# Identify opening location in Better Watch Out (2016) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391 "2017-11-12T00:51:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheSundial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TheSundial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSundial)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391/1 "2017-11-12T00:51:10Z")
98% of this movie is filmed inside on a stage/studio in Australia. They built the house inside a building and have fake snow for the backyard. The opening scene seems to be filmed in Illinois/Wisconsin with the look of the neighborhood and it’s **set** in Illinois because a license plate is shown. Although it could be filmed somewhere else and the Illinois license plate was put on the car. Clearly it’s supposed to have the same feel as Home Alone (1990). They most likely installed all the streetlamps and they weren’t there or all there originally. My dad lives in Highland Park, Illinois which is nearby Winnetka where the Home Alone house is located. I’ve spent a decent amount of time where the this movie is supposed to be set. If you look at the white house on the left in the first picture it has half quarter circle windows that resembles the side of The Amityville Horror house. I realize it snows in Australia, this has to be the US right? > **[Better Watch Out (2016) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4443658/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt)** > > Better Watch Out (2016) Movies, TV, Celebs, and more... > **[Better Watch Out 2016 1080p WEB DL DD5 1 H264 FGT mkv snapshot 00 00 52 2017...](https://ibb.co/X5TG2KY)** > > Image Better Watch Out 2016 1080p WEB DL DD5 1 H264 FGT mkv snapshot 00 00 52 2017 11 11 19 39 16 hosted in ImgBB > **[Better Watch Out 2016 1080p WEB DL DD5 1 H264 FGT mkv snapshot 00 01 06 2017...](https://ibb.co/ZK6d65v)** > > Image Better Watch Out 2016 1080p WEB DL DD5 1 H264 FGT mkv snapshot 00 01 06 2017 11 11 19 41 11 hosted in ImgBB > **[Better Watch Out 2016 1080p WEB DL DD5 1 H264 FGT mkv snapshot 00 01 19 2017...](https://ibb.co/82yyLTn)** > > Image Better Watch Out 2016 1080p WEB DL DD5 1 H264 FGT mkv snapshot 00 01 19 2017 11 11 19 40 49 hosted in ImgBB [https://ibb.co/cZSYaw](https://ibb.co/cZSYaw) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391/2 "2017-11-12T01:24:28Z")
I can reasonably confidently say that is not Australia. ---
**Author:** ![TheSundial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TheSundial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSundial)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391/3 "2017-11-12T01:31:41Z")
I agree, I just wonder if the state or even the town can be narrowed down. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391/4 "2017-11-12T22:50:05Z")
Could be anywhere in the Upper Midwest, really. But if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say around the Lake Calhoun area in Minneapolis (think Mary Tyler Moore). It’s hard to tell for sure, but the license plate on the white car in the fourth picture looks like one from Minnesota to me. The old-timey street lamps would also fit in the area, I think. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391/5 "2017-11-12T22:56:11Z")
Minnesota has (or at least had, when I was living there) some kind of program to encourage movies to be filmed there. _ **Drop Dead Fred** _ was shot entirely in Minneapolis and St Paul, f’rinstance. ---
**Author:** ![TheSundial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TheSundial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSundial)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-opening-location-in-better-watch-out-2016/801391/6 "2017-11-13T04:33:05Z")
It’s an Illinois plate on the white Mitsubishi if you wanted to know. You’re right that it could be a lot of places in those upper Midwest states. Later the white Mitsubishi is shown in front of the fake house in Australia although that’s obviously another one just like it.