Zimbabwe's film industry has had its fair share of highs and lows, but in the 1980s and 90s, four major Hollywood productions with A-list casts were shot in the country, several of them precisely because neighboring South Africa was off-limits under apartheid.
- King Solomon's Mines (1985), the Cannon Films adventure starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone, made on a $7 million budget that returned roughly $80 million at the box office.
- Cry Freedom (1987), Richard Attenborough's drama about the death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, filmed in Zimbabwe after the crew was placed under surveillance by South African security forces. It earned Denzel Washington his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.
- A World Apart (1988), an anti-apartheid drama starring Barbara Hershey, filmed in northeastern Zimbabwe because South Africa's own apartheid government made filming there impossible. At Cannes, its Best Actress prize was shared by Hershey, Jodhi May, and Linda Mvusi, the first Black actress to win the award.
- White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), Clint Eastwood's film about a director loosely based on John Huston, shot around Kariba, Victoria Falls, and Hwange over two months in 1989.
