Famous Movies Filmed in Central Park and Where to Find the Scenes Today

Spanning 843 acres in the heart of Manhattan, Central Park is not just New York City’s urban backyard. It is one of the most frequently filmed locations in the world. With its tree-lined promenades, romantic bridges, sweeping lawns, fountains, lakes, wooded paths, and views of the Manhattan skyline, the park has given filmmakers an extraordinary collection of settings within a single location.

Central Park has been appearing in movies since the earliest years of motion pictures. Romantic comedies, musicals, crime films, holiday classics, dramas, and superhero movies have all used the park, sometimes as a beautiful version of New York and other times as a darker reflection of the city. Readers interested in how this enormous landscape came to exist can also read our history of New York’s Central Park.

This list is intentionally not locked to a number. There are simply too many movies connected to Central Park, and as we find more great examples, we can continue adding them. What follows are some of the most memorable Central Park movie appearances, along with the locations where the cameras rolled and the places movie fans can still visit today.

Barefoot in the Park (1967)

Key Locations: Central Park carriage roads and the Naumburg Bandshell

The Scene: Paul and Corie’s Newlywed Carriage Ride

It is hard to imagine a movie with a better title for this list than Barefoot in the Park. The 1967 adaptation of Neil Simon’s Broadway comedy stars Robert Redford and Jane Fonda as newlyweds Paul and Corie Bratter. The film opens with the couple riding through Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage after getting married, with Corie exuberantly announcing their marriage to the city around them.

Central Park is only part of the movie’s New York geography. The Bratters’ apartment exterior was filmed at 111 Waverly Place, and the famous scene that most literally fulfills the title, when Paul finally goes barefoot in the park, takes place in Washington Square Park rather than Central Park. Still, Central Park establishes the movie’s romantic New York atmosphere immediately, and the Naumburg Bandshell is also among the park locations associated with the production.

Hair (1979)

Key Locations: Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Naumburg Bandshell, and other Central Park landscapes

The Scene: The Opening of “Aquarius” and the Central Park Musical Sequences

I will admit to a little bias here because Hair is my favorite movie of all time. I have always felt that no movie captured the spirit, confusion, freedom, music, protest, and cultural upheaval surrounding the end of the 1960s quite the way this one did. Miloš Forman’s 1979 film was made a decade after the period it portrays, yet somehow it feels completely immersed in that moment.

Central Park is essential to the movie’s visual identity. The film’s opening “Aquarius” sequence introduces Claude Bukowski to the counterculture world of Berger and his friends amid the open spaces of the park. The Naumburg Bandshell appears in the film, while Bethesda Terrace and Bethesda Fountain provide the setting for the exuberant “Ain’t Got No” sequence. The combination of dancers, fountains, stonework, lawns, and open sky makes Central Park feel less like a location and more like another member of the cast.

Godspell (1973)

Key Location: Bethesda Fountain

The Scene: “Prepare Ye” and the Baptism at Bethesda Fountain

Godspell is another musical that could only have captured New York in the strange, nearly empty atmosphere of the early 1970s. The movie follows its cast through locations all over Manhattan, transforming the city into an enormous stage.

Central Park provides one of the film’s most recognizable sequences. During “Prepare Ye,” the cast splashes into Bethesda Fountain for a joyous version of a baptism beneath the Angel of the Waters. Central Park is an important part of the film, although the majority of Godspell was not filmed there. The production also used the unfinished World Trade Center, the Cherry Lane Theatre, the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, and numerous other New York locations.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Key Locations: Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Gapstow Bridge, and the southern end of Central Park

The Scene: Kevin’s Encounters with the Pigeon Lady and the Wet Bandits Chase

When Kevin McCallister finds himself alone in Manhattan, Central Park becomes both a mysterious nighttime landscape and one of the movie’s great New York playgrounds. The park’s bridges, tunnels, stonework, and winter scenery give Home Alone 2: Lost in New York some of its most memorable images.

Gapstow Bridge is closely associated with Kevin’s encounters with the Pigeon Lady, while Bethesda Terrace and Fountain become part of the frantic chase involving Harry and Marv. Kevin is chased by the Wet Bandits and jumps into a horse carriage in front of Bethesda Fountain, a perfect example of the movie turning a familiar park landmark into a comedy set piece.

When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

Key Locations: The Mall, Naumburg Bandshell, and the Central Park Boathouse

The Scene: The Autumn Walk and Sally’s Lunch at the Boathouse

Few movies use New York’s seasons as beautifully as Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally…. The autumn walk through Central Park is one of the film’s defining New York images, with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan surrounded by the changing leaves as Harry and Sally continue their running conversation about relationships and friendship.

