun Hotel, in the Inner Harbour district of Macau.
The scene : The façade of Club Obi Wan, the cabaret from "Shanghai" where Indy and Willie escape at the beginning of the film, stood at this address in the Inner Harbor district of Macau.
Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (Macau)
Macau, Macao SAR China
The scene : The chase following the escape from Club Obi Wan, with Demi-Lune at the wheel of the Duesenberg, was filmed on this avenue in old Macau, near its intersection with Travessa da Felicidade.
Macau, Macao SAR China
The scene : Two guides place in this street of the Inner Port, near the old floating casino, part of the scenes from "Shanghai": the entrance of the cabaret according to one, the car chase according to the other.
Hamilton Field Hangar 9 (Novato)
Novato, United States
Hangar of the former Hamilton airbase, built in 1933 and decommissioned in 1974; the site has been redeveloped, but several hangars have been preserved.
The scene : This hangar of the old airbase, dressed as the Shanghai airport, sees Indy, Willie, and Demi-Lune boarding the tri-motor that is supposed to pull them from the clutches of Lao Che, unaware that the plane belongs to him.
Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Lakes, United States
The scene : The peaks of Mammoth Mountain represent the Himalayas as the trimotor aircraft soars above, before Indy, Willie, and Demi-Lune jump into the void, clinging to an inflatable raft.
Mammoth Lakes, United States
The scene : The inflatable raft touches the snow on this slope of the Mammoth Mountain resort, then hurtles down with Indy, Willie, and Demi-Lune on board, narrowly avoiding trees and rocks.
United States
The scene : After racing down the mountain, the canoe tips over a cliff and plunges into the rapids of the Tuolumne, in the canyon that the river carves near the Hetch Hetchy reservoir.
Groveland, United States
The scene : For the landing shots, the second team dropped a inflatable boat from this bridge over the Tuolumne.
Coloma, United States
The scene : The rapids that Indy, Willie, and Short Round descend in the canoe after their jump from the plane were filmed on this arm of the American River, in Northern California.
Rancho Cordova, United States
The scene : According to a guide, the canoe is then carried away by the current of the American River, on the stretch that goes from Folsom Lake to Sacramento.
Lucas Valley (Nicasio)
Nicasio, United States
The scene : The shot of the village where the released children return is a matte painting placed over a view of the hills of Nicasio; doubles completed the final battle on a hill in the valley, on the side of Skywalker Ranch.
San Rafael, United States
Former headquarters of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the special effects company founded by George Lucas, on Kerner Boulevard in San Rafael.
The scene : The ILM workshops provided a good portion of the special effects: the model of the plane scraping the mountain, filmed on the roof of stage C, the cockpit of the trimotor, the caves beneath the palace, the victim lowered into the lava pit, the stop-motion chase in the mine carts, the model tunnel where the actors are keyed in on a blue screen, the tank that overflows, and the cliff face.
Grand Coulee, United States
The scene : A fan site links the dam to the rope bridge sequence, alongside the Elstree Studios; IMDb also lists it among the film's exterior locations.
Page, United States
The scene : Mola Ram's fall into the river was completed by the second unit at the edge of a cliff near the dam.
United States
The scene : IMDb lists these falls of the Little Colorado River, on Navajo land, among the outdoor locations of the film, without specifying which scene was shot there.
United States
The scene : This canyon in the HopiReservation is listed on IMDb as an exterior location for the film; no source specifies which shot was filmed there.
Tuba City, United States
Valley located in Coconino County, Arizona.
The scene : Three location bases mention this canyon near Tuba City among the film's outdoor scenes, without specifying the scene.
Twin Falls, United States
The scene : The canoe that flips over the cliff was filmed in the Snake River Canyon, near the Perrine Bridge, in Twin Falls.
Orlando, United States
The scene : The "crocodiles" waiting at the foot of the rope bridge, and that devour Mola Ram, are alligators from this park, filmed in insert shots by Frank Marshall's second unit from the three-story observation tower.
St. Augustine, United States
The scene : Frank Marshall's second unit shot part of the insert shots of the alligators waiting at the foot of the rope bridge here.
Hantane Tea Estate
Kandy, Sri Lanka
Tea estate owned by the state, located about five kilometers from Kandy, where today the world's first tea museum is situated.
The scene : The village of Mayapore was built on this tea estate in the hills of Kandy: Indy, Willie, and Short Round discover a devastated village where Willie refuses the meager meal offered by the inhabitants, and find it prosperous at the end of the film. The large rock that housed the sanctuary of the Sankara stone is still in place.
Kandy, Sri Lanka
The scene : The crew had set up its base in Kandy during the three weeks of shooting in Sri Lanka; it was in the trees of the city that the large fruit bats were filmed, dispersed by a firecracker to achieve a mass flight.
Rambukkana, Sri Lanka
Orphanage, nursery, and center for the breeding of wild Asian elephants founded in 1975, which houses one of the largest captive herds in the world; it is open to the public every day.
The scene : The elephants from the orphanage are used for the journey to the Pankot Palace: Indy, Willie, and Short Round leave the village on the backs of elephants, with Willie riding backwards, complaining about the smell and the flies.
Mahaweli River Gorge (Victoria Dam)
Adhikarigama, Sri Lanka
Gorge of the Mahaweli downstream of the Victoria Dam, the highest dam on the island, built by the British company Balfour Beatty and inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in 1985.
The scene : The rope bridge of the climax was stretched over this gorge of the Mahaweli, a few hundred meters downstream from the Victoria dam: Indy, surrounded on both sides by Mola Ram's men, threatens to drop the Sankara stones and then slices the bridge before the arrival of the British soldiers.