Where Was Mulan Filmed in New Zealand? Inside Ahuriri Valley
Disney’s 2020 live-action Mulan is set entirely in ancient China. However, the crew barely filmed any of it there. Instead, for six months in 2018, the film’s biggest and most demanding scenes came together in a remote New Zealand valley, standing in for a country on the other side of the world.
So, where was Mulan filmed? The short answer is New Zealand and China. First and foremost, the production centred on the Ahuriri Valley, in the Mackenzie Country near Omarama. Here, the crew built a fortress set and based hundreds of crew and extras for weeks at a time. In fact, the crew shot the film’s largest battle sequence right here.
Quick facts:
- Main filming location: Ahuriri Valley, Mackenzie Country, near Omarama
- Production base: Omarama, for around four weeks
- Crew size: 800–900 people during the spring shoot
- Extras on set: around 950, for the film’s largest battle sequence
- Other NZ locations: Omarama Clay Cliffs, Lake Pukaki, Poolburn Reservoir, Kumeu Film Studios
- China locations: Xi’an, Dunhuang, Xiangyang, Hengdian
Ahuriri Valley Mulan Filming Location: The Production’s Home Base
Production designer Grant Major described searching New Zealand for landscapes with a Chinese character to them. In a video for the New Zealand Film Commission, he explained that Mulan is set in China, so he was looking for those same qualities within New Zealand’s own scenery. As a result, the Ahuriri Valley delivered exactly that. The crew built a film base camp near Birchwood Road, in the isolated stretch of valley north of Omarama.
Around 800 to 900 crew members worked from the Mackenzie Basin for roughly a month during the spring shoot. That’s a genuinely large operation for a location this remote, and it says a lot about how committed the production was to filming here, rather than building everything on a studio backlot.
The production built a fortress set specifically for the shoot, and it quickly became the valley’s centrepiece and the backdrop for the film’s most ambitious battle sequence:
- Director Niki Caro has said the production brought around 950 extras out to the valley for that scene alone
- Meanwhile, local casting companies recruited hundreds of actors of Asian descent from across New Zealand to fill out the ranks
- After all, the story needed a cast large enough to convincingly fill an ancient Chinese battlefield
That scale is a big part of why the shoot needed a location this isolated. After all, few places offer both dramatic, empty terrain and enough logistical support nearby, and housing a production this large for weeks at a time takes both. Consequently, Omarama itself served as the crew’s base for around four weeks. Because the town sits close to the Ahuriri Valley, the Omarama Clay Cliffs, and Lake Pukaki, the crew could shoot several distinct scenes without moving cast and crew long distances between setups.
Where Was Mulan Filmed? The Full List of New Zealand Locations
Beyond the Ahuriri Valley Mulan filming location, several other Mackenzie Country and Otago locations appear throughout the film. Together, they make up the complete answer to where Mulan was filmed in New Zealand.
| Location | Region | Role in the Film |
| Ahuriri Valley | Canterbury, near Omarama | Production base camp and fortress set for the major battle sequence |
| Omarama Clay Cliffs | Canterbury | Dramatic eroded landscape used for several outdoor scenes |
| Lake Pukaki | Mackenzie Basin, Canterbury | Backdrop for scenes filmed around the wider basin |
| Poolburn Reservoir | Ida Valley, Central Otago | The night scene where Mulan hones her combat skills |
| Kumeu Film Studios | Auckland | Soundstage work, including the scene with the witch Xian Lang |
Meanwhile, the production filmed its Chinese scenes separately, in Xi’an, Dunhuang, and other locations. A purpose-built Tang Dynasty city set stood in Xiangyang, and the crew completed further studio work in Hengdian. Even so, New Zealand’s contribution carried the film’s biggest set pieces and its most demanding logistics. So, anyone researching where was Mulan filmed and expecting a single country will find the real answer is genuinely split between two very different film industries working thousands of miles apart.