The film also uses the Central Park Boathouse, where Sally has lunch with her friends beside the Lake. The Naumburg Bandshell is another Central Park location connected to the production. These scenes are a reminder that the park can provide several completely different New York environments within a short walk.

The Avengers (2012)

Key Location: Bethesda Terrace

The Scene: The Avengers Say Goodbye to Thor and Loki

After the enormous battle that tears through Midtown Manhattan, The Avengers closes on a much quieter note in Central Park. Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Bruce Banner, Thor, and Loki gather at Bethesda Terrace after saving the city.

The location is unmistakable. With Bethesda Fountain and the terrace behind them, Thor uses the Tesseract to return to Asgard with Loki. It is one of the best examples of a modern blockbuster using an actual New York landmark not merely as background scenery, but as the setting for an important story moment.

The Out-of-Towners (1970)

Key Location: Central Park paths and grounds

The Scene: George and Gwen Spend a Miserable Night in the Park

Neil Simon’s The Out-of-Towners, starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, turns almost every possible New York travel disaster into comedy. After arriving in a city plagued by delays, strikes, lost reservations, and bad luck, George and Gwen Kellerman eventually find themselves seeking refuge in Central Park.

This is not the polished, romantic Central Park seen in many later movies. The park is deliberately presented as dark, intimidating, and hostile. The couple is mugged and encounters still more trouble as their disastrous night continues. That makes The Out-of-Towners especially valuable as a cinematic time capsule of how filmmakers were portraying New York City in 1970.

Serendipity (2001)

Key Location: Wollman Rink

The Scene: Jonathan and Sara’s Central Park Ice-Skating Romance

Few locations say winter romance in New York more clearly than Wollman Rink. In Serendipity, Jonathan Trager and Sara Thomas, played by John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, are drawn together by a series of chance encounters that turn Manhattan into a romantic puzzle.

Wollman Rink becomes one of the movie’s most memorable locations, framed by the skyline above the southern end of Central Park. The rink returns near the film’s conclusion, making the location part of the movie’s idea that fate can bring two people back to the same place.

Annie Hall (1977)

Key Location: Bethesda Fountain

The Scene: Alvy and Annie in Central Park

Woody Allen’s Annie Hall is filled with recognizable New York locations, and Central Park is among them. Bethesda Fountain was used as a filming location as the relationship between Alvy Singer and Annie Hall unfolds against the city.

The fountain remains one of the easiest locations in this article for movie fans to find. Walk down the Bethesda Terrace steps at approximately 72nd Street in the middle of the park and the Angel of the Waters rises directly above the fountain, surrounded by one of the most filmed landscapes in New York.

Elf (2003)

Key Locations: Pinebank Arch and Bethesda Terrace

The Scene: The Snowball Fight and Santa’s Central Park Emergency

Jon Favreau’s Elf uses Central Park for some of Buddy’s biggest moments after he arrives in New York. One of the funniest is the snowball fight in which Buddy’s North Pole skills turn him into a one-man artillery unit while helping his half-brother Michael.

Central Park also becomes central to the movie’s climax. Santa’s sleigh runs into trouble in the park, and Bethesda Terrace and Fountain appear as Buddy tries to help Santa escape. The stone arches, winter trees, and Midtown skyline make the park an ideal location for a Christmas fantasy set in New York.

Enchanted (2007)

Key Locations: Bethesda Fountain, Bow Bridge, the Mall, and the Naumburg Bandshell

The Scene: “That’s How You Know”

When Giselle, played by Amy Adams, is transported from an animated fairy-tale kingdom into real-world Manhattan, Central Park becomes the place where those two worlds finally collide. During “That’s How You Know,” an ordinary walk through the park grows into an enormous musical production.

The sequence moves through some of Central Park’s most recognizable scenery, including Bow Bridge, the Mall, the Naumburg Bandshell, and Bethesda Fountain. By the end, musicians and dancers have transformed the park into something that looks like a Broadway stage, even though the locations are unmistakably real New York.

Marathon Man (1976)

Key Locations: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Cherry Hill, Bethesda Terrace, and the Delacorte Clock area

The Scene: Babe’s Running Routes Through Central Park

Dustin Hoffman’s Thomas “Babe” Levy is a graduate student and serious runner, making Central Park a natural part of Marathon Man. The Reservoir is especially memorable because Hoffman’s training scenes establish both the character’s physical discipline and one of the skills that later becomes important to his survival.

The production used several Central Park locations, including Cherry Hill, Bethesda Terrace, the Reservoir, and the Delacorte Clock area. The climactic reservoir and pumping-station material is closely associated with Central Park, although the interior used for the final confrontation was recreated on a studio set. Movie fans can still walk or run the Reservoir path that gives the film some of its most recognizable park imagery.

