Movies help transport viewers to incredible locations often far beyond the pale of their imaginations, and the better the world-building, the more authentic these locations will seem to fans. Most of the awe-inspiring places in cinema have their roots in reality, which often guarantees that they'll seem more authentic and lived in by drawing on local architecture, customs, and history.
No matter how wild or epic the story, by basing fictional countries on real ones, fans will be more likely to concede to the adventures whether or not they take place in the MCU, Middle-Earth, or the unique mind of Wes Anderson. Most importantly, they'll transport fans visually to realms they've only ever dreamed about.
Zamunda/West Africa & Ethiopia
The kingdom of Zamunda from Coming 2 America) is based on several African nation states, in which the head of state enjoys wealth and power similar to a king, while combining characteristics and cultural customs from sub-Saharan, North African, and West African tribes.
Countries like Eswantini, where monarchies still exist, are ruled by heads of state who are the equivalent of kings, with palaces, vast art collections, and impressive wealth.
Genovia/Monaco
The small, out-of-the-way country of Genovia featured in The Princess Diaries franchise sounds like something that could be found in Eastern Europe, and it's given a very real geographic position in the movies - somewhere between and Italy.
As vague as that is, it makes sense to base it off of a place like Monaco, a principality made famous when the actress Grace Kelly became its princess by marrying Prince Rainier in 1956. Monaco is the only country that could boast Genovia's Mediterranean coastline, with plenty of hills for agricultural crops. Unlike Monaco however, its Riviera's white sand "isn't imported!"
Florin/Italy
The idyllic location of Florin is most likely named after the florin, the coin of the realm circulated in the Republic of Florence (the guilder, after which Guilder is named, was a coin used in ). The Republic of Florence today is a part of Italy, but its florins were minted in the early Renaissance, which aligns with the setting of the fairytale.
The Princess Bride is based on the 1973 fantasy adventure by William Goldman (attributed to the fictional S. Morgenstern), which recounts a historical tale about a princess bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts, and all the colorful characters they meet during a border war between two nations, inspired by the bedtime stories Goldman told his children.
Themyscira/Ancient Greece
The island paradise of Themyscira is brought to lush life in Wonder Woman 1984, where mighty Amazons live in relative peace and tranquility, training for the day when their utopia might be breached by the outside world.
Creators William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter based Themyscira on the mythical capital city of the same name, located in what is now modern day Ukraine, but was then a region of Ancient Greece, where the fierce warrior women of Greek mythology were said to reside.
Wakanda/Lesotho
One of the most well-known fictional countries in cinema thanks to the success of Marvel's Black Panther, Wakanda is a utopia of unparalleled vision and natural resources, hidden from the rest of Africa by a technologically advanced shield that prevents its exact location from being discovered.
Black Panther's Wakanda on the South-African kingdom. There's also some representation from Basotho, thanks to the colorful blankets worn by Wakanda's Border Patrol.
The Shire/England
One of the most impressively populated worlds in all of cinema, Middle-Earth is a mythical continent that includes elves, humans, ents, wizards, and orcs. Its complex design can be attributed to the geographical organization of Western Europe, with hobbit community of The Shire being based off of England.
J.R.R. Tolkien based the rolling hills, dales, and towns of The Shire on rural England where he lived during his childhood. While Peter Jackson used New Zealand's sprawling vistas to construct it in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies, it's not hard to see why England's homey countryside remains its most immediate inspiration.
Zubrowka/Eastern Europe
Though there's a charming website devoted to it, and even a Zubrowka Film Institute, fans of Wes Anderson'sThe Grand Budapest Hotel can't visit the Republic of Zubrowka because it doesn't exist. And while it's based on Eastern Europe, it's reminiscent of the countries as they were in the 20th century, after the effects of World War II.
The Old World charm of Görlitz, a remote eastern area of with several quaint towns and cities, brings the movie's scenes to life, and evokes a nostalgic world situated in a very specific time period. Görlitzer Warenhaus, an abandoned department store, provides the grandeur needed for the hotel itself. The area is so popular, it's been used for other movies set around World War II, such as Inglourious Basterds and The Monuments Men.
Neverland/Belize
Home to the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, and of course Peter Pan, Neverland has been depicted in several movies about the boy who couldn't grow up in the last several decades, including Hook, Pan, and Peter Pan. And while J.M. Barrie gives impractical clues to find it ("second star to the right, straight on until morning") in his story, some fans try to actually pinpoint its real location.
Matthew Patrick, host of the YouTube channel The Film Theorists, spent hours scouring movies featuring Neverland to find out where it could be. He ultimately deduced that based on geography, weather patterns, and visual guides, the fictitious realm had to be the Turneffe Atoll in Belize.
Panem/Ancient Rome
In the country of Panem is considered North America, parts of Canada, and even some of Mexico. It exists as one of the last bastions of human society following years of biochemical and nuclear warfare and resulting disease and famine.
Panem is modeled after the Roman Empire, with all twelve districts loyal to the Capitol, which resembles Ancient Rome in its architecture and customs (such as using competitive games to distract its citizens from glaring infrastructure problems). In exchange for protection from (and by) the Capitol's army, the twelve districts send tribute and agricultural resources.
Wadiya/Eritrea
While Sasha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator is based on the personalities and lives of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the actor wanted his fictional dictator to be from a very different location.
Speaking to the set designer, Baron Cohen explained that he wanted Wadiya to be a country that wasn't "quite in the Middle East," and not "quite in Africa," but that had elements of both, along with influence from the United Arab Emirates. It needed to feel specific and real to viewers, so Eritrea (with a record-breaking rate of oppression) was selected to represent the fictional country.
