The film that put Ouarzazate on the map — and did so before Atlas Studios even existed. David Lean arrived in the area in 1962, drawn by the desert south of the city and by Aït Benhaddou, whose red kasbahs stood in for the walled cities of Arabia. The landscape was so raw, so vast, and so devoid of modern intrusion that no studio set could have replicated it. Lean reportedly said the light alone was worth the journey. Every major director who followed him to Ouarzazate was, in some sense, following his lead.

Hitchcock came before Lean — and before the studios. The Moroccan sequences in this thriller, in which an American family stumble into an assassination plot while on holiday, were shot partly in the Ouarzazate region. It remains one of the earliest Hollywood productions to recognise the cinematic potential of Morocco's deep south.

Zeffirelli's landmark television miniseries — one of the most watched religious productions in history — used the landscapes around Ouarzazate extensively to recreate first-century Judea. The terracotta tones of the kasbahs and the flat desert light gave the series a visual authenticity that studio sets in Italy or the UK could not have provided. It aired to an audience of over 100 million in the United States alone.

John Huston's adaptation of Kipling's novella followed two British adventurers who travel to Kafiristan to become kings. Aït Benhaddou's fortified architecture played the remote mountain kingdom with convincing authority. Connery and Caine reportedly loved the location — and complained loudly about the heat.

One of the first major productions to use the newly built Atlas Studios, this Romancing the Stone sequel left behind one of the most recognisable prop relics still visible at the studios today: the giant jet aeroplane that served as a set piece in the film. It still sits on the lot, slowly weathering into legend.

James Bond came to Ouarzazate during Timothy Dalton's debut as 007. The Moroccan desert stood in for Afghanistan during the Cold War sequences of the film. The Aston Martin used in the production — or rather, a styrofoam replica of it — can still be found at Atlas Studios, a favourite of visiting film tourists.

Scorsese shot his controversial adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel entirely in Morocco, with Ouarzazate and Aït Benhaddou providing the ancient Judean settings. The film — which sparked protests across the United States — was made on a budget of just $7 million and grossed over $33 million worldwide. Scorsese was so taken with the landscape that he returned nearly a decade later.

Bertolucci's adaptation of Paul Bowles' existential desert novel was an almost inevitably Ouarzazate production — Bowles had spent decades in Morocco and the novel is embedded in its southern landscapes. The film is hypnotic and slow, the desert as much a character as any actor in it. It received the Golden Lion nomination at Venice.

Ridley Scott returned to Ouarzazate just five years after Gladiator to shoot his Crusades epic. The "Jerusalem" set constructed for this film — a sprawling walled city built just north of Atlas Studios on the N9 road east of Ouarzazate — became one of the most reused sets in cinema history. It has since appeared in Game of Thrones, Gladiator II, and numerous other productions. Visitors to Atlas Studios pay an extra fee to access this set and its small museum — widely considered the highlight of any studio tour.

Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama about a shooting incident in Morocco that reverberates across four countries was filmed substantially in the Ouarzazate region. The Moroccan segments — the most visceral and physically demanding sequences in the film — used real villages in the surrounding desert. The Atlas Studios lot was also used for interior scenes. The film won Best Director at Cannes and received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

Tony Scott's CIA thriller used Ouarzazate to stand in for Beirut during Cold War flashback sequences. The city's urban architecture and desert periphery gave the film its Middle Eastern visual texture. It was one of several productions of the period that used Ouarzazate not for ancient history but for contemporary geopolitical drama.

Oliver Stone's epic biography of Alexander the Great used Aït Benhaddou and the Ouarzazate area for its ancient-world battle sequences and city scenes. The film followed Gladiator's visual blueprint in choosing Morocco for its North African and Persian settings, benefitting from the infrastructure and experienced local crews that had developed in the years since Scott's film.

Disney's big-budget fantasy adventure used Ouarzazate and Aït Benhaddou to construct ancient Persia. The UNESCO heritage site's distinctive earthen towers and alleys required minimal dressing to read as the fictional kingdom of Alamut. The production brought over a thousand crew members to the region, representing one of the largest single film investments in Ouarzazate's history at the time.

No production did more for Ouarzazate's global recognition in the 21st century than this HBO fantasy series. Ouarzazate served as the port city of Pentos, where Daenerys Targaryen lives in exile in the early seasons. Aït Benhaddou — just 30 kilometres from the city — became the slave city of Yunkai, where Daenerys defeats the slave masters in Season 3 in one of the series' most celebrated sequences. The Jerusalem set from Kingdom of Heaven, still standing on the N9 road, was repurposed for additional Essos scenes. Hundreds of local Moroccan extras were employed, and the production's economic impact on the region was substantial. For many fans of the series, a visit to Ouarzazate is now a pilgrimage.

Disney's live-action remake of the animated classic used the Atlas Studios lot for its Middle Eastern marketplace sequences and several palace interior scenes. The production was among the most commercially successful ever to use Ouarzazate as a base, eventually grossing over a billion dollars globally. The vast studio infrastructure and experienced Moroccan crew — built up over decades of production — made it the logical choice for a film that needed a convincing, richly textured ancient city.

Nearly a quarter of a century after the original, Ridley Scott made a nostalgic return to his Moroccan locations for the long-awaited sequel. The opening scenes set in "Africa Nova" were filmed around Ouarzazate, south of the High Atlas. The "Numidia" coastal sequences repurposed the old Jerusalem set from Kingdom of Heaven, still standing on the desert just north of Atlas Studios on the N9 road. The Colosseum sets were built on the Atlas Studios lot. Scott is now the director most associated with Ouarzazate — having shot three major films there across two decades.