Manhattan (1979)

Key Locations: Central Park and locations along Central Park’s edges

The Scene: Woody Allen’s Black-and-White Portrait of New York

Shot in widescreen black and white, Manhattan treats New York City itself as one of its principal characters. Central Park and the institutions surrounding it form part of the movie’s visual portrait of the city, along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History.

One correction is important for movie-location hunters. The film’s famous dawn scene with Isaac and Mary sitting beneath the Queensboro Bridge was not filmed in Central Park. That bench was placed at Sutton Square overlooking the East River. Central Park appears in the film’s larger New York landscape, but the Queensboro Bridge image belongs to the East Side rather than the park.

Death Wish (1974)

Key Location: Central Park

The Scene: Paul Kersey Confronts Three Muggers

Michael Winner’s Death Wish uses New York very differently from the romantic comedies and musicals on this list. Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey moves through a city presented as dangerous and increasingly out of control, and Central Park becomes one of the locations used during his transformation into a vigilante.

Late in the film, three street gang members confront Kersey in Central Park and attempt to mug him. Kersey shoots two of them but is wounded by the third, whom he pursues out of the park. The exact park spot is not consistently identified in surviving location records, so this is one entry where visitors should think of Central Park itself as the location rather than expect a single fountain or bridge to mark the scene.

Ghostbusters (1984)

Key Location: Tavern on the Green and Central Park West

The Scene: Louis Tully Encounters the Terror Dog

With “Spook Central” located across the street at 55 Central Park West, it was almost inevitable that Central Park would become part of Ghostbusters. One of the movie’s most memorable sequences follows Louis Tully, played by Rick Moranis, as he flees from the Terror Dog that will transform him into Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster.

Louis runs to Tavern on the Green seeking help. Diners watch through the windows while he is attacked outside, unaware of the supernatural creature they cannot see. Tavern on the Green remains on the west side of Central Park near West 67th Street, making this one of the easiest Ghostbusters locations to visit.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)

Key Location: Central Park

The Scene: Daisy Gamble’s New York Location Sequences

Vincente Minnelli’s On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand, mixed elaborate studio production with location filming in New York, Los Angeles, and Brighton, England. Central Park was one of the New York locations used during production.

Unlike films whose Central Park scenes can be pinned to Bethesda Fountain or Wollman Rink, surviving location sources do not consistently identify one specific park landmark for this movie. For that reason, it is better to identify Central Park honestly as a filming location rather than invent an exact modern stopping point. The park footage belongs to the contemporary New York world of Streisand’s Daisy Gamble.

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)

Key Location: Cedar Hill

The Scene: Doris and Felix’s Climactic Central Park Confrontation

Barbra Streisand and George Segal star in The Owl and the Pussycat, another movie that captures the look and attitude of New York at the beginning of the 1970s. The relationship between Doris and Felix is argumentative, funny, romantic, and frequently explosive.

The movie’s climactic final scene takes place on Cedar Hill in Central Park. Cedar Hill is on the east side of the park, roughly between East 76th and East 79th Streets. Unlike Bethesda Terrace or Wollman Rink, it still feels primarily like a landscape rather than an architectural landmark, making it especially interesting to find in person.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Key Location: The Mall

The Scene: Ted Teaches Billy to Ride a Bicycle

In Kramer vs. Kramer, Central Park provides the setting for one of the movie’s most memorable expressions of the growing bond between Ted Kramer, played by Dustin Hoffman, and his son Billy, played by Justin Henry.

Ted teaches Billy to ride a two-wheel bicycle along the Mall, beneath the enormous American elm trees that create one of Central Park’s most beautiful corridors. The Mall also appears when Billy is reunited with his mother, Joanna. The location remains almost instantly recognizable more than four decades later.

Love Story (1970)

Key Location: Wollman Rink

The Scene: Oliver and Jenny Ice Skate in Central Park

Love Story belongs on this list not only because Central Park appears in the movie, but because Wollman Rink provides exactly the kind of New York romantic imagery that later filmmakers would return to again and again.

Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw, as Oliver Barrett IV and Jenny Cavilleri, skate at Wollman Rink with the Manhattan skyline rising behind the ice. The rink is still operating at the southern end of Central Park, so movie fans can visit the same setting and, during skating season, actually step onto the ice themselves.

Why Central Park Appears in So Many Movies

Central Park gives filmmakers an enormous variety of scenery without leaving Manhattan. A production can move from a formal European-style terrace to woods, a lake, an ice rink, a broad lawn, a romantic bridge, a zoo, and a skyline view within the same park. Few urban locations anywhere can offer that much visual variety.

