Top International Movie Industries with Hollywood-Inspired Nicknames

What are the most successful movie industries that got their nickname from Hollywood?

It’s always helpful to read inspiring and informative content about screenwriting and filmmaking — but sometimes it’s okay to have a little fun during your journey as well.

With that in mind, let’s look to Hollywood and the many other movie industries around the globe that took inspiration from the Hollywood moniker and became successful in their own right.

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Quick History of the Hollywood Name

The land of Hollywood was originally established in 1853. Because crop growing was so successful, within twenty years Hollywood was a thriving agricultural community.

Real estate tycoon Harvey Henderson Wilcox and his wife, Daeida, moved to Los Angeles from Kansas in the 1880s. Wilcox had lost the use of his legs after a horrible bout of typhoid fever prior to moving out west. They bought 160 acres of land west of the city near the Cahuenga Pass.

Daeida came up with the name Hollywood after hearing a woman she met discussing her hometown in Ohio named Hollywood, which itself had been named for the Dutch settlement of Hollywood. Daeida liked the name so much, she named their ranch “Hollywood.”

On February 1, 1887, Wilcox submitted a grid map of the Hollywood area to the Los Angeles County recorder’s office, establishing his very own town. This was the first official document with the name “Hollywood” printed on it.

By the early 1900s, Hollywood was annexed into the Los Angeles system to take advantage of the new aqueduct system for water supply. And then the movie business came calling.

Filmmakers were moving West, away from the East Coast filmmaking regime of Thomas Edison and his many strict rules. They came to Los Angeles for the weather and the real estate.

The original Hollywood sign was erected in 1923. But it read Hollywoodland, denoting a real estate subdivision venture.

The sign eventually began to show deterioration. In 1943, The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce removed the last four letters and restored the remaining portions of the sign.

Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Hollywood is the moniker of America’s entire film industry, from the East Coast to the West Coast. But the film industry as a whole is global, with many successful international counterparts to Hollywood.

Below are the ranked film industries around the world with Hollywood-inspired nicknames, according to World Atlas.

1. Bollywood — Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry, India
2. Pollywood — Punjabi-language film industry in India and Pakistan
3. Lollywood — Urdu and Punjabi films of Pakistani film industry in Lahore
4. Chhollywood — Chhattisgarhi language film industry based in Chhattisgarh, India
5. Tollywood — Bengali film industry in West Bengal, India/Telugu film industry in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
6. Kollywood — Tamil-language film industry, based in Chennai, India/Nepal’s film industry
7. Mollywood — Malayalam film industry in Kerala, India
8. Sandalwood — Kannada language film industry in Karnataka, India
9. Jollywood — Assamese language film industry in Guwahati, Assam
10. Ollywood — Film industry of Orissa, India in Oriya language
11. Sollywood y. — Sindhi film industry
12. Dhaliwood — Film industry of Bangladesh
13. Kariwood — Karachi-based film industry of Pakistan
14. Kaliwood — Nepali cinema based in Kathmandu
15. Dhollywood — Film industry based in Gujarat, India in the Gujarati language
16. Ghollywood — Film industry in Ghana
17. Hillywood — Film industry in Rwanda
18. Kennywood — Film industry based in Kano, Nigeria
19. Nollywood — Film industry based in Lagos, Nigeria
20. Riverwood — Film industry in Kenya
21. Sollywood — Film industry in Sierra Leone
22. Swahiliwood — Cinema in Tanzania
23. Ugawood — Film industry based in Uganda
24. Zollyuwood — Cinema of Zimbabwe
25. Chollywood — Peruvian film industry
26. Hallyuwood — South Korean cinema

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