Assassin’s Creed, based on the very popular video game franchise made ample use of Maltese locations. With Michael Fassbender in the lead, most of the action took place on Impressive set pieces built by Maltese craftsmen within Fort Ricasoli and Fort Manoel. Other locations used included St Dominic’s Basilica in Valletta, Fort Delimara as well as other historic buildings in Valletta.

Producer Patrick Crowley had nothing but praise for what Malta offered. “We went to Malta for four weeks of filming and built some very big sets there,” he said. “We used existing fortresses—Malta has more fortresses than any place I’ve ever been in—and some of their downtown areas, which are period authentic for what it is that we were interested in. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site, so you get some fantastic production value.”

Netflix also premiered a special Christmas edition of Sense8. This marks the first time that the powerful cable TV Network Netflix landed in Malta. This augurs well considering the fast growing TV market and Netflix’s huge following.

The Malta Film Commission said it is fully committed to keep working to attract more high-end TV drama from not only Netflix and HBO but also other content creators including Freemantle Media whose popular British sitcom “Birds of a feather” also had its Christmas Special premiering these days.

Minister for Tourism Edward Zammit Lewis said that apart from directly injecting millions of Euros in the Maltese economy, featuring in popular feature films or TV dramas such as these three productions has also the indirect effect of promoting Malta both for its beauty as well as for its screen tourism product. With Malta already hosting hundreds of Game of Thrones fans on an annual basis, it can already be forecast that locations used for Assassin’s Creed and Sense8 will also be popular destinations for film buffs. An Assassin’s Creed – specific Malta tour is also currently being developed and will be announced soon.