New York City also became much easier for motion-picture productions to use after Mayor John Lindsay changed the city’s film-permitting process in 1966. Before that reform, filmmakers could be forced to obtain numerous permits and approvals from different city agencies. Lindsay gave the Department of Commerce authority to issue a single permit for filming at city-owned locations and removed the city’s censorship authority over lawful filming on public property. The change helped make location production in New York considerably more practical.

More New York Movie and Central Park History

For more on the park itself, read our History of New York’s Central Park. Movie fans can also explore our Top 15 Essential New York Movies for more films in which New York City becomes an essential part of the story.

Central Park Movie Locations at a Glance

Working Master List of Movies Filmed in Central Park

Trying to create a truly complete list of every movie ever filmed in Central Park is more complicated than it first appears. Older Central Park filmographies sometimes mix movies actually photographed inside the park with productions that merely recreated Central Park on a studio set. Modern databases can also mix feature films with television episodes, shorts, documentaries, music videos, and other productions.

The list below is our working master filmography. It includes theatrical films, streaming films, television movies, and feature documentaries, while excluding episodic television, shorts, commercials, and music videos.

The titles are arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically because many older Central Park film lists use production years instead of release years.

#

• 13 Going on 30
• 15 Minutes
• 2 Lovers
• 25th Hour
• 27 Dresses
• 5 to 7

A

• Adam
• An Affair to Remember
• Afterwards
• Alfie
• Alice
• Almost Famous
• And Then You Die
• Anger Management
• Anjaana Anjaani
• Anna
• Annie Hall
• The Apartment
• Arthur
• Arthur II: On the Rocks
• August Rush
• Autumn in New York
• The Avengers

B

• Baby Boom
• The Back-up Plan
• Bait
• Balto
• The Band Wagon
• Barefoot in the Park
• Beaches
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
• Beginners
• The Believers
• Belle of New York
• The Big Blue
• Big Business
• Big Daddy
• Birth
• Blindfold
• Blue Jean Cop
• Borat
• The Bostonians
• The Brave One
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Breeders
• Brewster’s Millions
• Bride Wars
• Broadway Danny Rose
• Broadway Melody of 1938
• The Brothers McMullen
• Brown Sugar
• Bullets Over Broadway
• Bum Rap

C

• Café Society
• Carnal Knowledge
• Cat People
• Central Park (1990 documentary)
• The Central Park Five
• Chapter 27
• Charing Cross Road
• Christmas with the Kranks
• Clifford the Big Red Dog
• Cloverfield
• Cocktail
• Collateral Beauty
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
• Crocodile Dundee II
• Cruel Intentions

D

• Daniel
• Daredevil
• Date Night
• Dead End Kids
• Death to Smoochy
• Death Wish
• Deconstructing Harry
• Definitely, Maybe
• Desperately Seeking Susan
• The Devil’s Advocate
• The Devil Wears Prada
• The Devil Wears Prada 2
• Devil You Know
• Die Hard with a Vengeance
• Double or Nothing
• Down to Earth
• Duplicity

E

• Eat Pray Love
• El Cantante
• Elf
• Enchanted
• Eraser
• Everyone Says I Love You
• Exterminator II
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• Eyes of Laura Mars
• Eyewitness

F

• F/X
• Factory Girl
• The Fan
• Fatal Attraction
• Father Gets in the Game
• Fingers
• The Fisher King
• For Love of the Game
• Forever, Lulu
• A Four Letter Word
• Friends with Benefits
• Fuzz

G

• Get Him to the Greek
• Ghostbusters
• Ghostbusters II
• The Girl on the Train
• Godspell
• Godzilla
• Great Expectations
• Green Card
• The Guru

H

• Hair
• Hang Tough
• Hannah and Her Sisters
• The Happening
• Hard to Get
• Hello Again
• Hide and Seek
• Highlander
• Hitch
• The Hoax
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
• House of D
• The Hunger

I

• I Am Legend
• I Love New York
• I’m Not Rappaport
• I Miss You Aunt Jenny
• I, the Jury
• If I Didn’t Care
• Igby Goes Down
• Imagine
• The Incredible Hulk
• The International
• Ira & Abby
• It Should Happen to You

J

• The January Man
• Jenny
• Jersey Girl
• John Wick
• John Wick: Chapter 2
• Joshua
• Jumper

K

• Kate & Leopold
• Keeping the Faith
• Key Exchange
• Kissing Jessica Stein
• Kramer vs. Kramer

