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By the 1980s Sedona was firmly ensconced as the preeminent center of focused spirituality and metaphysical energy in the United States which also made it a major wellness hub of meditation, personal transformation along with holistic and and other alternative treatments in lieu of traditional medicine practices. Sedona also became more devoted to the arts, particularly with many creatives and galleries celebrating contemporary, indigenous, and western art creativity.
Additionally, Sedona region continued to lure increasing numbers of hikers, campers, and others to engage in a variety of available, year-long outdoor activities. Despite this change in priorities, a few movies were still filmed here. Among these was The Gambler: The Adventure Continues (1983) with Kenny Rogers, Linda Evans, and Bruce Boxleitner was a western adventure tale of a train hijacking where the gambler Brady Hawkes (Rogers) has to mount an expedition to get his kidnapped son back safely. On a different tack, the contemporary comedy/ family road trip National Lampoon’s Vacation also from 1983 was a box office hit that also enhanced the popularity of Sedona with moviegoers.
The sci-fi genre in the form of Starman (1984) had Sedona representation as well with Jeff Bridges as the alien (Starman) in human form arriving on Earth to romance recent widow Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). The vast night skies of Sedona and Monument Valley in Utah served as excellent locations to depict heavenly, otherworldly magnificence. This film also utilized Meteor Crater north of Sedona as another excellent story location. These scenes make Starman an outstanding example of the quirky, offbeat stories that seem to work best in a Sedona setting.
The 1990s would see the region hosting a few more films made in whole or in part in the area such as Universal Soldier (1992) an action-adventure about a secret military resurrection project starring heavy hitters Jean-Claude Vandamme and Dolph Lundgren. Aside from a high profile, big box office project like Universal Soldier only a few obscure films were made at Sedona for the remainder of the decade. During the 2000s, filmmaking and tv production across all of Arizona — which had been pretty robust declined sharply due to a number of factors.
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The most unfortunate issue was the state foolishly, and inexplicably closing its film office in 2010. This put an abrupt end to the long-term tax incentives that had lured so much production here to begin with. Without those long-term tax incentives Arizona was no longer a serious competitor with other states for landing new entertainment projects. New Mexico and other states immediately filled this gap and snatched away a great deal of business. New Mexico had also invested substantially in film crews, larger sound stages and post-production facilities, and welcoming partnerships with Hollywood studios to make that state a more appealing destination for film and tv projects.
After all, everything is ultimately about money, isn’t it though? Arizona really dropped the ball on this, eliminating rebates of up to 25-30 % on local spending. The state film commission which finally reopened in 2022 still hasn’t fully recovered from these missteps. Another major blow to the entertainment industry in Arizona was the 1994 fire which reduced much of the Old Tucson Studios (built in 1939) to ashes. This effectively ended any future productions being filmed there. Although largely reconstructed since then, it now functions more as a “old western experiences” theme park rather than the film and tv production site it had been so active with for many decades.
However, with all this said, one of the last productions filmed in Sedona to date is it’s namesake Sedona from 2011. This film has two narrative threads and the first concerns an advertising executive named Tammy (played by Frances Fisher) who accidentally ends up in Sedona through a series of misadventures while on her way to Phoenix from Portland, OR. The other story is about a lawyer named Scott (played by Seth Peterson) hiking in the woods with his partner and two sons when one of them becomes lost.
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Due to their experiences both Tammy and Scott are forced to confront their present life circumstances, examine them, and undergo profound spiritual changes to get themselves on a better track. In one of the best reviews for Sedona James Buchanan of TV Guide said: “viewers like likely walk away smiling thanks to stunning photography that gives a genuine sense of place, two skillfully interwoven storylines, convincing performances by a talented cast, and a fantastic portrayal of two loving, supportive gay parents that makes their sexuality a complete non-issue.”
It would be great for more stories of this type to emerge from Sedona again. Transformation and renewal is what many people have come to this special region for since the 19th century among other reasons. For myself, I am very curious as to what the future holds for film and tv creatives here and will add to this post further when there are satisfactory updates.