A Third Film at the Same Poolburn Reservoir Filming Location
If Poolburn Reservoir sounds familiar, that’s because it keeps showing up. In fact, this same stretch of the Ida Valley, in Central Otago, has now doubled for three completely different stories, each from a completely different production:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – stood in for the Plains of Rohan
- The Power of the Dog – became 1920s Montana, decades later
- Mulan – the production reshaped it once again into a nighttime training ground in ancient China
In other words, three films, three different centuries and continents on screen, and yet one remote valley in Central Otago captured them all.
If you’re curious about the other two, we’ve covered them separately. Our guides to Paradise, Glenorchy Lord of the Rings filming locations and our New Zealand filming locations guide, which also covers The Power of the Dog, round out the rest of the valley’s film history.
Why New Zealand Doubled for Ancient China
It’s a fair question. New Zealand and China don’t share an obvious visual identity, so where was Mulan filmed isn’t the answer most people expect on first guess. However, the production’s own team addressed this directly. Grant Major’s search wasn’t for literal matches to specific Chinese landmarks. Instead, he was looking for terrain with the right feeling: vast, dramatic, and largely untouched by modern development.
The Mackenzie Basin fit that brief better than almost anywhere else on earth. Because of its scale, the production could stage genuinely massive scenes without visible roads, buildings, or power lines breaking the illusion. In other words, the same emptiness that makes the region so demanding to visit is exactly what made it valuable on camera.
Visiting Ahuriri Valley Today
The Ahuriri Valley isn’t set up for casual sightseeing the way some film locations are. Instead, it sits within the Ahuriri Conservation Park, a genuinely remote stretch of braided river, tussock flats, and mountain terrain:
- Access: Mostly on foot, by 4WD, or on horseback
- Fly-fishing: The Ahuriri River is considered one of the best fly-fishing rivers in New Zealand
- Tramping: Backcountry trails with very few other visitors
- Nearby base: Omarama, the most practical starting point for travelers
For most travelers, Omarama makes the more practical base. From there, the Omarama Clay Cliffs are an easy short walk, a striking landscape of eroded pinnacles carved from ancient river gravels. Additionally, Lake Pukaki and Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park both sit within easy reach for a day trip. Our Mt Cook & Mackenzie region guide covers this wider area, including the parts of the basin most visitors can access without a backcountry trip.
Fitting Ahuriri Valley Into a South Island Route
The Mackenzie Basin rewards travelers who give it more than a drive-through stop. Its combination of alpine lakes, braided rivers, and stark, dramatic scenery convinced Mulan’s production designer this was the right stand-in for ancient China. Therefore, that same scenery is worth building a real stop around, rather than just a quick photo break between Queenstown and Christchurch.
A South Island tour package can weave the Mackenzie Country filming locations into a wider route, one that can run through Aoraki / Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo, and further south into Otago and Queenstown. Alternatively, if you’d like something shaped entirely around your own interests, our tailor-made tour packages can help. These can build a Mackenzie-focused stop into a longer South Island itinerary, so whether that’s film locations, fly-fishing, or backcountry hiking, we can weave it all into one route. You can also add Ahuriri Valley directly to your custom vacation package wishlist.
Worth the Journey
Most people watching Mulan have no idea they’re looking at the South Island of New Zealand rather than ancient China. That’s precisely the point. Because of its remoteness and scale, the Ahuriri Valley gave the production something a studio backlot never could: real terrain, real weather, and enough empty space to stage a battle scene with hundreds of extras.
For travelers, that same remoteness is the draw. Whether you’re chasing the film’s biggest set piece, or simply want to see the Mackenzie Country’s braided rivers and mountain backdrops for yourself, this is one of New Zealand’s more genuinely wild film locations. Now that you know where Mulan was filmed, it might be worth seeing in person.
Browse our South Island tour packages or get in touch to start planning a Mackenzie Country itinerary, and build it around Ahuriri Valley and the wider basin.