L

• The Lady from Shanghai
• Laser Man
• Last Days of Disco
• The Last Five Years
• A Late Quartet
• Limitless
• Little Manhattan
• Little Murders
• Little Nicky
• Little Old New York
• Love ’Em and Leave ’Em
• Love, Lies and Seeta
• Love Story
• Lovesick

M

• Made in Argentina
• Made of Honor
• Maestro
• Maid in Manhattan
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Manhattan
• Manhattan Murder Mystery
• Marathon Man
• Margaret
• Married to the Mob
• The Marrying Kind
• Marty Supreme
• Materialists
• Meet Dave
• Melanie Rose
• Melinda and Melinda
• Men in Black 3
• Men in Black II
• Mighty Aphrodite
• A Mighty Wind
• Miracle in the Rain
• The Mirror Has Two Faces
• Molly-O
• Morning Glory
• Moscow on the Hudson
• Mr. Deeds
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins
• Ms .45
• Multiple Sarcasms
• The Muppets Take Manhattan
• Music and Lyrics
• My Demon Lover
• My Favorite Year

N

• The Nanny Diaries
• The Narrow Gate
• A New Life
• New York, I Love You
• New York Stories
• Night at the Museum
• Night People
• The Night We Never Met
• No Small Affair

O

• The Object of My Affection
• Off Beat
• Old Dogs
• Oliver’s Story
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
• On the Town
• One Fine Day
• One More Spring
• One Trick Pony
• Orphans
• The Out-of-Towners (1970)
• The Out-of-Towners (1999)
• The Owl and the Pussycat

P

• Panic Room
• Paternity
• The Pick-up Artist
• Politician’s Love Story
• Popi
• Portrait of Jennie
• Premium Rush
• The Prince of Central Park
• The Prisoner of Second Avenue
• The Producers (1967)
• The Producers (2005)

R

• A Rainy Day in New York
• Ransom
• The Rebound
• Remember Me
• Return of Billy Jack
• Rich and Famous
• Righteous Kill
• Romeo and Juliet
• The Royal Tenenbaums

S

• Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
• Scared Stiff
• Scrooged
• Second Act
• Serendipity
• Sex and the City
• Shadows
• Shootout
• Six Degrees of Separation
• Six Weeks
• Skates
• The Smurfs
• Some Kind of a Nut
• Someone to Watch Over Me
• Soup for One
• Space Avenger
• The Spanish Prisoner
• Spider-Man 3
• Splash
• Staying Alive
• Step Up 3D
• Stepmom
• Strawberry Blonde
• Stuart Little
• Stuart Little 2
• Suburban Girl
• Sweet Charity
• Sweet Home Alabama
• Symbiopsychotaxiplasm

T

• Take the Money and Run
• Tales of Poe
• Taxi
• That Kind of Woman
• That’s Me
• Three Men and a Baby
• Three Men and a Little Lady
• Tonight at Noon
• Too Much, Too Soon
• Tootsie
• Tower Heist
• Traces
• Twelve
• Two Days in New York
• Two of a Kind
• Two Weeks Notice

U

• Uptown Girls

V

• Vanilla Sky
• Veronika Decides to Die

W

• The Wackness
• Wall Street
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
• The Way We Were
• What Happens in Vegas
• When Harry Met Sally…
• When in Rome
• Where God Left His Shoes
• Where’s Poppa?
• Wolfen
• The World of Henry Orient

Y

• You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
• You’re a Big Boy Now
• You’ve Got Mail

Reported Central Park Titles Still Being Verified

Several films appear on long-running Central Park movie lists even though available production records do not yet establish that the filmmakers actually photographed scenes inside Central Park. Rather than quietly repeating those claims, we are keeping the questionable titles separate until stronger evidence is found.

• Up in Central Park (1948) — The story is built around Central Park, but surviving production records identify Universal Studios in California as the filming location.
• Central Park (1932) — Frequently included on Central Park movie lists, but current production records identify Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank as the filming location.
• Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933) — Its Central Park scenes were filmed in Pacific Palisades, California.
• The Clock (1945) — The story visits Central Park, but the New York material was recreated in Hollywood rather than filmed on location in the city.
• Top Hat (1935), Gold Diggers of 1933, Man’s Castle (1933), Born to Dance (1936), and Shall We Dance (1937) — These appear on older Central Park lists, but we are leaving them out of the working master list until their actual in-park photography can be verified.
• Megalopolis (2024) — Some newer location databases report Central Park, but we are holding it out of the master list until a stronger production source confirms the park shoot.

Famous Movies Filmed in Central Park and Where to Find the Scenes Today article published on ClassicNewYorkHistory.com © 2026