Movies Filmed in South Dakota

When thinking of movies made in South Dakota, one film immediately jumps into everyone's mind. But there's plenty of other Hollywood hits that were filmed in our state. Here's a list of some of the biggest movies filmed in South Dakota.

Dances With Wolves: The biggest and most successful movie ever filmed in the state. It made over 400 million dollars at the box office, worldwide, and won a number of awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Most of the film was shot near the Triple U Buffalo Ranch in Stanley County, just outside of Pierre.

Starship Troopers: This one surprised me at first, but just by watching the clip above, you can tell parts of this movie were filmed in South Dakota. The Badlands provided a number of scenes for this 1997 cult classic, which didn't see big box office numbers when it was released, but since, it has gained a large following.

Armageddon: Proving that the Badlands can look like just about anything, a good portion of this movie turns the iconic South Dakota landscape into an asteroid. Armageddon became one of the biggest movies of the '90s and had some major stars attached to it. Bruce Willis played the lead, a young Ben Affleck co-starred, and it launched the career of Liv Tyler, who happens to be the daughter of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, who scored a big hit on the film's soundtrack with I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. 

This list doesn't even scratch the surface of big blockbuster films made in our state. Some others include National Treasure: Book of Secrets, How the West Was Won, Head of State, and countless more.