Blockbusters occasionally make their way to our quiet little island in the middle of the Mediterranean. And whenever they do, they rightfully so muster up a great deal of hype among all those local viewers who would be waiting for the exact second where they can point at the screen and shout out, “Dik mhux Malta?!” Now, we’ve been given two consecutive opportunities to do that, thanks to two new trailers. 

First up was the quick promo trailer for the third season of Queen of the South, a USA Drama series centred around Teresa Mendoza, a double-crossed cocaine queen trying to get revenge (think Narcos with more fabulous outfits and a high dose of attitude).

The unlikely-drug-smuggler-turned-cartel-empress’ third season (which premieres on June 21st) sees Mendoza taking on new challenges – and sacrifices – in a high-octane set of episodes. And delivering that high octane, it seems, will be Malta, with an exciting car chase in the streets of Valletta and a fully-fledged Grand Harbour waterfront explosion being teased in the 50 second trailer.

This morning, a second trailer featuring Malta was released, this time in the form of highly-anticipated Hollywood flick Papillon.

Starring Charlie Hunnam and everyone’s favourite Mr-Robot-turned-Freddie-Mercury Rami Malek, Papillon tells the story of “the greatest escape adventure ever told”, an incredible true story that’s set to be everyone’s next nail-biting appointment at the cinema.

Based on the bestselling memoir of Henri “Papillon” Charrière, the film revolves around a safecracker from the Parisian underworld who is framed for murder and condemned to life in the notorious prison on Devil’s Island. And we know what you’re thinking – we’ve been called so many names before, is Devil’s Island the new one? Well, kind of.

Charrière had originally been sent to the French penal colony of French Guiana in the 1930s. Within the colony, was a notorious spit of rock called Devil’s Island (actually called Bagne de Cayenne). The tiny island-prison got its name for its large prisoner death rate and its real-life Azkaban reputation.

As it so happens, escaping from Devil’s Island really is as much of a bitch as people think, and it’s no doubt made harder by the stormy seas that surround it. And it’s here that Malta stepped in to portray this in style.

Papillon was shot in locations around Malta, but all the harrowing storm sequences which feature in the feature-length were exclusively filmed at the Malta Film Studios, a hotspot for sea-based scenes all around the world.

Initially premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival last September, Papillon is set for a wider distribution through Bleecker Street on August 24th.

Tag someone who’d love to check out these two trailers!

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).